The True Story of the World Record Brook Trout

Quest for the Grail

This is a story not just of the world record, but of a plenitude of fish that once existed in a legendary river.

 

 (The story unfolds with many interpretations and versions of what really happened…clouded with years of retelling and fading memories.)

It is the object of a prolonged endeavour. The obsessive pursuit of a distant, all-but-unobtainable ultimate goal that is the pinnacle of one’s hobby, passion or profession.  For the scientist, it is achieving perpetual motion. For the alchemist, it is turning rock to gold. To a fly fisherman, the Grail is the pursuit of the World Record Brook Trout. While the reasons may vary from achieving immortality, being recognized by our peers, or simply a test of one’s worth, this is a story not just of world records, but of a plenitude of fish that once existed in a legendary river. Our search for the truth begins with the legend, fact and phenomenon surrounding Fontinalis Salvelinus.

The River

            As early as the 1850’s, the ‘Nepigon’ (as it was once spelled), had gained popularity with the early gentlemen anglers for the vast quantity and size of brook trout in a pristine wilderness. In 1865, Hon. R. B. Roosevelt said, “of rivers, the most famous is the Nipigon, where barrels of trout, averaging 4 pounds have been taken in one day. They were collected in pools and were so numerous as to ruin the sport.”

            Prior to man’s intervention, the river in its prime was much different. The Nipigon varied in width from 50 to 200 yards, with a voluminous flow of water; 5500 cu. feet per second. In its 32-mile southerly course from Lake Nipigon, it once descended 313 feet over 15 well-accelerated rapids and seven waterfalls, losing its identity only temporarily when it flowed through four lakes. It has been described as having three ecologies: 10 miles of lakes, 10 miles of river, and 10 miles of rapids. That is why the 1887 issue of Field & Stream magazine touted it to be “the finest trout stream in the world.”

The Man

             The watery scene was set. The aquatic actors continued their biological destiny. The audience arrived; draped in knickers, felt fedoras and carrying bamboo poles. The train bound for Orient Bay on the south-east end of Lake Nipigon in the summer of 1915 provided the best seat in the house to access the grandeur and natural riches of the upper reaches of the Nipigon. This was a performance of a life time and would spawn a story of mystery and intrigue that truly justifies as a Grail.

Dr. J.W. Cook of Fort William, Ontario was a patron to the art of fly fishing the Nipigon. Along with his fishing partners, R. J. Byrnes, Roy Neeland, and J.A. Fyfe, he regularly made the journey to partake in the majesty of the Brook Trout. Local Indian guides had been hired to transport the party via canoe through the rapids and pools of the Nipigon. On July 21, 1915 at approximately 6:00pm, Dr. Cook reportedly cast a minnow, referred to as a ‘Cockatuouche’, into a pool of foam and swirling dark water at Rabbit rapids (a.k.a. MacDonald’s Rapids) about a mile below Virgin Falls. An explosion of finned fury ensued as he landed a large fish and unceremoniously left it on the bank of the river. Several minutes later, the native guides excitedly pointed out that Dr. Cook had actually caught a brook trout and not a lake trout as first thought. As with many large, older fish, this female brute appeared pale by comparison, displaying subdued brook trout colours, but her shear size caused excitement for the members of the fishing party.

As the doctor told the Fort William Times Journal 35 years later, just a year before his death, the river on the 21st of July, 1915, was “covered with brown flies,” and the trout were feeding aggressively. “I’d been fishing with a minnow,” he said. “The bait had barely settled below the surface when the big fellow struck.” Cook called immediately for a net, and was reported to have spent 15 minutes bringing the giant fish to shore.

The Legend

            The records of what happened over the next few days are sketchy at best. We do know that Dr. Cook probably spent several more days fishing the Nipigon before having it weighed at the train scales in Orient Bay. Consistent with the fish mounting practices of the day, Dr. Cook dextrously separated the skin into two facing halves and sent it to Ottawa where Alex Finlayson, a government inspector of fish hatcheries confirmed the monster fish to be without doubt, the largest brook trout ever caught. It measured 31.5 inches long with a depth of 11 inches. (Girth measurements were not common place back then and currently estimated at 23 inches.) However, it did officially weigh 14 pounds 8 ounces.  To this day, the legend is surrounded in controversy and the target of skeptics. Was it actually a Brook Trout, sea run char, a Splake or Laker?  Regrettably, this controversy will never be solved as the remaining skins are gone. The one lost in a fire at the Nipigon museum mistakenly had an inscription that stated the date as 1916, not the correct 1915 year perpetuating yet another controversy. While Dr. Cook had several pictures taken with the fish, they too have disappeared into oblivion.

Most people don’t know that not only did Dr. Cook achieve the fishing Grail of catching the largest brook trout, but he also set another unbeaten record the following day by catching the world’s largest pair of brook trout (5 lbs. and 6lbs. 8 oz) caught simultaneously on one line with two tippets.

The Future

            By the late 1800’s, the river's production was already in decline. The creation of 4 dams from the 1920s to the 1950s, lead to further habitat destruction and fluctuating water levels. The completion of the Pine Portage Dam in 1950 raised the water level on the Nipigon River by 31 metres (100 feet) and flooded out almost 16 kilometres of white water, rapids and waterfalls including the White Chutes, Victoria, Canal, Devil, Rabbit and Miner’s Rapids. Lake Emma and Hannah were both flooded out and the whole area was renamed Forgan Lake. The river has irrevocably changed.

            Over the years, interest in the Grail continues to wax and wane as reports of other monster brook trout surface. None have proven to be ‘naturals’ or as large. Maybe we just don’t want the record to be broken and the legends fade into obscurity. It is the confirmation of an era past, yet the plight of the brook trout continues. The river has changed, the fishing methods refined, yet the determination to pursue the Grail continues ever strong. It seems to be a psychological need for every trout fisherman to be a part of that celebrated past and a member of its glorious future.           

            The large brook trout of the famed Nipigon still remain, but are significantly reduced in number and range. Efforts are under way to enhance the current population and protect their future. Significant efforts by Rob Swainson, of the Nipigon MNR have dramatically improved the sustainability of the brook trout, also known as Coasters. Size and catch limits,  conservation practices, water flow agreements and a shift in fishing practices to ”Catch & Release” have positively impacted the future of the brook trout. We all hope, dream and indeed, fanticize about what was, is, and will be. One can only imagine fishing ‘the Nepigon’ in its prime, and dream of its potential in the continued...
“Quest for the Grail.”

Written by Alan Muir

 

Cook also holds another record of the largest 2 brook trout caught simultaneously on a single line with two tippets. (5 lbs and 6lbs 8 ozs)
These are on display at the Thunder Bay Museum

 

The New Fly Fisher put together a show for the 100th anniversary of world record catch. video