Salmon fishing

Québec has roughly one hundred salmon rivers containing very large fish, and offers an outstanding fishing experience for enthusiasts from home and abroad. To ensure the conservation of this much sought-after species, populations are monitored rigorously and stringent rules apply to salmon fishing.

You must personally register any salmon you catch and keep within 48 hours of leaving the fishing site. A wildlife protection officer may also ask you to register your catch immediately.

The following options are available to you:

Authorized partner

• Take your licence and your tagged salmon (whole or gutted) to an individual or association authorized by the Department, i.e. an outfitting operation offering salmon fishing, or a wildlife reserve or a salmon fishing controlled harvesting zone (ZEC). In the case of a wildlife reserve, the salmon must be presented whole.
• The tag from your licence is punched.
• Your fish is weighed and measured, and samples or other scientific specimens may be taken.

Self-registration at a control point

If this option is available at your fishing site, simply follow the procedure indicated to register your salmon.

By telephone

This option is available for some salmon rivers or river systems. If there is no provision to register your salmon, you must contact the regional office.

We recommend that you use the Angler’s Logbook (PDF 636 Kb) if you fish for salmon in zones 23 and 24, located in the Nord-du-Québec region.

The logbook can be used to register your catch, and also:

• to register with an outfitter;
• to obtain instructions for taking part in the collection of information used to manage the species in the zones in question.

Please note that other special rules may apply if you fish in the Nord-du-Québec region.

Because salmon rivers are usually managed by an organization of some kind, different sectors of the same river may have status as a ZEC, a wildlife reserve, a provincial park, an outfitter with exclusive rights or a private property.

Special conditions may therefore apply, depending on the specific location of the watercourse. In addition to the general rules (fishing periods, quotas and limits, authorized gear), you must therefore make sure you comply with the requirements of the fishing territory concerned.

You have free access to salmon rivers or sectors of salmon rivers that are not managed by an organization or located on private property.

Main prohibitions in salmon rivers

Salmon rivers are regulated to protect the reproduction and migration of Atlantic salmon. Notably, it is prohibited to fish salmon with a harpoon, bow or crossbow. Generally, only fly fishing is allowed.

In a salmon river, for all fish species, you are also not allowed to fish:

• during the period beginning one hour after sunset and ending one hour before sunrise (see the Sunrise/Sunset Calculator of the National Research Council Canada );
• from a bridge crossing a salmon river or its estuary;
• within 23 metres downstream from the lower entrance of a fish ladder, an operating fishway, an obstacle or a leaping space designed to facilitate the movement of fish;
• other than with a fishing rod less than 500 m downstream of any point of the mouth in zones 18, 19, 20 and 27 and on the north shore of the fleuve Saint-Laurent in zone 21.

You may fish for salmon by means of angling or fly fishing elsewhere than in a salmon river. You will still need a salmon fishing licence and must also comply with the tagging and registration requirements.

For information on the maximum number of salmon that may be caught daily, see the Fishing periods and quotas .