Finding New Spots (Article from another site)

[TC1OZ]

Found this site off the google ad's, I'll display the article then post the source at the bottom...could be useful :

 

This week I'm going to share my number one method for finding new locations to fish in the province of Ontario. With this method In just a minute you can find the name of a water body, it's exact location, up to date information on what game fish are present, the size of the fish that inhabit it, and weather they are safe to eat. This secret trick works on over 1600 rivers, lakes, streams, and ponds in this province. I can even get this information for specific sections of rivers and areas of lakes.

 

All of this information can be gathered from a publication that the Ontario ministry of the environment puts out for free every two years, seriously! First published in 1976 the Guide To Eating Ontario Sport Fish is a wealth of information. Staff at the Ontario MNR and MOE gather about 12000 fish samples every two years under the Ontario sport fish contaminant monitoring program from over 1860 locations. These samples are then tested for a variety of toxic substances at the ministry of the environment labs in Toronto. The guide is designed to inform fisherman if the fish they catch are safe to eat and at what levels, but this book or PDF download is so much more useful than just that.

 

The guide is divided into three sections: Southern Ontario inland lakes, Northern Ontario inland lakes, and the Great lakes/St. Lawrence River. There are about 1125 locations published in the north, 60 for the Great lakes, and 675 in the south. Locations for the guide are selected because they are popular fishing areas and/or they have prolific fish populations.

 

The way I use the guide is I just browse through the book, and look for water bodies close to home or the area I plan to fish. I also look up places that I have heard of or seen before and am curious as to what type and size of fish are in it. The listing will show me all of the main species of fish in that water body, the size in inches of fish that have been sampled, the township it is located in along with the region/county, and the exact coordinates. Sometimes I want to find new spots with trophy fish in it. In this case I will just browse through the guide and look for locations with big fish sampled, lakes with big Walleye for example or a streams that have large Brook Trout and then make a trip to those spots. This technique is also a really good way to find Great lakes tributaries that get migratory runs of Trout and Salmon, the bigger rivers and creeks include a spawning runs section.

 

Here is an example listing for Puslinch Lake:

 

 

* It tells me the lake is in Puslinch township, Wellington county

* the coordinates are 4325/8016

* the lake has Northern Pike to 30 inches, Walleye as long as 22 inches, and also holds Pumpkinseed, Black Crappie, Bluegill, and Brown Bullheads

 

You can pick up this book at your local tackle shop, MNR/MOE office, and is usually available at the spring fishing shows

 

Here is the link to the online version:

The 2009 - 2010 Guide To Eating Ontario Sport Fish

 

I hope this tool helps you to find new fishing spots this season and into the future. Don't forget that it is also very useful for it's intended purpose as well, giving you consumption advice on the fish that you catch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This article was found on http://www.fishingwithrandle.com/

 

I thought it was interesting....what are your thoughts & opinions?

[mistaredone]

I used this as a guide for many years but it does miss alot of main spices in quite a few lakes that I can see after a quick look. Also I can understand why musky would not be on a fish eating guide but it would be helpful to rec anglers looking for new/less pressured lakes.