Biggest species of fish in Ontario?

[myst]

Hi, I made a post earlier about the best fishing spots, but after reading about the monster sturgeon at Fraser River, I wanted to know if there is any type of fish like this in Ontario? I don't really care what the type of fish is, I just want the biggest and ones that give a lot of fight. Or do I have to go out to places like B.C.?

[brandon]

Theres Lake Sturgeon in Ontario.......some rivers up in Northern Ontario have them and I know the Detroit River has them too.

[OhioFisherman]

I heard stories about sturgeon being hooked in the Georgian Bay years ago, usually by guys fishing for walleye. Don`t remember if any were landed, just seen before they broke off. Good fight? Muskie, big pike, carp, salmon. Big pike might be the toughest to find in southern ontario.

[Fishn Technishn]

About 8 years ago was helping a bunch off locals on the Pickerel River(north of Parry Sound) collect spawn from Walleye in conjunction with MNR. In the net was a HUGE fish, when we finally got it out & released it, turned out to be a Sturgeon. The old boys estimated it at well over 75 lbs. Took 3 of us to wrestle it out of the net & back into the river. Man that was one big ugly fish!!

 

FT

[scuro]

If fishermen want really large fish for the fight in Ontario usually they go for Muskie. Lake Sturgeon have been caught in Lake Ontario measuring as big as 6'8". A few anglers target this fish but they are rare and far between. On the Fraser, which was getting a lot of pressure this year, you would fish for 8 hours and typically land one possibly two fish. Sometimes you would get more and the one day we only caught one between the four of us. I'd have to assume that the Lake Sturgeon population would not be so concentrated here in Ontario so your results may be worse. We also had a guide. I've gone out twice now to try and catch a Sturgeon in Ontario. I did catch this.

 

Which put up a pretty good fight.

 

You may enjoy this link.

http://www.finefishing.com/aaspecies/records/whitestu.htm

[Roy]

I would think that your best shot at sturgeon in Ontario would be the Ottawa river.

[Bassloadingzone]

You want big fish,than you must go WEST YOUNG MAN

[scuro]

You want big fish,than you must go WEST YOUNG MAN

 

Yeah....the Fraser River lodge record is 12 ft. caught this year. They get bigger. One of the guides caught a 11ft and said he never wanted to catch a fish that large again!

[BITEME]

Niagara has some big ass sturgeon they have netted 13 footers dont know if your allowed to fish them in there though

[solopaddler]

Besides the Ottawa which Roy mentioned, there's fishable numbers of sturgeon in the Groundhog river in northern Ontario.

[Fang]

Sturgeon fishing is closed all year in Lake Ontario. Every year there are reports of sturgeon being caught by steelheaders and walleye fishermen at the mouth of the Nottawasaga. Open seasons on Georgian Bay and Huron

Ed Pawskowski caught the Ontario record back in 1982 from the Nottowasaga - 168 lbs. He made the rounds at the Sportmans shows for a few years with Mepps (lure company).

 

Saw one fishing show on the Groundhog river out of Kapuskasing. Can't remember who though. The fish they caught where small - maybe 3 footers.

[Guest Trophymuskie]

Might be some in the Ottawa but don't expect to get some 10+ footers or even 8 footers. I've been told by the MNR sturgeon expert that we may get sturgeon up to 150 lbs in the O nothing like the Fraser river ones.

 

I know of someone who caught a 100+ pound one out of St-Clair.

[Toronto_Angler]

I would think muskies would be the biggest game fish in Ontario, there are some big boys out there.

[Deano]

Try bringing in a 20lb salmon from 100 feet of water, it will give you the fight of your life. I haven't caught anything stronger.

[wuchikubo]

I recall watching a sturgeon fishing show that was filmed on Lake Superior, some huge sturgeons videoed one longer that the guy's boat if I recall. I can't recall the show's name. But I'd be inclined to believe there are huge sturgeon in Lake Superior.

