August 15, 2017 – This is a very interesting book that provides an accurate chronological timeline of the development of a recreational Atlantic salmon fishery on Newfoundland’s LaPoile River.  Many thanks to Mr. Walter Staples for researching and documenting this interesting period in time. – Scott Smith

The North Bay Narrative is the remarkable story of a remote Newfoundland fishing village and its evolution from a community of a few families where men built boats by hand to today’s collection of cottages, including the Salmon Hole Lodge, where local residents guide visiting Atlantic salmon anglers.

Author and ardent fisherman Walter Staples made his first trip to this wild area of southwest Newfoundland in 1980. He had heard about the beautiful LaPoile River valley and its prolific runs of wild Atlantic salmon. What he discovered, however, was a much more complex story about rugged pioneer families who moved far from the nearest village in hopes of carving out a livelihood from the dense forest.

North Bay’s first settlers began building ocean-going fishing boats, cutting trees by hand, pulling them from the woods to the banks of the LaPoile River, and floating the logs downstream to the village. The logs were pulled ashore in North Bay and cut into boards by men using pit saws. The completed vessels, some sixty feet long, were launched by hand to the river, and sold to fishermen along the coast. From 1890 until 1968, three generations built over 150 vessels.

The people of North Bay, never more than 80 at any one time, began moving away from the village after World War II. Although the last year-round resident left in 1968, the village was already in transition. Many former residents returned during the summer and old houses were replaced with cottages. The LaPoile River still runs by the revived village of North Bay and local residents, working at the Salmon Hole Lodge, guide fishermen who cast their flies for Atlantic salmon.

Until this book, the old North Bay existed only in the memories of the few remaining people who were born and lived there. In the North Bay Narrative, their story lives on – a reminder of other small Newfoundland communities now abandoned and soon to be forgotten.
Go to Amazon.com to purchase the book: