Lake Ontario Salmon Fishing

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 beginning early in July 5 awards hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and 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 contributes significantly to the economy.  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 we target are Chinook salmon and Rainbow trout. 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.