TORONTO, ONTARIO
With chinook
salmon exploding from the water every few minutes, it’s
hard not to get excited. It’s also hard to stop casting.
Picture a sunny fall day, with the fish crowding into the channel
surrounding the marinas at Bluffer’s Park in Toronto’s
east end—they’re sure to snap instinctively at a
wobbling spoon cruising past their snouts. Just another cast,
and there it is. A sharp tug, the hook is set, a chinook porpoises
from the water then buries itself deep in a weedbed. After a
short but determined fight, a tough 10-pounder is released.
And on it goes.
That’s hardly the quintessential Toronto fishing experience,
if only because there isn’t one—the angling opportunities
in the nation’s largest urban centre are just too varied.
Trophy steelhead in the Rouge River on the city’s eastern
border. Tournament-worthy smallmouth bass surrounding the Toronto
Islands. Feisty pike roaming the harbour. Big carp haunting
the Humber River marsh in the west end. Without doubt, Toronto
has no shortage of great fishing. Here’s where to go.
 |
| Hitting
the hot spots: The author with a Bluffer’s
Park chinook |
| FISHING
FACT |
| Toronto’s
name is derived from the Mohawk phrase tkaronto,
which means “where there are trees standing
in the water.” The Mohawk used the word to
describe an ancient fishing spot at the narrows
between Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching an hour north
of the present-day city. |
| ANGLER
ATTRACTION |
| It
may not be in Toronto proper, but the sprawling
Bass Pro Shops store just north of the city on Highway
400 is well worth a visit—even if you don’t
plan on buying anything. Along with all manner of
tackle and gear, the mammoth shop offers plenty
of eye candy for the avid sportsman, from a giant
tank stocked with local sportfish to gorgeous replica
mounts to an actual float plane hanging from the
ceiling. |
|
26 G. Ross Lord Park
Plenty of pugnacious carp roam the pond here from spring through
to fall. Typical carp tactics—chum, corn, boilies and
so on—do the trick.
27 Rouge River
Catch carp and perch using a dew worm fished on bottom where
the river enters Lake Ontario. Evenings are best. In the spring
and fall, nab steelhead from the lake up to Highway 2.
28 Bluffer’s Park
In early spring or fall, cast from shore or troll spoons, spinners
or minnow baits in the channel that circles the marinas for
pike, salmon and brown trout. In summer, troll spoons offshore
in 100 feet of water for salmon.
29 Ashbridge’s Bay Park
On fall evenings, cast heavy spoons from shore around the small
bay adjacent to the marina for chunky brown trout, chinook and
coho.
30 Tommy Thompson Park (Leslie Spit)
Consistently catch large pike in the inner lagoon just after
ice-out. Fish one to three feet of water along the north shore
using large jerkbaits.
31 Toronto Harbour
Weedlines and flats throughout the harbour hold midsummer pike.
Cast white spinnerbaits, red-and-white spoons, jerkbaits or
shallow-running cranks. Note: boaters need a Harbour licence.
32 Toronto Islands
Fish the canals around Hanlan’s Point or the lagoons near
Ward’s Island in early April for pike, the summertime
for bass or all year for carp. Try spinners or slashbaits for
pike, and Senkos for bass. Perch, crappies and catfish can also
be had.
33 Spadina Quay Wetland
Pike up to 36 inches abound in the wetland and around the adjacent
marina in the spring. Word is, the hungry northerns favour yellow-skirted
spinnerbaits.
34 Ontario Place
From spring through fall, work weedbeds in 10 to 12 feet of
water in and around the Cinesphere and the marina for feisty
pike. Try white or chartreuse spinnerbaits or shad-pattern jerkbaits.
35 Grenadier Pond
Nab perch, largemouth bass and the occasional pike from shore
using a worm and bobber, an in-line spinner or a shallow-running
crankbait. Summer is best.
36 Humber River marsh
Catch pike and carp in spring and early summer from the mouth
of the Humber north to Lakeshore Boulevard. Cast spinners for
pike, and corn for carp.
37 Humber River
Fish the Humber River from Etienne Brulé Park north to
Eglinton Avenue. Drifting roe bags produces steelhead in the
spring and chinook and brown trout in the fall. |
