Kiwi coming to visit

[fisherlinz]

Hi Guys and Gals, new to the forum but active in a couple of them at home.
I'm a keen fly fisherman and enjoy fishing as much as the dreaded work allows.
My wife and I are planning a trip to Toronto and St Catharines in July 13 and thought it would be good if I could squeeze in a days fishing somewhere on the trip. Any info appreciated. Rod weight, gear minimums etc. I don't want to bring a lot but what basic's etc......
Thanks in advance for your help
Linz

 

[fredaevans]

Bump to top.

Don't know the area so no help there. But lets keep this one on top.

Fred

 

[king joe]

Hey Fisherlinz

July in Southern Ontario is 'tough sleddin' fishing wise. With day temps sitting 28-34 degrees C, most waters in TO-St. Catherines are warm as...well, they're pretty warm. As well, at this time many of the rivers and creeks are algae/weed beds. And if the summer is as predicted, it will be like last year...DROUGHT conditions. Sorry to sound a bit dismal.

Not sure what species you were looking for but because of the time of year and warmth, bass, mostly smallmouth and other centrarchids are the main-stay fish in the majority of rivers in the area you described.

If you make it to the Niagara River...you should be able to find cold water and while I have not fished that river myself, I am expecting it would 'react' like any deep Great Lakes river.....basically, any given cast with any given tackle could produce a wide range of fish from perch to various species of salmon.

All in all, gearing 6-7wt, 9-10 foot with at least a full sink and full floating lines....and a range of patterns though anything leach like (at this time of year) will give equal results to the range of species though expect bass to dominate.

That said, if you make to Caledonia on the Grand River....in july you are hitting the end of an intersting species....Mooneye which are a great little fish on the dry fly. I run 9' 3wt with size 12 caddis (white-grey). Mooneye are not big (Ontario record is 16" or so) but they are pretty and a good evening out. Problem is, if the water is too warm, fighting them can be lethal to them and for that, that is why I say you are nearing the end of that 'season'.

Good luck

King Joe, Outa Here!

 

[jpbfly]

:welcome:Linz...you should get good infos...lots of helpful people here

 

[fisherlinz]

Thanks King Joe, appreciate the info. Was planning a little earlier but with our bird hunting season beginning in May I had to delay it a little. Thanks again
Linz

 

[fredaevans]

Bump again.

 

[Eddie O'Neill]

Welcome to the forum Linz, sure someone will be along shortly with some help. Enjoy your trip

 

[fredaevans]

Just had a minor 'Brain Wave.' Run you question through the SpeyPages web board. There are a heck of a lot of guys there that fish this part of the World.

More info is "A good Thing."

Fred

 

[king joe]

Thanks King Joe, appreciate the info. Was planning a little earlier but with our bird hunting season beginning in May I had to delay it a little. Thanks again
Linz

Hey fisherlinz

Not sure if you have exact dates when your here (you said 'July')....but I will monitor this post...and monitor conditions.

What i will offer, my Kiwi Friend, is an evening of mooneye fishing. I'll have the flies (I typically supply the "Mooneye Clan" when we go)....and could even have rods as necessary.

As I said though, too warm of water is not great....the fish are there always....and are hopping every evening to some hatch or another.....i'm just not too crazy about lethal fighting if the water is too warm.

Its a nice stretch of river not too far from either St. Catherines OR Toronto (actually, kinda in between).

Let me know if your interested....and I'll....umm...hook you up.

Talk soon

King Joe Outa Here!

 

[dabluz]

Fisherlinz,

From what I know, you will be visiting about the worst place for fishing for any coldwater species of fish....especially with a fly rod.

Sure, there are bass, walleye, bluegill, perch etc but 99.9% of the fishermen in the area you will be visiting do not fish with a fly rod.

You are going to the most densely populated part of Canada. Geographically, the area is flat so forget any ideas of clear clean cold splashing mountain streams. In fact, the highest mountain in Ontario is about 600 feet high.

Yes....there are a few nice clear lakes north of where you are visiting but in July, the fish don't visit the surface very often because most of these waters have very little oxygen in the upper 20 feet at this time of the year. You will have to go to about the 50th parallel before coming across any decent fishing.

 

[fredaevans]

"You will have to go to about the 50th parallel before coming across any decent fishing.

To give you a point of map reference, the northern boarder of most of the western half of the US is '54.40.'

 

[fisherlinz]

Thanks for the further info guys, can't do much about the timing of the trip so will have to accept what it is. The people we are staying with intend to show us around a bit and explore so will just have to see how it goes. Thanks to joe for his offer.
Thanks again
Lindsay

 

[king joe]

Fisherlinz,

From what I know, you will be visiting about the worst place for fishing for any coldwater species of fish....especially with a fly rod.

Sure, there are bass, walleye, bluegill, perch etc but 99.9% of the fishermen in the area you will be visiting do not fish with a fly rod.

You are going to the most densely populated part of Canada. Geographically, the area is flat so forget any ideas of clear clean cold splashing mountain streams. In fact, the highest mountain in Ontario is about 600 feet high.

Yes....there are a few nice clear lakes north of where you are visiting but in July, the fish don't visit the surface very often because most of these waters have very little oxygen in the upper 20 feet at this time of the year. You will have to go to about the 50th parallel before coming across any decent fishing.

