Gone fishing, via the Net

Tired of heading off for the same old fishing hole each weekend? In the old days, word of mouth was the best way to find a good fishing spot. Now, if you’re looking for a new spot to drop anchor, your first stop should be the Internet. The Net also makes it easy to connect to others who share your passion for the sport.

An online fishing enthusiast will find a well-stocked search engine like Google a great help in planning a get-away. Type in the cottage community closest to your home, and the words “Canada” and “fishing”, like so: “Fishing Canada Ontario Barrie”.

You’ll haul in a load of fishing sites, many of them with detailled maps. Yahoo! Canada has a bunch of sports fishing categories to choose from (Yahoo Sport Fishing Canada), broken down by category of fish and by technique.

National Sites:
Fishing in Canada has links in every province and territory. There is a built-in keyword search, fishing equipment reviews, and links to tackle and boating manufacturers.

&l;ahref=”http://www.canada.com/travel/feature/fishing/index.html”>Canada.com has its own fishing site, with a list of lakes and fishing holes in a number of different provinces, and links to a variety of fishing sites. 

They also have a small fishing search engine (http://canada.looksmart.com) which has a select list of equipment outfitters, travel guides, resorts and guides.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has a national site, and one for each of six administrative regions (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/regions_e.htm ): Newfoundland, Maritimes, Gulf, Laurentian, Central and Arctic and Pacific.

Each of the regional web sites contains local contact information and details on Fisheries and Oceans Canada services and activities in that area. 

Regional sites:
If you want to find fishing spots in Quebec, Atlantic Canada and the Territories, you are best off to stick to the major search engines. There are not too many mega-sites devoted to fishing in these regions.

You’ll find a few for BC, Alberta, and Manitoba, though, and a lot in Ontario. Here are some of our picks:
B.C. Sports Fishing has a wide range of information, including lodging, lakes, events, moon almanac, tides, the weekly fishing report, and even fishing jokes!  (Sample: I once gave up fishing and that was the worst 10 seconds of my life!)

Fishing in Alberta is a government of Alberta page. It has information on licensing, fees, fishing news, regulations, and a list of links to other Alberta fishing sites.

Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management offers a fishing and hunting guide in Adobe PDF format that you can download and print out.

Manitoba Fishing and Outdoors has links, park and lake information, accommodations, and angler’s guides.

Fishing Information Network Services lists hotspots, lakes, lodges, maps, license information and contests.

Fish in Ontario has an online BBS where you can chat with other fishers and find out where the hot spots are. There’s a list of lodges and good fishing holes.