You have read and heard about fishing for Canadian salmon. Perhaps you have tied on a fly and flicked it over a rushing stream in British Columbia's interior and were rewarded by the tugging fight of a hooked salmon bending your rod. Maybe you have only wondered how salmon fishing in Canada began. Aboriginal, commercial and recreational fishing for salmon all have a long history in Canada.
In the Beginning
Salmon once abounded in the waters along both coasts of Canada and in the streams flowing into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Freshwater salmon could be found in the Great Lakes, and in the fall, the streams that fed the lakes were alive with salmon returning to the rivers where they had been born.
Salmon are still found throughout Canada, but their numbers are dwindling because of overfishing, stream diversion and polluted waters.
Lifecycle of a Salmon
Every fall, the salmon fight their way upstream against the current to find the water in which they were born. Salmon battle rapids and waterfalls and the constant dangers of being caught and eaten by bears, eagles, osprey and people.
When the spawning grounds are finally reached, the female, with a flick of her tail, digs several depressions in the river bottom and deposits thousands of eggs. The male fertilizes the eggs with a deposit of milt, and the eggs are covered with gravel to protect them against predators. The adult salmon then die.
The First and Best Fishers
Black bear, brown bear and grizzlies feast upon the migrating salmon and eat the post-spawn carcasses of the dead fish. With a swipe of a powerful paw, bears lining the riverbanks and poised at the shallower water near rapids, toss the fish onto the shore and devour them in preparation for winter migration. Otters, raccoon, mink and other predators join in the feast.
The Cycle is Completed
What is left of the adult salmon sinks to the river bottom, providing nutrients for the next generation of fish. The eggs hatch as alevin, remain a year in freshwater as fry and enter the oceans or lakes as smolt. After one to four years of growing in the open water, the adult salmon return to the streams of their birth to spawn and die.
Man Joins the Feast
Aboriginals of the West Coast traditionally have fished for migrating salmon using spears and nets. The fish were then dried and/or smoked over campfires to provide winter sustenance. Early European settlers did the same.
Today, commercial salmon licenses are issued for seine, gill net and troll fishing in the ocean near coastal rivers. Recreational fishing, regulated by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, require a valid sport fishing license with a valid salmon conservation tag attached.
Anglers fish from boats while trolling, or from piers, shores or standing in shallow water with mandated barbless hooks using bait, lures and artificial flies.
Member Comments