Why Atlantic Canada and why Newfoundland?

by Hans van Klinken

A very nice size fish for Beaver BrookThe answer is quite simple. I wanted to study and discover the crucial similarities of an Atlantic salmon taking (dry) flies in Norway as opposed to Atlantic Canada. My ultimate goal was to find out why a salmon takes a dry fly aggressively in certain rivers and yet refuses to come to the surface in other streams. In addition, I wanted to test twenty years of knowledge of water quality, water levels, water flows, bottom structures and weather conditions which I had gained in Norway. The only study material I had available was some very detailed information on what I had written in several of my fishing diaries over the years. Since the early seventies, I had caught several grilse and even a few real salmon on a dry fly. However, very few people believed me. This forced me to continue my exploration on my own. By the end of the eighties, I was successfully able to catch grilse in the northern part of Norway using dry flies quite easily. However, my success was limited to only seventeen river systems in central and southwest Norway. 

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