Spec fishing in Newfoundland

[pchilli1]

Good morning all,

I hope everyone is enjoying the heat wave, wow. Anyway, I have a question....I am going to be in Newfoundland for an eight day vacation in a couple weeks. I was wondering if anyone has fished any inland streams for specks in Nfld, or if you have fished throughout the province at all. I would be interested in any locations/rivers you fished. I am going with a buddy who is also an avid fisherman and we are both experienced speck fisherman, but have never fished the ‘rock’ before. I will be sure to include many pictures upon my return.

Cheers,

Paul

[troutbum]

you lucky son of a gun, I was there last year and it was great I didn't buy a salmon license, just a trout one. We were on the western side - Gros Morne area lots of streams and small rivers. Be warned most if not all are fly only. I'm not sure I can remember what their names were but I fished a number of streams that crossed the hwy up to St Anthony from Rocky Harbour. They were just loaded with trout, not huge but very plentiful and I'm talking within a couple of hundred yards within the road. Which is another issue you should be aware of a non-resident needs a guide if they are fishing more then 1000 yards or metres away from the road, you can check that out in the regs. Fished a couple of rivers near Stephenville with a guide I think it was Barachois? Nice sea run and brookies 12"to 18" and chunky, also saw ( did not catch many Salmon) - guide said it hasn't been this good in amost 50 yrs. Man you are in for a good time the scenery is awesome and the people are even better.

[Fishhawk]

Troutbum has more recent info than I do. Also he talks about the West Coast which is unknown to me for fishing. I don't know what your plans are for crossing the island - too bad you only have eight days because crossing it and crossing back would pretty much occupy two entire days with driving.

I grew up on the East Coast and all I was gonna suggest is to do what we used to do... leave St. John's and drive out over the Trans Canada until we saw a pond (no lakes - just ponds - we calls everyting ponds back home) and walk over to it across the barren (Avalon Peninsula). Red Devils and various flies is what we used most of the time to catch a bunch of 10 inch specs. Just walk all around the pond.

But if you're on the Avalon you could wind up with ouananiche and browns easy enough.

Guluck!

[pchilli1]

Thanks for the info guys. I will be sure to look into the proper regs and being the proper rod (fly vs. non-fly). I am quite excited to get into some trout.

Again, I'll do my darndest to post some pictures of my adventures.

Thanks again.

[SalmoSalar]

Hello,

I have been trolling on this website for some time in search of information about fishing around the Ottawa area and I don't normally post on any web boards. I have gained a wealth of knowledge here and I hope that some day I'll transition into someone who can actually answer questions about fishing in and around Ottawa. However, when I saw your question and subsequent answer by another poster, I felt compelled to let you know a few things about fishing in Newfoundland to help you avoid potential trouble. I am originally from NF and I still take a trip down there every summer to fish for atlantic salmon. You should be aware that most significant brooks and rivers that run to the ocean in NF are DFO scheduled salmon rivers. What this means is that you are only allowed to fish them during scheduled times. The west coast rivers generally open on the first of June and the rest open on the 15th of June. As well, you can only fish these rivers with a single barbless, unweighted artificial fly. Essentially, you are SOL on these rivers if you don't have a flyrod. Obviously, to fish the scheduled rivers for speckles, you'll need non-resident salmon AND trout licenses to fish legally. Having said all of this, if you do have a flyrod this experience is one that will definitely be worth it for you. This early part of the season is the best time to take a salmon and any sea run brookies will be a bonus. You could literally hire a local guide and ask him to show you some pools near the highway and return the very next day by yourself. As long as you stay within 1000m of the highway, you'll be fine. I suspect that you could hire a local guide for ~$100 for the day - just ask around, but ask to see a guide's license.
If you don't have a flyrod and you want to go after speckles you are still in business. All of the scheduled salmon rivers will be posted with a white 2'X2' sign near the main highway that says so. If you find some smaller brooks running to the ocean that aren't scheduled salmon rivers they should be a pretty good bet for sea run speckles this time of year and you can certainly go after them with your spinning gear. Try small spinners with a worm. These are some of the best fish you'll ever eat.
If you are in the St.John's area, salmon fishing is not such a good bet and you'll want to concentrate on trout. Do a google search for sea run browns in avalon peninsula area and you should find some good information on that fishery. Some truly huge brown trout in the 20lb+ range have been taken not far from the city of St.John's. There is actually some really good sea run brown trout fishing right in the city. I don't know a lot about this fishery but I would imagine success is dependant on the time of year.
Also, as fishhawk said, don't forget that any of the ponds near the trans canada highway are likely to hold trout as well.

Have a great time and feel free to shoot me some questions.
Salmo

[hoeboe]

The ponds is where I wet my line when I was out there. West coast as well. In between Pasadena and Deer Lake. There is a logging/mining road that is in really good shape that goes on for miles and miles running east. Along the drive you will spot a few ponds on the north side of the road that hold thousands of specks. I have never seen specks school until I went to NFLD. Here in Ontario you'd be luck to find a half dozen in a pool. Where I went you could almost walk across them! It was FANTASTIC! Nothing huge by any means but it was a great feed nonetheless and a ton of fun. Almost like catching panfish here.