[Terry]

Sturgeon

the great lakes have them but they are hard to find in big water

you need to fish rivers to have any real chance of getting one these days

there is a spring run into the notty and the other rivers off georgian bay ....but it's to shallow to hold many fish

[Headhunter]

I've seen a 6 footer caught on the French, near Noelville and also seen some pretty biggins caught on the St. Clair river. (Sturgeon) I have to agree with Deano though, your more likely to tie into a big Chinny and have your arms ripped out, then you are to connect with a big old Sturgeon.

HH

[mattyk]

i have seen them on the french river and the nottawasaga.

[ch312]

about 15-20 years ago my dad landed a 125+lb sturgeon on 17lb mono while fishing for bows in the nottawasaga river. i believe it was over 5'5....ill have to get the newspaper clipping out sometime and find out. i forget how long it fought for but he said it was awesome in the river. i think he also has pics of a bunch of big females in a pool. i guess he was up on a cliff so it was easy to see them.

 

i hope i can still find these pics...

[Mike Pike]

Hey CH312, was that your Dad that caught that fish!??? 'Cuz I remember back in the 80's the fuss about the huge 100+ lbs Sturgeon caught on Georgian Bay. I remember the newspaper pic, too. If you could dig that up and post it for us, that would be cool. Love to see it again.

[myst]

Wow, thanks for all of the great replies! I have so much to learn.

 

So basically the most realistic chance of hooking a big fish with a lot of fight in Ontario is to go after muskies? Where would I go for the spots with the most of them? Not more than 4 or 5 hours from Ottawa?

[Moosebunk]

Largest "lake" sturgeon caught on rod and reel was the 168lb'er. Largest netted in the early 1900's out of Lake Superior was a 310lb fish. It could be possible in the Ottawa River, St. Lawrence and Lake O up to Niagara to hook into other types of sturgeon such as the Atlantic sturgeon which is said to reach about 800lbs at 12-14 feet in length. There are 28 species of sturgeon world wide I believe with the Beluga being the largest reaching lengths of nearly 20 feet and weights of 2000lbs.

 

Don't hold your breath fishing them in this province though, they're not generally abundant. The Ogoki, Porcupine, Abitibi, North French, Albany, Harricanaw Rivers in the north as well as the Ottawa and Nottawasaga in the south are some rivers known to have these fish.

 

Muskie fishing would likely reap better rewards.

[scuro]

Wow, thanks for all of the great replies! I have so much to learn.

 

So basically the most realistic chance of hooking a big fish with a lot of fight in Ontario is to go after muskies? Where would I go for the spots with the most of them? Not more than 4 or 5 hours from Ottawa?

 

Well it's not like you can just go out on the river and catch a muskie. This is the fish of 10 thousand casts. I spent two afternoons last month tossing large pieces of lumber with no results.

 

Personally if you are starting out in fishing and you want a good scrap, I'd start out with carp. A good 20 pounder will give you more then you can handle and you will learn how your gear and tackle hold up. Sure the carp isn't the most glorified his but pound for pound it fights as well as any fish. Large catfish are also a blast.

[POLLIWOGG]

I remember reading an article about police divers trying to recover a body in 0 visibility and they got a little spooked bumping into huge fish that they thought were sturgeon. I think it might have been at Scarborough Bluffs

[myst]

Well it's not like you can just go out on the river and catch a muskie. This is the fish of 10 thousand casts. I spent two afternoons last month tossing large pieces of lumber with no results.

 

Personally if you are starting out in fishing and you want a good scrap, I'd start out with carp. A good 20 pounder will give you more then you can handle and you will learn how your gear and tackle hold up. Sure the carp isn't the most glorified his but pound for pound it fights as well as any fish. Large catfish are also a blast.

 

Yeah, as you can tell, I'm pretty much a fishing newbie. I've fished many time but mostly just bass and the occasional pike. I don't really know where to start. I really love fishing and my friends asked me what I wanted to do for my bachelor party and I said I'd rather go on a weekend fishing trip. But I want something completely different from the regular bass fishing that we do in this area. (White Lake, Mississipi River, etc.)

 

Anyone have any other suggestions? Like I said, I'm pretty much starting from scratch.