Fish Ontario

GORD PYZER

With more than 400,000 lakes and rivers and almost half the freshwater found on Earth, it is easy to understand why Ontario is regarded as the freshwater fishing capital of the world.

And there are so many extraordinary ways you can enjoy it, from catching salmon, trout, bass, pike and muskies in the shadows of world class cities to roughing it in luxurious fly-in fishing lodges nestled in picture postcard wilderness settings.

Bet you didn’t know that Ontario has more lake trout lakes than any other jurisdiction in the world. And a list of the province’s famed muskie waters that include Lake of the Woods, Eagle Lake, Lac Seul, Georgian Bay, Lake St. Clair and the Winnipeg, French, Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers, reads like an All Star roster in a Hall of Fame.

Ken O’Brien’s 65-pound Georgian Bay goliath is the current muskie record book holder, but many say it is only a matter of time before an even bigger fish, exceeding 70-pounds is caught in the mighty St. Lawrence.

And talk about record book fish. This year will mark the 100th Anniversary of Dr. JW Cooks’ 14.5 pound world record speckled trout. Cook caught so many big brookies that day in the Nipigon River that he wasn’t sure which one to register. And another angler fishing nearby caught a speck only 5-ounces lighter.

If bass, on the other hand, are the name of your game, then look no further than the Thousand Islands and eastern basin of Lake Ontario where five- and six-pound bronzebacks barely raise eyebrows.

Ditto for Lake Erie and Lake Simcoe where the winning team in the 2010 Bass Pro Shops Open, brought an incredible five fish stringer to the scales that weighed an amazing 31.5 pounds.

Are you kidding me? That is better than a six-pound average.

But get this: that same day, big bass honours went to a team that caught a gargantuan 8.05-pound smallmouth. A fish more than twice the size of what anglers everywhere else consider to be a trophy.

And we haven’t even mentioned the world class walleye, northern pike, largemouth bass, steelhead, black crappie, yellow perch and panfish opportunities.

It is all simply mind-boggling.

But, when the subject is fishing in Ontario, mind boggling is the only way to describe it.

Forty-two (42) time national award winning writer, Gord Pyzer is the only person ever inducted into the Canadian Angler Hall of Fame, the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in the United States and the Canadian Outdoor Hall of Fame. An internationally sought out speaker, Gord is the Fishing Editor of Outdoor Canada Magazine; Field Editor of In-Fisherman Magazine and Television; Co-Host of the Real Fishing Radio Show; and the host of “Fish Talk With The Doc” on the Outdoor Journal Radio Show. Gord blogs weekly for Outdoor Canada Magazine and bi-weekly for the Northern Ontario Tourism portal.