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Matt Brazil with a bent rod at Island Pool on Castors River. - Contributed photoSPANIARD'S BAY, N.L. — They say there’s no love like your first love.I met Castors River on the Northern Peninsula early in my salmon fishing life. Well, maybe closer to midlife, but at the beginning of when I became totally serious about the pursuit, committed to attaining higher skill and knowledge.
Most local folks use boats to cross the pond, a two-mile expanse of open water that can get pretty rough in the prevailing southwest winds of summer. I’ve seen the waves reach four feet and surfing in a canoe is not my idea of sport. However, distance and danger act as a strong filter to most beside the hardcore.
Just a few casts brought a feisty fish boiling to the surface and my rod bent. I released a 60-centimetre grilse just in time to see Frank set the hook on his first fish of the day. We awoke and continued on. Symmetrical bowl-shaped holes that I imagine formed from the abrasive effects of rocks swirling in eddies, lie everywhere along the Ledges, a section of extraordinary pocket water.