I am responding to the article “Can’t Please Everybody” by Gord Follett, which appeared in the May edition.  Just a few comments from a former salmon fisherman who grew up in NL, taught by his grandfather from 14, and now living in NB.

No argument that the health & future of the stocks is the most important consideration for us – all.  I would fall into the group who are against hook & release fishing altogether.  In my view catch & release is torturing, or at least stressing salmon, purely for the angler’s pleasure.  And even if the 96% survival of released fish is correct, (which I doubt), that is 4 in 100, or 40 in a thousand, etc. hooked fish sacrificed simply for the pleasure of an angler. What kind of commitment is that to “health and future of the stocks” ? It is a hollow one, in my opinion.

I think anglers in NL are fortunate in being able to keep two fish, and should “tag them and get off the rivers” until next year. Gord mentions neighbouring Atlantic provinces’ regulations last year.  In fact any retention has been banned in NB since 2015, and like many of Gord’s friends, my gear has been hung in the garage since then.

Because of the two keepers allowed, I would like to be able to put a line in the water when I get to my cottage, not far from Indian River, in the summer.  But even though I grew up in Corner Brook & have fished most of the rivers on the west coast, since I am now an NB resident, I cannot do that without a guide.  Anglers in NL are lucky – appreciate what you have! Thank goodness for the summer food fishery so I might get a meal of “fish.”

As a last comment, under NB law any person born in the province or owning real property here can hunt and fish as a resident, no matter where they reside.  Many of us Newfoundlanders who left the province to make a living long for a similar law in our home province.  Many of us would be back more often and for longer if that were the case.

B. Rendell
Miramichi, NB