The lake is called a 100-mile lake and is home to huge brook trout, which is not a trout at all; it is a char with the correct taxonomic designation of Salvelinus fontinalis.
Lake Mistassini
Henry Clement, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, August 2023.
By Henry Clement
Our second trip to the rustic lodge and seasonally permanent two-tent accommodations for six was more exciting this time because we planned to depart by float plane the following morning. We would fly for a few hours and be delivered to Cree guides at an encampment that would launch all six of us on a week-long excursion of the lakes, brook trout, and northern pike. Three Cree guides were assigned to take us by their motorized squareback canoes to the best brook trout honey holes money could buy. We would fish and camp at a designated fly-out spot six days after departing our cozy tent base.
One new angler had filled in for a spot our friend usually took
A family issue left the role open for his brother-in-law, attorney Paxton Ghering of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Paxton was immediately accepted and friended into our group. Like most of us, he was a vet. He was also, unfortunately, very overweight and struggled to get in and out of the handcrafted, yet modern, square-back canoes. Transportation was designed to be fast, around 18-foot-long, heavy, but narrow, high gunwaled canoes. They were stable in rough weather, open lake runs.
The Cree had made their way down from their winter range, a 14-day journey. Three women were among those transported, as were the chief and his pre-teen grandson. The women were preparing meat from two freshly killed deer when we arrived. The hides looked prepared for drying and stretching, and the meat hung high in the tree limbs. Pots were boiling, and fresh vegetables were evident.
We fished all afternoon the day of our arrival, and no one came back empty-handed. The native men ate away from us. It was clear it was a serve-yourself situation. At dark, around 11:30 in early July, the camp was quiet. The heavens exploded with painted stars you thought you could touch. A mesmerizing site I still hold in my mind’s eye.
Morning light
Breakfast and coffee were on and ready when we all sat down on logs that served as our chairs. The native men were nowhere to be seen, but could be heard yelling in concert, out of sync. Upon investigating, they were playing Futbol and enjoying the game. We watched what must have been the winning goal. We all cheered.
Jack said Paxton didn’t get up, so he went to roust him. The next noise was Jack yelling, “Holy fuck, he’s dead.”
Lake Mistassini, Quebec/Photo by Stella Perron. July 2023.
The chief
The Cree chief who oversaw things approached and, in perfect English, laid out a plan. We wrapped Paxton in his sleeping bag, strapped our volunteer wool blankets around him, and used the plastic from the camp Inventory. The Cree rigged a homemade block-and-tackle and hoisted Ghering 40-feet into the air. He hung down perpendicular to the ground about 15-feet out in the open. He was safe from predators.
Native eastern brook trout [Salvelinus fontinalis]. Image provided courtesy of Thom Glace.
Options
We discussed all the alternatives. No matter what we planned, it would still take about six days to canoe back to base camp or six days to be picked up by plane as originally planned. A separate pickup for Ghering could be arranged on the same day we were scheduled to be picked up.
It was fish forward
Oddly, we thought, we were all in good spirits, knowing our decision made sense out of an unusual occurrence.
If you didn’t know, the human condition is such that we made little mention of Ghering after the first day. The bond is about the living; our insulation from grief is the way we protect ourselves and move on. It has a history, ask a combat soldier.
Early 1950s de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver. Photo Alain Rioux.
Death
Killed soldiers are treated with the same urgency as wounded soldiers and evacuated immediately if possible, allowing the unit to continue its mission. Many of us were able to practice as trained using Emotional Dissociation —separate the death to focus on the task, allowing the affected to function under stress, with grieving taking place later. Relying on the camaraderie of the group for strength and maintaining morale.
They were hungry beyond measure
Oh, the fly fishing was unforgettably excellent. Aggressive Northern pike, huge brook trout, with the largest around 10-pounds. The new fly I brought, Richard Blessing’s Woolly Bugger size #10 and smaller, black and olive, deadly for brookies and converted to big streamers with marabou tails for pike — size #4 to #2, black and olive. The pike would have hit a Cadillac bumper. Their catch-and-eat had no boundaries or pauses.
The flights out of the encampment and lodge were scary treetop skimmers. The Beaver ID plate stamped “Made in 1947.” Design work for the Beaver began near the end of WWII. The prototype’s maiden flight occurred on August 16, 1947, with mass production starting shortly after in the Toronto area. They still fly today in 2026.
The date of our Mistassini trip was 1970. We were all Vietnam veterans, except one other person and me. The Chief, Frank, was a vet.
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