Lake Ontario has become a major destination for sport fishing, especially salmon and trout. The area around Toronto is particularly good for salmon fishing. Port Credit/Bronte ranked third and Toronto ranked seventh amongst the top twenty Pacific Salmon Fishing destinations published by Outdoor Canada. It is home to the largest inland water sport fishing competition in North America, the Great Ontario Salmon Derby. The Derby is run over the course of 50 days between July 5 to August 23th and awards $450,000 in cash prizes. Fishing charters out of Toronto and Port Credit have come home with many prize winners. Andrews Salmon Fishing Charters out of Port Credit, Mississauga (close to Toronto) is the longest continuously run salmon fishing charter operation in the area, having started fishing charter

operations in 1975. Sport fishing in Lake Ontario generates about $90,000.00 in revenues from the charter boat industry. In 2003, the charter boat fishery in Lake Ontario brought in 65,000 salmon and trout. It wasn't always like that. For a variety of reasons, including over-fishing, the most popular native sport fish in Lake Ontario almost disappeared. In the late sixties and early seventies, the governments of Ontario and New York started a stocking program. A fishing charter industry soon developed. Andrews Salmon Fishing Charters is probably the only Canadian Lake Ontario fishing charter operator still in operation from those early days.

The main species of sport fish caught in Lake Ontario are Chinook salmon and Rainbow trout (see Know Your Fish. There are also smaller catches of coho salmon, Atlantic salmon and brown trout. At one time, the most common species of salmon caught in Lake Ontario would have been Atlantic Salmon. Chinook salmon were introduced to Lake Ontario from Western Canada. Although conditions may vary from year to year, you can expect trophy salmon for the Great Ontario Salmon Derby typically weigh in at about 30-32 lbs. for the weekly prize and approach 40 lbs for the grand prize. The official World Records are 79.2 pounds for an Atlantic Salmon caught in 1928, 33.4 pounds for a Coho Salmon caught on Sept 27, 1989 and 97.4 pounds for a Chinook salmon caught on May 17, 1985. Our largest was 42.6 lbs.

Related Sites

Best Pacific Salmon Destinations - Outdoors Canada;Top twenty Pacific salmon fishing destinations in Canada.
Salmon Fishing Articles - Ontario Out of Doors Salmon Fishing Articles
Ontario Sport Fishing Forums - Discussion boards for Ontario sport fishing.
Port Credit Harbour - Port Credit Information and Events. Port Credit is a town close to Toronto.