There’s just no doubt
about it, Lake Ontario’s sport fishery is one of the finest on the continent
and that’s especially true out from the shoreline of Port Credit, Ontario. Put
it this way, where else can you be less than a stone’s throw from Canada’s most
populated shoreline and expect to catch a 30 pound Chinook, or possibly a high
flying, tail walking 20 pound Coho? If that’s not enough to get the adrenalin
flowing, then if the Chinook and Coho aren’t biting there are always 15 pound
water busting steelhead, 10 pound plus ever-so wearing German brown trout or
deepwater dwelling lake trout.
That’s right, there always seems to be an abundance of game fish waiting for
those who venture out from the mouth of the Credit River at Port Credit,
Ontario, just a few minutes drive from Canada’s most populated metropolitan
centre. It’s also a fishery that is available and waiting from early May right
on thru until late November.
With the arrival of warmer spring weather, millions, no let’s say billions of
baitfish such as smelt, chub, alewives and minnows come inshore from the deeper
bottoms of Lake Ontario to carry out their annual spawning ritual. Hot on their
tails are the hungry salmon and trout. While the smaller baitfish have mating
on their mind, the hungry predators are only thinking of dining from dawn to
dusk and putting on the pounds. This aggressive feeding period of big fish
picking on little fish is one of the hottest fishing times of the year. You
don’t go out on Lake Ontario in the spring thinking of catching a few fish. You
venture out on the lake thinking how many fish you want to catch and how many
fish you want to bring home for the fish fry.
If spring trolling is classed as a ‘hot’ fishery, then the summer months of
June, July and August have to be rated as just amazing. It’s often referred to
as the time of the monsters. Chinook and Coho salmon are for the most part a
‘put, grow and harvest’ fishery. The fish are stocked by the Province of
Ontario and the State of New York, with the Yankees injecting the most into the
big lake. From the moment they enter Lake Ontario proper the predators take up
a counter-clockwise migration around and around the lake lashing out and
feeding on anything that crosses their path. There always seems to be Coho and
Chinook migrating and feeding out from the shores of Port Credit. Depending on
the direction of the winds, which in turn dictates the temperature of Lake
Ontario’s waters, anglers can expect to find the salmon right along Port
Credit’s break walls or 4, 5 or as much as 10 miles from shore. But they are
always there to be found.
Then again, there’s always the ‘blue-zone’. That’s that big expanse of clear,
deep water at mid-lake where the Credit charter boat operators and other big
boat sport anglers troll. Here, where the currents of the Niagara divide the
lake, the moving water attracts immense schools of bait and once again the
bigger silver predators. Silver steelhead, often referred to as lake run
rainbow trout can be caught as fast as your lures are put in the water, but
this area with depths of 300 feet or more is also rich with Coho and Chinook.
Visit the blue zone and expect to be worn to a frazzle with non-stop fishing
action.
When September and October roll around, it’s a time the salmon are called home.
They come home to the rivers they were stocked in years earlier. With the
Credit getting a large injection of salmon smolt every spring, it’s obvious
that hordes of spawners should return every fall for their upstream pilgrimage.
With that in mind, the cooler winds of late summer and early autumn often greet
thousands of maturing kings and Coho that congregate off the mouth of the
Credit River and other nearby tributaries. These big fish may have sex on their
mind, but they are always willing to strikeout at passing trolled bait. It’s
also a time for the pier fishermen to have some fun. It’s amazing how the
arrival of giant salmon can attract even the first time fisher to the river
front.
Now remember, this definitely is not a Pacific west coast sport fishery. It
also doesn’t carry with it the costs of a Pacific west coast fishery. For most
of us it means a few minutes or a few hours driving time down to the waterfront
located less than a five minute drive from the Toronto city limits. You can
cast off the break walls, bring your own boat or hire a reliable charter boat
skipper. So there you have it. A world class sport fishery from early spring to
late autumn. A Great Lakes’ sport fishery that is second to none and it lies
beneath the shadows of Canada’s largest sky scrapper the CN Tower.
It’s yours for the taking. Lake Ontario’s Great Lakes’ great salmon and trout
sport fishery.
