Date published: March 6, 2009
Revised: March 23, 2009
By Mark Hamilton, Inland Fisheries Division

Trying the waters at the Hatchery Pool of the Margaree River, Cape Breton

What do you do when you're surrounded by water? In Nova Scotia, the answer is: you go fishing!

Nova Scotia is a place of waters. We have 6,000 lakes (of more than two hectares in area), countless streams and rivers, and 7,400 km of coastline.

There are more than 100 angling derbies annually in Nova Scotia (45 brook trout derbies, 52 Bass tournaments, and numerous pickerel, rainbow trout, striped bass and ice fishing derbies).

There were more than 57,000 licensed anglers in NS in 2008. That's an annual economic impact of $94 million to the NS economy!

Nova Scotia has more than 50 active angling conservation and river enhancement groups, and more than 100 trained River Watch volunteers.

There are 25 barrier-free facilities available to disabled anglers in Nova Scotia.

The Inland Fisheries Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture runs an angling education program (Learn to Fish, or L2F) for youth in grades 4, 5, and 6. In 2008, 525 children went fishing with this program.

In 2000, a typical year, Nova Scotian anglers fished 1.2 million days. 78 per cent of these were in fresh water and 22 per cent in salt water.

Brook trout (our provincial fish) is the favourite species pursued by anglers, followed by rainbow trout and smallmouth bass.

This summer a Nova Scotia Free Sportfishing Weekend is being held on June 6 and 7. It's a great opportunity to introduce kids to angling. All Nova Scotians can fish FREE this weekend! Bag limits and other regulations still apply -- you can find these on this website.