By Andrew Macdonald
The sportfishing season goy underway April 1, in many lakes and rivers across Nova Scotia.
“Sportfishing is a fun activity and a great way to get outside for some solitude or time with family and friends,” Steve Craig, former minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, said in a statement. “For Nova Scotians with mobility issues or other disabilities, there are barrier-free fishing sites so more people can enjoy this activity.”
There are 21 barrier-free sites across the province. Sites include different supports, such as accessible parking, flat fishing pads, benches or railings where anglers can cast a line.
Anglers at all lakes and rivers must respect bag limits and other regulations, said Craig. They should also practise catch-and-release to help maintain healthy fish populations so the sport is available to future generations.
Anglers are encouraged to report invasive species to prevent their spread to other bodies of water. Invasive species such as chain pickerel can harm native species, ecosystems and biodiversity.
Quick Facts:
- more than 400 lakes are stocked with trout from provincial fish hatcheries each year
- people can buy a sportfishing licence online or at vendors (corner stores) across the province
- general fishing licences are valid for all freshwater fish species except Atlantic salmon
- more than 70,000 people participate in sportfishing each year in Nova Scotia
- sportfishing contributes about $85 million to Nova Scotia’s economy
For barrier-free fishing sites, click here:
For an archived story on a trout bait firm, here is a past Notebook news article:
It’s Trout Fishing Season – The Big Business Of Retailing Worms
By Andrew Macdonald
I like to go out and fish for trout – and that season is now open.
Like many folk who fish, I catch and release trout – sometimes I hear a story of a fisherperson catching a trout, releasing it, and then they catch the same fish again weeks later.
Trout fishing solo or with a buddy is a solitary sport.
I fish the same stream that I used to fish as a kid – I learned how to fish with my dad, and he would take us to spots where he, himself, as a kid would go with his own dad, my grandfather.
Its ancestral lands which my family located after fleeing Scotland in 1792 – that were part of the celebrated historical event, known as The Highland Clearances.
Clan Chiefs, if not feuding and killing other clans in Scotland – and the biggest event was when the Campbells massacred the Macdonalds, in the 1600s- pushed off the peon Scottish crofters of their territory because they wanted the room to raise sheep and the peasant Scottish folk were part of the Highland Clearances which populated Canada, NS and America centuries ago.
iStock By Getty image.Caledonia, Ontario – October 11, 2011: a group of unnamed Anglers fishing near the Caledonia Dam in the lower Grand River on an Autumn morning.
Headline: The Big Business Of Retailing Worms For Trout Fishers
There is big money to be made in the retailing of worms as fish bait.
When I go out trout fishing I cheat and, rather than dig my own, use worms from an Ontario company called Evergreen Night Crawlers. It wholesales worms for trout fishing to convenience stores in Atlantic Canada and supplies stores across North America with worms, generating annually $5 million in sales.
Southern Ontario bills itself as the worm capital of Canada, says Evergreen, which wholesales worms in this province to Mr. Fly, a Maritime wholesaler and distributor of hunting and fishing goods based in a suburban industrial park in Halifax outskirts.
It is now trout fishing season in NS. (Contributed).
Mr. Fly generates $100,000 annually supplying Maritime corner stores with worms, according to owner Richard Hann. He tells The Macdonald Notebook that the stores keep worms in fridges, and a tub or container with a dozen worms retails for $5.
“Whoever thought (worms are a big business),” says Hann. “It is mind-boggling.”
He says he grew up in Newfoundland and worms in that province are hard to come by in the ground. “They don’t call it the Rock for nothing.”
“We retail four types of worms, nightcrawlers — the big fat juicy worms — a baby night crawler, green worms, and big red garden worms,” he says.
“We sell to everything from a hardware store to convenience stores and even sell to drug stores.”
At corner stores and drug stores in rural NS, Mr. Fly tub of worms are being retailed. (The Notebook).
Buying worms at a store, as opposed to digging them up on your lawn, is popular with people who fish for trout or when ice fishing because it is convenient to buy a container of worms, he says.
Hann and his wife are the only employees of Mr. Fly, based at a warehouse at Blue Water Road, in Bedford.
He relies on refrigerated trucks from Midland Transport to deliver to Maritime stores. At the peak of trout fishing in the spring, he sells three to four skids of worms — there are 90 cases of worms on a skid, and 24 tubs with 15 worms in a case on a skid.
“There are 32,000 worms in a skid.”
Mr. Fly also wholesales hunting merchandise, but he does not supply guns, saying the profit margin on guns is too low to make it a decent business.
In summer, recreational fishermen turn to mackerel fishing. “That is one of the biggest fishing markets in Nova Scotia,” says Hann.
“Another popular fishery in the summer is squid fishing,” he says. “There is a species of squid coming up from the Southern Ocean. “When I was growing up squid came from the north, but the waters are warmer now.”
Squid fishing happens all around the waters of Nova Scotia.
Worms aren’t used for mackerel fishing, but some use worms for flounder fishing in the Bay of Fundy.
As for trout fishing, Hann says brooks around Antigonish and Hubbards are noted for their fishing. A government fishing license sells for $29 for those interested in dipping a line.
Mr. Fly was founded 54 years ago. Hann was in the navy for 24 years and is the son of an inshore fisherman.
Wholesale worm selling is an important part of his company, but his general fishing and hunting merchandise is his biggest business line. His annual sales of every business line generate $1 million.
