Pinched barbed hooks now mandatory for Atlantic Salmon angling in Nova Scotia

Pinch the barbs of your salmon flies!! A note just in from the Flies and Lies e-mail list.

Pinched barbed hooks now mandatory for Atlantic Salmon angling in Nova Scotia in 2008.

The Nova Scotia Salmon Association has been lobbying for the use of pinched barbed (barbless) hooks while fishing for Atlantic Salmon for the past four years. Meetings through the Zone Management Committee Meetings and consultations with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has resulted in this becoming a regulation commencing this year.

Commencing June 1st, 2008, pinched barbs will be mandatory, on the fly you are fishing with, in Salmon Fishing Areas 19 (eastern Cape Breton), 20 (eastern Nova Scotia) and 21 (Southern Nova Scotia).

Commencing October 1
st, 2008, pinched barbs will be mandatory, on the fly you are fishing with, in Salmon Fishing Area 18 (western Cape Breton and northern Nova Scotia).

This will make it easier to safely release these wonderful fish unharmed and to ensure they return to spawn again