Fishing here: the licences, the rivers, the rules

Buy a licence, and on most salmon water, bring a guide. A non-resident on the island may not angle scheduled salmon waters unaccompanied. Trout needs its own non-resident licence, which most people get backwards.

Both rules, and the rivers near each airport, are below. This page points to the rules, it is not the rules. Where the regulations or the Anglers’ Guide disagree with it, they win, and we want to hear about it.

The one rule that changes trips

A non-resident on the island may not angle scheduled salmon waters unaccompanied. The federal Anglers’ Guide requires a licensed guide or a resident direct relative beside you, with one carve-out: non-scheduled water within 800 metres of a numbered provincial highway. The province states the same rule and applies it to trout fishing beyond that same 800-metre band. If a salmon river is why you’re flying here, book an outfitter or guide before the flights. Guides are licensed provincially through the Wildlife Division.

Licences

One inland licence per person per season. Residents need no licence for trout; non-residents need one, and it is separate from the salmon licence. An $80 non-resident salmon licence alone does not let you keep a trout (figure as stated when we checked, September 2026; the licensing page has the current prices). Licences are sold by sporting goods stores and service stations, and you must carry yours while fishing. Retention on salmon rivers runs by class, tags lock through the fish, and catch-and-release still requires a valid salmon licence; the class rules, river by river, are the Anglers’ Guide’s own pages.

The rivers you can reach from the airports

The Exploits and the Gander, the region’s two best-known salmon rivers, are both scheduled, classed section by section, and on measured routes: Gander airport to Grand Falls-Windsor crosses the Exploits country, and the Gander River’s water starts close to YQX. The fall catch-and-release fishery runs main stems only: the Gander, the lower Exploits, and the lower Humber, which is Deer Lake’s river. That is a September reason to fly YDF. DFO declares in-season open and closed status. Their river status report is linked from the Anglers’ Guide; check it the morning you fish. Every salmon river a measured drive crosses, from each airport ↓