Fishing

Species Catfish Season Spring: Mid-May to mid-June Coordinates 50°23€² 7€³N, 96°48€²39€³W Location: Flows through Red River Valley, Minnesota, and North Dakota; empties into Lake Winnipeg Length: 885 kilometres Hottest spot: Current scours just downstream of the Selkirk dam Best for channel catfish American anglers wet their pants talking about the channel cat fishing in the mighty Mississippi. I can’t imagine...

Species Bass Season Fall: September to November Coordinates 45°16€²0 N, 66 4€²0 Location: New Brunswick Length: 673 kilometres Hottest spot: Reversing Falls Best for large striped bass Thank goodness striped bass are wanderers. Up the east coast of the U.S. they travel before entering Canadian waters and eventually hanging a left into the Saint John River—this country’s hands-down striper hot...

Species Bass, Carp, Muskellunge, Perch, Pike, Sturgeon, Trout, Walleye/Pickerel Season Fall: October and November Location: Travels through Ontario and Quebec Length: 1,197 kilometresHottest spot: Windmill Point In 2012, ranked #7 in all-time hot spots Draining the world’s largest system of freshwater lakes, the St. Lawrence is a giant, productive river, with some seriously big bass, carp, walleye...

Species Trout Season Summer: late July Location: Central Alberta, north of Calgary Hottest spot: Six pools downstream of Ram Falls Best for westslope cutthroat trout I knew I wanted to move to Alberta the first time I saw the South Ram River. As a kid from Winnipeg spending the summer of 1968 visiting relatives in Calgary...

Species Salmon, Steelhead Season Fall: latter half of September Location: Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, British Columbia Hottest spot: Bucket Run In 2012, ranked #40 in all-time hot spots Vancouver Island's Stamp River doesn't have the biggest salmon or the most salmon, but starting in mid-September, it may well have the most big ones. And it's...

Species Carp Season Spring Coordinates 44°20€²2€³N, 75°59€²41€³W Location: An archipelago of islands in Ontario Hottest spot: Gananoque to Rockport, Ontario Best for carp While gliding through the shallows, you cast delicately into a large school of 10-, 20- and even 30-pound fish. One of the giants lazily sucks up your bait, feels the hook and, if you’re lucky...

Species Perch, Pike, Sturgeon, Walleye/Pickerel Season Fall: Late September until freeze-up Location: A resevoir of Saskatchewan, near NipawinHottest spot: White RockCoordinates: 53° 31′ 0″ N, 103° 44′ 35″ W In 2012, ranked #8 in all-time hot spots Formed in 1963 with the damming of the Saskatchewan River, Tobin quickly gained fame as a hot spot for...