Fishing for brook trout (speckled trout) is a long standing tradition at Carpenter Lake. Since 1951, the person catching the largest trout becomes a member of the "Spec Club" and his name is engraved on a large replicate fishing lure that hangs in the lodge.

Many of the smaller lakes in our area including Fish, Howard, Tee, Lucille, Birch and Weir lakes are the home of brook trout (click on the Fishing Map tab to see these lakes). Brook trout also live in the clean clear waters of the Thessalon River and its various tributaries. Large lakes such as Shelden, Darragh, Reserve, Stoney and Caribou are dominated by lake trout but also have brook trout that can be caught with light tackle in sheltered bays.

Reaching the brook trout lakes requires travel of up to an hour's duration by some combination of driving, boating and portaging or using all-terrain vehicles or our farm tractor and cart. Twelve foot boats with oars are located on these lakes and are good for groups of up to 2 or 3 fishermen. In many instances, you need not bring an outboard motor although our lightweight 3.3 HP Mercury motors can be rented and carried to these lakes with a minimum of effort.

Brook trout are normally caught using light weight gear and techniques of spin casting, still fishing or fly fishing. Light artificial tackle or spinners and worms are a common presentation (click on Brook Trout Fishing tips to see a typical setup).

Lucille Lake is planted with brook trout on a triennial basis whereas the other lakes have naturally reproducing brook trout populations. Lucille Lake can yield large catches of same-size, planted brook trout typically in the year after fingerlings are planted whereas other lakes produce smaller catches of variably sized fish. Howard is an example of a trophy lake that has a small natural population of brook trout. Here, the catch may be small in quantity but large in size; many of our Spec Club trophies have come from this little lake.