Respectfully...and being a transplanted mountain-man from BC now living in the 'flats' of SW Ontario, only some of what Dabluz is actually true. As i said in my seemingly dismal post, water temperature can be an issue for sure. That said, throughout SW Ontario INCLUDING the most populated area in Canada, several cold water streams actually still exist. Truly, these are diamonds in the rough.

Cold water fishing can be found in SW Ontario...even in the middle of the summer....you just have to know where to look. As in my invite to Linz regarding fishing for mooneye....just upstream of where we will be...are resident rainbows and browns doing quite well thank you very much. Where I also suggested we could go...another river not so far away...is laced with cold water upwelling and hosts resident populations of native brook trout.

YES, its not a rushing mountain stream that you could stoop your head low, cup your hands and drink directly from....but its not all concrete and iron either.

As for fly rodders.....WE are everywhere and with increasing frequency. Granted, during any of the salmonid runs, float and bait rodders dominate the waterways BUT...interspaced throughout...are US. AND, what a great way to spend the day humbling bait rodders as I chuck flies to steels.

Linz, it will be fine. A true fisherman...and only after many years after leaving BC and my wife telling me to get rid of the chip on my shoulder....finds the good in any situation.

We will find waters...we will find fish...cold, cool or warm-water species....and ya know what, they ALL could be in the same waters at the same time able to be hooked on the same pattern, the same drift, the same time of year.

King Joe, Outa Here!

 

[dabluz]

I used to live in Kingston Ontario and to get to decent trout fishing, we had to go north. One area we liked to visit was the area just north of Ompah. The fishing for brook trout, small-mouth bass and the occasional rainbow trout was very good. This was over 50 years ago. I don't know if the fishing is still good up there. We used the minnows that we trapped in the lake we fished to catch fish. No one did any fly fishing.....the fish never broke the surface of the lake.

Where I live now, it's a completely different story. Very few lakes contain anything other than brook trout. Very few of them even have minnows. The water in these lakes rarely gets above 65 degrees F at the surface during the summer. Putting all of these factors together, you can see that fly fishing conditions are optimal. Even during the months of July and August, the dry fly fishing is phenomenal. There is great fishing right here in town. It's a 5 minute walk to where I can catch landlocked salmon, brook trout and walleye on a fly rod. I live near the center of town.

Not many people fish near town because everybody expects to catch his limit of trout (20 trout of any size) when they go fishing. 90% of the fishermen prefer catching their limit of 10 to 14 inch trout than spending more time catching a few trout over 18 inches long.

The Saguenay river runs through the middle of the town where I live (Chicoutimi) and it has a huge population of sea run brook trout that get quite large. A 20 inch brook trout in the Saguenay is a common occurance. The fly fishing is very good.

 

[fisherlinz]

Thanks again guys, I keep popping into have a look just to see whats up.
Joe sounds great, sometimes the fishing isn't about the fish, it's about being out there seeing different things in different places.
Cheers to the others for the info, it all helps paint the big picture.

 

[dabluz]

Fisherlinz, it was a great idea to post the message of your upcoming visit. No matter where we go, fishing is a hit or miss situation. Most of the time it's a miss situation. Now that you have an invite to go fishing.....95% of the problems have been removed. If you had planned a visit near me in the province of Quebec, I would have taken you fishing. If you had planned to go elsewhere in Canada, I'm positive that no matter where you went, someone would have helped out.

 

[schooner36]

"You will have to go to about the 50th parallel before coming across any decent fishing.

To give you a point of map reference, the northern boarder of most of the western half of the US is '54.40.'

Most of the US/ Canadian border is about 49 degrees

 

[fisherlinz]

Hi Guys, I hope your summer is settling down to calm warm days Our winter has truly hit with avengance with snow and gale force winds due to hit us for the next couple of days. Biggest snowfall in decades they say...... We are only 13 days away from beginning our journey to your shores and looking forward to it as well. Look forward to catching up with king joe and trying to catch some fish that are not here in NZ.
Cheers
Linz

 

[greg_h]

I live in Toronto and know where to fish on both the upper and lower Grand River. Upper for brown trout, and lower for bass and mooneye. A 5 or 6wt rod will be fine and I have spares. Also spare waders.
There are not many ponds in the area you are staying, so it will be rivers. Email me - I am self-employed and also a CCI so will make the time to get out if I have enough notice.

 

[king joe]

Hey Greg
You missed the Kiwi....he has come and gone already.

That said, we (he and i) did make it to the Grand at Caledonia to fish for moons. Because it won't stop raining for more than 4 days at a time, water was high but wadeable...and pretty turbid. Of course, the fish were there but it was tough sledding to say the least.

Kiwi (he can say his name if he'd like)...and I worked the water hard. A handful of times he had near misses (rises 'close' to his fly). As the evening came on, rise frequency increased as well....and soon I hooked and landed a moon to show.

Not long after, Kiwi hooked and landed one of his own. GREAT STUFF!!! Several misses later....we walked off the river in the dark of the evening....exchanged information...and the Great Kiwi Adventure was over.

King Joe Outa Here!