WI Nth America settled from 1480ish?

Apparently European fishermen were active on the Grand Banks off Canada/USA from about 1480ish, and that some took their catch ashore to dry and salt. Also, before tobacco the most lucrative trade item from Nth america was furs.

So WI a settlement was set up by some enterprising adventurer at about this time in the general area where the fishermen dried their catch? The settlement could provide facilities and supplies for fishermen drying their catch ashore and be a middleman for a fur trade with the locals. As a private enterprise, much like the fishing it grew out of, it needn't attract government attention for a long time after it's established.
 
I would consider it unlikely that any colonization affair would get started without a government knowing about it strictly because of the number of people involved and the capital and material needed. There are not scads of seaworthy vessels capable of transporting any significant numbers lying around, they can pretty much be easily counted and probably watched by the government.
 
Firstly, I disagree that govts of the 1480s could keep tabs on the comings and goings of merchant and ocean-going fishing ships. There would be hundreds of ships plying the Atlanitc from Gibraltar to Norway and Iceland, the Hanseatic league was built on such ships.

Secondly, I think such a settlement would be an opportunistic outgrowth of a fishing crew's onshore drying camp rather than an organised settlement attempt like Jamestown etc. Perhaps like the Vikings in Vinalnd, only this one would stick becuase the times were ripe(er).
 
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