Fishing in Newfoundland and Labrador
By sea from North Eastern Canada, the nearest land is Greenland 500 miles to the north, and Ireland, 1500 miles to the east. The water is deep…the water is cold. It is where the Labrador current flows down from the frozen northern seas, carrying with it the rich plankton clouds. Small fry love plankton. Bigger fry love smaller fry. There are fish at all levels of the (sometimes) deep water, and there are fish during all seasons.
Moving inland, there are rivers, mighty and small. There are lakes. There are tackle-busting fish swimming in them.
This area of Canada is known as Newfoundland and Labrador, and is, quite simply, an angler’s paradise. Even if you never go anywhere else in the world to satisfy your angling lust, you must not miss any opportunity you get to fish in this area and these waters.
Newfoundland is a large island which enjoys a comparatively mild marine climate, whereas Labrador is ruled by a more severe continental climate, as you would expect (and enjoy) when in the mountain wildernesses fishing the great salmon rivers and lakes.
The sea fishing from Newfoundland is remarkable. Where else could you hook in to a hundred pound halibut one day, and a thirty pound cod the next? Or take the family out for a day charter, happily feathering for mackerel or squid jigging for snappers? The shoreline is rugged and beautiful, and the waters are often flat and calm around the multiple rock islands which provide good shelter against the Atlantic seas.
On the rivers and lakes there is also amazing scope for variety. Not only a variety of species, but also a variety of angling styles, from fly to worm, and from spinner to plug. Almost every species of salmon known to man make their journeys up Labrador’s great rivers, and it is not unusual for annual runs of 20,000 and 30,000 to be recorded. But the real jewel in the fishing crown that is Newfoundland and Labrador are the (literally) hundreds of rivers which have never had a fishing line cast upon them. Yes, that’s right, un-fished rivers and lakes! Can you imagine what may lay beneath the surface? Regularly, land-locked salmon of thirty pounds and more are caught by adventurous anglers who have trekked and quad-biked out into the wildernesses. Other fish caught regularly in the inland waterways are char, brook trout, northern pike, and whitefish.
The whole area welcomes visitors warmly, and aside from the numerous resorts there are many individual and characterful places to stay. A few selected words into a search engine will provide you with more than enough good information to plan your trip. Look for tackle hire too – it will save you having to tote your own gear on the airlines!
Susan Gee caught the fishing bug from her father, who ran a Car Hire UK business and often took customers out on fishing excursions. She is a professional writer who enjoys nothing more than a week’s fishing trip followed by a week writing about it for various newspaper columns.
