Speaking of Hammertown...

[markiemark70]

Everytime I go through there on the highway, I see this place and wonder if there is any good fishing there. Anyone know what's there, is there parking access, shore fishing, etc?

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/ayscanada/Desk...320116997166338

 

Thanks

[rbaquial]

I've fished outta there several times - never caught anything - seen people catch Catfish, Carp and the odd Bass or two...

[pikehunter]

That would be Coote's Paradise on the left side of the picture. I believe the water is very shallow, and as said probably a catfish heaven. The outlet you see goes into Hamilton Harbour and is where the carp barrier is located. This is an attempt to restore Cootes to it's past glory and it is apparently working, according to the news anyway.

 

As for fishing there, I haven't a clue if you are even permitted to fish there because of the ongoing "carp eradication project" and I never spent anytime there but fished the other side of the HWY at Bayfront Park where yesterday my wife and I had a lot of fun with little dink perch. Pike, carp, walleye, sheephead, bass, catfish and perch can be found in the harbour.

 

Sorry but this is the best I can offer, hopefully someone else has had experiences in Coote's

Edited July 1, 2009 by pikehunter

[HTHM]

I see people shore fishing at Bayfront park, quite often. There is also a very nice free boat launch at that park. Cootes paradise is reputed to have pike and bass making a comeback.

[hammercarp]

I catch carp in Cootes. They will always be there. As a matter of fact if you are going to target a species in Cootes you are more likely to have success with them than other species except bullheads. If you are going to fish Cootes do it soon before all fishing is banned from there.

The bay or Hamilton Harbour has a wide variety of fish to catch.

[boatman]

Cootes is only a meter or so deep most of the year. Its also very turbid. Unless fishing for carp I wouldn't bother.

 

Hammercarp, have you caught any carp there this year? I heard on the news last year that they believed they released the last remaining carp in Cootes to Hamilton Harbour due to the low water conditions of last summer. I laughed when I heard it, but that's what they said. Just curious if numbers are actually down.

[CLofchik]

Hammercarp, have you caught any carp there this year? I heard on the news last year that they believed they released the last remaining carp in Cootes to Hamilton Harbour due to the low water conditions of last summer. I laughed when I heard it, but that's what they said. Just curious if numbers are actually down.

 

Cootes Paradise itself is pretty shallow, so shallow that last year it pretty much dried completely up. It was nothing but a giant mud flat with a small bit of shallow water infront of the Carp Barrier and an RBG crew that went in and seined out a few dozen carp swimming around in it. Then they proudly claimed that all the carp were extirpated out of Cootes.

 

But if you follow the Dejardins Canal back into Dundas there's deeper water where carp live year round, so no they haven't gotten rid of carp in Cootes. Even if they do there's never enough water in there to support any kind of gamefish in numbers, and what fish there were was mostly in Spencers Creek......y'know, before it got poisoned by toxic runoff after a fire in Dundas.

[hammercarp]

Cootes is only a meter or so deep most of the year. Its also very turbid. Unless fishing for carp I wouldn't bother.

 

Hammercarp, have you caught any carp there this year? I heard on the news last year that they believed they released the last remaining carp in Cootes to Hamilton Harbour due to the low water conditions of last summer. I laughed when I heard it, but that's what they said. Just curious if numbers are actually down.

Yup. I caught carp in Cootes this year and not just me but other guys that I know have as well.