Fish of Canada

The country holds more lakes than the rest of the world combined. That abundance, left by the glaciers, shapes a freshwater fishery dominated by large, cold, deep waters where fish live long and grow slowly — a good specimen is often several decades old.

Ice structures the year. A great many waters stay frozen for months, and ice fishing is not a curiosity but a season in its own right, with its own tackle and its own marks. The thaw opens a short, intense window in spring when fish move onto warming shallows.

On the coasts, the contrast is clear between a Pacific worked by salmonid runs and a cold, productive North Atlantic. Between them, Hudson Bay and the Arctic hold a fauna adapted to conditions few species tolerate.