Lure of urban fishing draws anglers to Halifax waterfront

When Simon Niduaza finishes a stressful week at work as a patient attendant in the emergency room at the QEII, he knows he doesn't have to travel far to find respite from the busy hospital. 

He packs a bag and heads down to the Halifax waterfront, near Pier 21, and finds an adirondack chair to kick back on.

Once there, he unspools his fishing line and casts it into the harbour. 

"Every time I get a day off, I come here to fish and relax," Niduaza says.

On a recent sunny day, he soaked in the rays and reeled in the fish. Soon enough, the mackerel were biting, and it didn't take long before he had a cooler full of fish: dinner for the rest of the week, and more than enough extra to give to family and friends in the local Filipino community. 

He first began fishing here with his father in 2017, shortly after he moved from the Philippines to Halifax.

Since then, it's become a regular pastime, one that he says seems to be popular among other immigrants and people of colour who travel to places like the waterfront, Dingle Park on the Northwest Arm, the Bedford Basin and the Dartmouth side of the harbour to fish. 

When Niduaza began to fish on his own, on days his father was tied up at work, he remembers struggling to attract the mackerel that had previously been plentiful. 

But then his neighbour on the wharf, a man from China, shared his secret: the use of a shiny Sabiki hook to lure the fish.

In no time at all, he was blowing over the food fishery's daily limit of 20 and having to return some of his catch back to the ocean. No licence is required for recreational mackerel fishing in Nova Scotia but each fish caught must be longer than 26.8 centimetres. 

Mackerel fine to eat, says angler

Fishing is a versatile hobby. It can be a great way to enjoy peace and solitude, but it also builds community.

On Facebook, urban anglers point out their favourite spots and offer tips, like casting your lure further out or fishing during high tide.

Fishing in the city is sometimes met with skepticism from Halgonians who grew up hearing horror stories about the pollution in the harbour, but Niduaza says the mackerel he catches are perfectly clean.

Beyond that, fishing is a good way to save on food costs in an age where inflation at the grocery store is taking a big chunk out of our paycheques.

"Sometimes people will say, I don't eat fish in there because they're dirty," said Niduaza, who says he strips, cleans, and inspects the fish for worms before cooking it. 

"They're healthier than eating fast food and stuff and wasting your money on food that sometimes doesn't taste good at all." 

Mackerel visit harbour each year

According to Alex Ritchie, who leads a fishing tour that departs from the Halifax waterfront, people have been fishing for mackerel off the harbour for a long time.

"I remember fishing mackerel as a kid. It's always gone on," he said.

Moreover, mackerel from the harbour are typically fine to eat because the fish are only in the area for a short time each year.

"They come in for the two months and then they're somewhere else," he said. "They just swim on the surface, they're not a bottom feeder."

Ritchie says we're fast approaching the peak of mackerel season. 

If you want to catch Atlantic cod or pollock, however, you're going to have to go further out, said Ritchie, because you won't find them in the harbour.