Mr. Hustins has been involved for years in Atlantic salmon fishing and in conservation groups at a very high level. He published a previous book: Brown trout and Rainbow trout: A journey into Newfoundland waters.

His new book was a great read and an eye-opener. It is meticulously researched and spells out in great detail the history of the mismanagement of the Atlantic salmon in this province dating from 1700 to 1949. The tales of the rape of the stock, while fascinating, are very saddening and makes one wonder how people both in government and out, could be so lacking in vision and uncaring. Rivers and bays were blocked with structures and nets to the point that it is difficult to surmise how the runs could survive. One can only marvel at resiliency of the species: that they could survive all this abuse and still be around today.

The book details the involvement of Lee Wulff and many others in trying to have prudent measures enacted to ensure the stocks would survive. One river in particular that Wulff was concerned about and loved was Fox Island River where he landed a seven pound brook trout and some large salmon. Wulff recommended measures that would give the fish a chance of surviving-- but they were never implemented, and as a result Newfoundland's best trout river has been destroyed forever.

The book is not all doom and gloom however and features some great stories culled from old publications in Newfoundland and elsewhere along with fine old photos.

One that struck home to me was about a salmon fishing trip to Kitty's Brook near Howley, where I grew up. The river, apparently, was full of salmon up to about seven pounds. Sadly, this little river no longer has salmon as the runs were destroyed by the damming of Grand Lake for the power station at Deer Lake.

Some snippets:

"An American angler landed a 24 lb speckled trout after a three and one half hour-battle while fishing the Codroy River in 1900. The trout, which was later mounted by Ivan Bayley of North Sydney, was believed to be the largest ever seen in the country and measured 3 feet and 8 inches with a girth of 21 inches."

"In 1915, the largest salmon taken by an angler was on the Torrent River, weighing 38 lb., the second largest for the season, a 35 lb salmon was taken on the Highlands River followed by a 34-pounder on the Torrent River."

"Fishing was poor on the Little Codroy River in 1935 so Tompkins took Wulff to the Grand Codroy. Wulff hooked a number of salmon and before releasing them tied a bit of string loosely around their tails. The next morning he found that all had survived much to the surprise of the guides."

"(Wulff) I remember Jim Tompkins, a big raw-boned man with his, big calloused hands, at a later date when we were both fully aware that the great days of salmon angling in Newfoundland were passing, that the Little Codroy's run was shrinking rapidly both in size and number.

I can still see Jim at the end of a long evening's discussion with tears streaming down his rugged face, knowing that mine could not long stay dry. We wept with our hearts for the salmon river that was dying; a river that he had lived by and loved for his entire lifetime; a river that I had come to know and love. Jim Tompkins, whose angler guests fished that river, passed on before the river died. He did not live to learn, as I did, of a year in which the total angling catch of his beloved Little Codroy dwindled to a single grilse."

This a great book: buy it and give one to an angling friend. They will treasure it.

Ches Loughlin
Editor, SPAWNER magazine