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Fishing has improved dramatically in Southern Ontario over the past 10 days. We had our first group of the season out on Lake Ontario for some spring trolling. Air: 10C @ 7am start, 19C @ noon finish Wind: 20km/hr W or less Water: 43-48F Fish: Brown Trout, Lake Trout, Coho Salmon Baits: body baits 3-4" long Things will only get better now until June. Be sure to contact Nomad Adventures for your next fishing adventure!
Some Lake Ontario steelhead are suffering a vitamin B1 deficiency making them incapable of synthesizing the sugars that are critical for giving them energy, therefore causing death.... scary!!
Tarnished Chrome Jeff Wall | Nomad Adventures [email protected] This article is intended to provide basic information to anyone wishing to take advantage of the spring Great Lakes Steelhead fishery. Although we are targeting migratory rainbow trout, there are many incidental catches that fill our day with joy and help us learn tactics for catching other species we may encounter. Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is a species of salmonid which is native to the cold water tributaries of Pacific Asia and North America. Steelhead is an anadromous(sea-run), or in this case, lake-run form of Coastal Rainbow Trout(Oncorhynchus mykiss Irideus) that have been introduced to Great Lakes tributaries. These fish spend their first 1-2 years in the tributaries, then enter the Great Lakes, to later migrate back to their natal streams when they reach spawning maturity. Primary spawning runs occur in the Great Lakes tributaries from late March to late May depending on the winter. Season and HabitatTiming as they say is everything. Especially on a sunny, warm spring day where the lake hasn't been stirred up much. If the water is clear and sun is high, then I'm already off the water looking at my pictures of the day's catch. A light wind is not a bad thing either provided it is in your favour. I prefer to fish a small chop when fishing steelhead and other minnow eaters. It displaces the baitfish more and allows for a wider, deeper zone to troll through. Fishing can be equally as good in the last two hours of daylight too. Finding a lightly wind blown warm shoreline near a creek or river can give whole new perspective on Great Lakes kayak fishing if you time it right! A spot where the sun has warmed all day long with a decent outflow nearby will start to get a trickle of minnows just before dusk that can provide fast and furious action as the sun disappears. Most of the time you are fishing less than 20' of water. Fish are shallow as 5' when the sun comes up and usually stay in less than 20' until then light starts to really penetrate then water. Try to find temperature gradients close to a mud line as they are your best indicator of where to start fishing. The transitioning water colour from brown to green is the area you want to focus on the most. This is where the bait are hanging out to avoid being in plain sight. Zig-zag trolling in and out of the mud line will surely get you bit. This is the season where kayaks have a real advantage over motorboats because of the relatively silent trolling capability. There is no need to run inline planer boards unless you do it to clear other rods when trolling multiple. If you have a leg propelled kayak like a Hobie Mirage series then things are even that much more simplified with hands free fishing. We primarily target spring Steelhead before they enter the tributaries to go about their reproductive business. Anytime that conditions allow and you feel you are capable of dealing with them is the right time to go. This article is not about safety so if you feel there may be a risk and are not comfortable with it, then do not go. Steelhead begin entering Great Lakes rivers in October and can still be around in early June. Spring runs are more consistent from April to mid May. Once they are safely higher up in the system, it is our practice to give them free passage. Although we are not afraid to go and pound on a fresh run of fish near the lower stretches of rivers, we prefer letting those who passed the gauntlet, to carry on and make lots of future angling opportunities. Especially on rivers that yield wild fish! Locating and Timing The old spawned out warrior in this picture is a catch we try to avoid but can't always when targeting migrating fish around rivers. For this reason we tend to concentrate our efforts in the lake near the river, rather than in it. He took about 5 mins to revive even in icy cold water. A chrome bright fish in the spring does not mean it is a fresh arrival! Many steelhead finish their spawning ritual before the river season opens, and they are almost fully healed from their wounds, leaving them with their beautiful silver sheen. These kelts are the most sensitive of the lot. They are extremely hungry and feed ravenously on anything they can find. They are also very susceptible to death if hooked and and fought to exhaustion with less oxygen in the warming rivers. They cannot recover since they have no reserve body mass to fall back on. Please do not target these fish!  This spring hen was caught in Lake Huron near a major tributary. She was fully recovered from spawning and caught June 1 gorging herself on shiners when she hit a Live Target Rainbow Smelt.
Anything resembling a shiner or smelt style minnow and fished near a river outlet on the Great Lakes will get bit... by something. It will most likely be a steelhead, coho salmon, or brown trout but could be any number of other species following the bait. Move around in the lake until you mark bait or spot it.  2015 Tournaments:
Toronto Island Pike: May 2 - Old Town Predator 13* South River Bass/Pike: July 25-26 - Hobie Mirage Drive Outback/Revolution Lake Ontario Salmon: Sept 5 - Ocean Kayak Trident Ultra 4.3* Haliburton Bass/Musky: Sept 12/13 - TBA likely a Wilderness product Grand River Smallmouth: Oct 10 - Old Town Predator MX* (* min 20 pre-registered anglers to have kayak prize) This year OKFS is taking on a very different format that enables more winners. It will be a heavy multi-species rather than bass focus. There are only two 2-day events South River and Haliburton. Five events with a kayak for first place at each single day event plus a cash prize to the Champ. There will be a kayak raffled off at each of the two day events. A Female Angler division will be held at South River if we are able to get 10+ female anglers to attend. This will allow for a kayak prize to this new division. Series Champ is determined by the individual with the highest points total of any three multi-species combination. Single day totals only, allowing single day results from two-day events also. Upgrading allowed throughout duration of series. Full details and updates at http://www.ontariokayakfishingseries.com/info--registration.html Last spring we had the pleasure of guiding Sportsman360 TV host Owen Nolan and his guest co-host former NHLer Chris Simon for steelhead in Southern Ontario. It was the worst weather we had ever fished in let alone guide anyone! Things turned out very good, and the show will be airing for the first time tomorrow, and running all week long. Sportsman360TV: Ontario Steelhead - WildTV(Ch 393) Tues 7:30pm, Thurs 4:30pm, Fri 3:30pm World Fishing Network(Ch 426) Tues 10pm, Wed 1pm, Sat 1pm Will post the video in its entirety when it is released. Have a look if you get either of those channels. Here is the trailer Hope you enjoy! Authors: Parsons, John W.
