Hail to the salmon kings
Chinook salmon, chinooks, chinnys, kings, and even tyees…name them what you’ll. This Pacific-roaming salmon just isn’t native to the Nice Lakes but dominates the fishing calendar of many Ontario anglers. The primary push of chinook stocking befell within the late Nineteen Sixties to assist management the inhabitants of alewife, a baitfish species that crept into Lake Ontario and unfold.
Within the absence of native predators, salmon not solely helped management alewives however created a world-class leisure fishery. Whereas it has had its justifiable share of challenges, it stays robust. After lake sturgeon (principally closed to angling), lake trout, and muskie, chinooks are the biggest Ontario sportfish you possibly can catch. The present provincial document is a46.38-pound specimen from Lake Ontario.
Sure, these different species have bigger provincial data, however for those who’re seeking to realistically and persistently catch a fish within the excessive teenagers to twenty kilos and larger, there’s no higher choice than the mighty king.
Important salmon motion
Though you possibly can technically goal salmon all yr lengthy, principal lake motion normally begins within the spring as temperatures heat, earlier than fish transfer to the Nice Lakes’ principal basins. August by way of October is prime time as fish attain their peak weight and transfer nearer to shore as they return to tributaries to spawn. This gives simpler entry for each boat and shore anglers. I’ve fished for chinook since my early teenagers, and these giants have helped me recognize what it means to persistently struggle large fish. We will take as a right what alternatives different anglers around the globe don’t have.
I had the nice pleasure of getting out with good pal Jason Forde and Canada’s weatherman Chris Murphy on Lake Ontario for some salmon motion earlier this season. We caught fish and had plenty of enjoyable doing it. You’ll be able to learn extra about Chris in his profile piece by Meghan Sutherland, “The weatherman can,” and you may glean a few years of insights on fishing for them from Bob McGary in his function, “Comply with the kings.”
Initially revealed within the August 2023 challenge of Ontario OUT of DOORS
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