I can't quite remember all the regs out there but I do agree about the 1000M thing. I'm not promoting that anyone disregard a reg but if you have any kind of common sense you could navigate just about anywhere I have seen in NFLD. Especially in the areas where they have clear cut. You can see more miles in any direction pretty well. Kind of weird that they haven't instituted the "guide" law in northern Ontario. There's a lot bigger chance of getting lost up there than in NFLD if you ask me.

Hope you have a memorable trip!

[Laker_Taker]

I'd suggest spending some time fishing Red Indian Lake and the area. Also like someone said stick to the ponds. They aren't regulated the same as the scheduled salmon waters so you don't have to use a fly or have a guide or fly fish if you don't want to. Another thing is look into getting your licence before you get there or know where to go once you get there. I took the ferry to Argentia but couldn't get my hands on a trout licence until I got to St. John's. Now, I was there late August when most Nfld'ers have put away their trout rods. My last suggestion is just talk to the locals. Its so true what they say about folks out there: they'd give you the shirt off there back if you need it! Have a great time m'bye.

[pchilli1]

Thanks again everyone, I truly am greatful for all the information. Now, I must contain myself for another 17 days before I leave! Haha.

Cheers and again, I'll be sure to include some pics in return for all the information you provided me.

[BigBassAl]

Hi Paul,
Will you be going to the east coast or west coast of the island?

-Al

[Fishhawk]

Thanks again everyone, I truly am greatful for all the information. Now, I must contain myself for another 17 days before I leave! Haha.

Cheers and again, I'll be sure to include some pics in return for all the information you provided me.

You mean you aren't going to be there until June 17th?

I dunno ow ta break dis to ya buddy, but dat week is always da worst time ta go troutin' in Newfoundland! Ya might as well go troutin' in a bucket!

Just kidding. Hope things work out for ya.

[MudMan]

I'm another transplanted Newfoundlander who's read this forum for a while, but never had much to contribute until I read this post.

I grew up outside St. John's (St. Philip's/Portugal Cove) and we always fished the ponds with spinning gear. Spinners with worms, red devils, and we'd even tie a piece of broom handle to the end of line as a float with two or three flies up the line ... nothing like catching two or three fish at once Of course there's not much size to the mud trout (... good eatin' though), but I've seen some big browns, and even some rainbow (Rainbow gullies, Hugh's pond, Witchhazel, and Hogan's pond).

If your on the East coast, you don't have to go far ... up Thorburn Road (along the road), Healey's pond and Gull pond have lots of fish, on a calm evening the surface will be alive with trout rising after flies ... or for a little better fishing and certainly more privacy Moriarity's or Triangle pond (... be careful with that one, I'd bet there's quite a few bodies of water in Newfoundland with that name), or like Bobber said simply head out the highway and pick a body of water. We used to go into Corcoran pond and camp when we were young, but now the outer ring road runs right beside it .... I caught some nice mud trout in there.

Of course the browns are bigger ... I believe at one time Renne's river right in St. John's had the most dense population of brown trout anywhere ... not hard to find either as they built the fluvarium around it ... you can go downstairs and see right into the river system like an aquarium (... pretty cool).

Anyway, bestalucktoya ... can't wait to hear how it goes.

Here's a picture of a nice walleye I caught up in the park this past weekend ...
[/img]

[Fishhawk]

I'm another transplanted Newfoundlander who's read this forum for a while, but never had much to contribute until I read this post.

I grew up outside St. John's (St. Philip's/Portugal Cove) and we always fished the ponds with spinning gear. Spinners with worms, red devils, and we'd even tie a piece of broom handle to the end of line as a float with two or three flies up the line ... nothing like catching two or three fish at once Of course there's not much size to the mud trout (... good eatin' though), but I've seen some big browns, and even some rainbow (Rainbow gullies, Hugh's pond, Witchhazel, and Hogan's pond).

If your on the East coast, you don't have to go far ... up Thorburn Road (along the road), Healey's pond and Gull pond have lots of fish, on a calm evening the surface will be alive with trout rising after flies ... or for a little better fishing and certainly more privacy Moriarity's or Triangle pond (... be careful with that one, I'd bet there's quite a few bodies of water in Newfoundland with that name), or like Bobber said simply head out the highway and pick a body of water. We used to go into Corcoran pond and camp when we were young, but now the outer ring road runs right beside it .... I caught some nice mud trout in there.

Of course the browns are bigger ... I believe at one time Renne's river right in St. John's had the most dense population of brown trout anywhere ... not hard to find either as they built the fluvarium around it ... you can go downstairs and see right into the river system like an aquarium (... pretty cool).

Anyway, bestalucktoya ... can't wait to hear how it goes.

Here's a picture of a nice walleye I caught up in the park this past weekend ...
[/img]

Ahhh mudman - welcome to Hawk Talk. The old broom stick with a royal coachmen, a jock scott and a dusty miller usually covered all the bases. Ya could cast that a mile out into Second Pond - where my biggest brown came from.

And about the Rennes system - I also heard that it had the highest concentration of brown trout of any river in the world by 2X. Runner up was some river in Argentina. But we would never fish Rennes River - you'd get too hung up on the bicycles and shopping carts.