Publication Year: 1973 Book or Record Title: History of salmon in the Great Lakes, 1850-1970 Extent of Work: 80 Series Title: U. S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife Technical paper no. 68 Abstract: This history of the salmon in the Great Lakes describes the decline and extinction of the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in Lake Ontario in the 1800's; the failure to establish, by salmon culture, permanent or sizable populations of Atlantic or Pacific salmon in any of the Great Lakes in 1867-1965; and the success of the plantings of coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and chinook salmon (O. tshawytsha) in the Great Lakes, in 1966-70 -- particularly in Lake Michigan. Despite plantings of 5 million fry and fingerlings from Lake Ontario stocks in 1866-84, the native Atlantic salmon in Lake Ontario became extinct in the late 1800's primarily because tributaries in which they spawned were blocked by mill dams. Plantings of 13 million chinook salmon and landlocked and anadromous forms of Atlantic salmon in Lake Ontario and the other Great Lakes in 1873-1947 failed completely. The first species to develop a self-sustaining population was the pink salmon (O. gorbuscha), which was planted in Lake Superior in 1956; however, it has not become abundant. A salmon fishery finally was established when 15 million coho salmon and 6 million chinook salmon were planted as smolt in the Great Lakes in 1966-70. In 1970, for example, 576, 000 coho salmon (12% of those planted in 1969) were caught by anglers in Lake Michigan. Most weighed 5 to 10 pounds (2.3-4.5 kg). Sport fishing for salmon was fair in Lakes Superior and Huron, and poor in Lakes Erie and Ontario. By 1970, natural reproduction of coho, chinook, pink, and kokanee (O. nerka) salmon had occurred in some tributaries of one or more of the upper three Great Lakes. It is expected, however, that the sport fishery will continue to be supported almost entirely by planted fish. Lake Huron Spring Chinook Salmon Jeff Wall | Nomad Adventures [email protected] The groundhog said six more weeks of winter from Feb 2.... he was wrong! It has been a lot of years, close to 20 since I was able to put some decent time in on the spring Great Lakes fishery. April is normally our second busiest month for river guiding, but the winter that wouldn't go away gave us some time for personal fishing. Canadian kayak fishing guide Jeff Wall showcases his spring catch. Over 40 fish caught in six outings last spring. All were salmon or trout except one giant out of season walleye. Steelhead, Coho Salmon, Brown Trout, Chinook Salmon, Atlantic Salmon, Walleye, Lake Trout were all caught and released over six separate days of fishing. Long lining shallow crankbaits on light lines pretty much sums up the spring kayak fishing in Ontario for the Great Lakes region. We employed a variety of minnow baits, smaller spoons, and kwikfish style lures. Slow trolling with abrupt direction changes were the ticket in the open water trolling but crashing two lures thru the baitfish schools got us several doubles. I don't have to tell you how exciting that is in a kayak! Please always consider best practices when heading out on the Great Lakes, especially when it is still winter. Better yet, hire a guide! Be sure to look up Nomad Adventures for your next spring kayak fishing trip. Hope you enjoy!  Giant Lake Ontario WalleyeLake Ontario Atlantic Salmon HACS has been the Ontario Kayak Fishing series charity for the past several years. Previously there has been a one day tourney for the children coping with cancer. Two years ago the organization that had been running it decided to cease the event. As you can imagine, this was very disappointing for both the children and their families. We did some scrambling last year to try and pick it up for them, but it was too late in the year to make it happen. This year with the generous help of the Belwood Lake Conservation Area, we have put together enough resources to make it happen. We have use of the stocked pond rather than host it on the lake. I am also securing the Hampton Barn http://www.grandriver.ca/parks/hamptonbarn.htm as the host facility. HACS is a foundation that thru donations from folks like yourself, enables children being treated for cancer, to have opportunities for them and their families to have fun and smile. So, I am asking that any of you who have some time on Saturday May 10th to drop in and assist with making this a great event for the kids. The event will run from 9am-1pm. It also happens to be the opener of pike season, so bring your yak and take a few casts in the lake. More details to follow. Thanks in advance for your help!  Take the time to read and understand ALL the rules that apply to operating human powered watercraft in Canada. It will probably one day save you some money from being fined, but may well save your life too!
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FISHING NEWS ONTARIOOntario and Great Lakes region salmon, steelhead, and migratory trout fishing articles, information, news, and reports. Stay up to date on our most recent trips, events, tournaments, and general news on adventure fishing and kayak fishing in Ontario and Canada. 
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