Fishing in Ulittaniujalik National Park

Ulittaniujalik sits in the far north of Quebec, near Ungava Bay, where boreal forest gives way to arctic tundra across more than 5,000 square kilometres.

The park's water is defined by two major river systems — the George and the Ford — along with the lakes and tributaries that feed them. This is remote country; access is fly-in, and the fishing reflects that isolation. The Rivière George is the park's spine.

It carries Atlantic salmon — specifically the Nunavik population, which the park was partly created to protect — and has drawn anglers and outfitters to this stretch of northern Quebec since the early 1960s, when the first commercial outfitting camps appeared on the lower river.

The George is also a whitewater river, and any multi-day trip through the park involves reading both the water and the logistics carefully.

The Rivière Ford, running parallel to the George, has its own long history as a travel and subsistence route for Inuit moving between the coast and the interior.

It connects to the same network of lakes and portages that generations of people used to hunt caribou across the peninsula. Lac Qamanialuk and Lac Nœud Coulant are among the interior lakes within the park boundary.

Fishing equipment rentals are available through the park, as are canoes and kayaks, which points to the reality that reaching most of the water here means paddling to it. Quebec fishing regulations apply within the park.

Check directly with Nunavik Parks for any park-specific requirements before your trip — regulations for a protected area of this significance, particularly one safeguarding an Atlantic salmon population, are worth confirming with the current managing authority rather than relying on secondhand sources.

The George River caribou herd, the salmon, the tundra — the park exists because these things are worth protecting. Fish here with that in mind.