TORONTO FISHING SPOTS

This large municipal park on Lake Ontario just east of Port Credit offers a wide variety of fishing opportunities. The action starts in late winter, with anglers probing shallow bays and rocky shorelines for pre-spawn northern pike. The average pike weighs somewhere around six pounds, but trophy fish over 40 inches in length are also frequently caught. Suspending minnowbaits, spoons, and large spinners catch the most fish. Note that pike are protected by a closed season from April 1 until the first Saturday in May – the best action for big fish comes right before the season closes. Sunny, calm afternoons tend to be the most productive.

This is also a very popular location for anglers seeking large carp, and fish weighing more than 30 pounds are caught here each year. Anglers use a variety of baits to catch these abundant, hard-fighting fish, from commercially-sourced carp baits to home-made doughballs to simple dew worms, all fished on or near the bottom. Anglers catch carp here year-round, but the best fishing is in early summer, from late April through June. Please note that a sturdy, long-handled net will be required to land fish from some areas.

Lakefront Promenade Park is also highly popular with anglers in search of trophy smallmouth bass. The average Lake Ontario smallmouth weight about 2.5 pounds, and it is often possible to see much larger fish – some approaching the six pound mark – cruising in the ultra-clear water. Long casts with stealthy lures (tube jigs, grubs, small spinners) or live baits (minnows, worms, or leeches) are usually required to hook up with these well educated fish. The best action comes right after the bass season opens in late June, and continues into late July. Surface lures fished slowly, just after dark, can sometimes produce spectacular action.

By late August stray chinook salmon, brown trout and rainbow trout begin to show up at Lakefront Promenade Park. Most of these fish are headed for the mouth of the Credit River, located a short distance to the west, but enough of them hang around to provide some action for anglers fishing spawn or worms near bottom, or casting spoons. Night fishing, with glow-in-the-dark spoons charged by a flashlight or camera flash, can be surprisingly prductive.

Lakefront Promenade Park is easily accessed off Lakeshore Rd., with plenty of parking. It is also accessible by Mississauga transit.