Kelso, Mountsberg or Guelph lake?

[Shloim]

Can fish all of these from my canoe which would you choose?

[dylan21]

guelph lake has a ton of bass in it. Great for canoes and kayaks. Mountsberg has a lot of pike, they're everywhere. I have seen a few decent sized bass in kelso.

[Rich]

What species are you after? If you want pike, and probably only pike, and probably only hammer handles: mountsberg

 

If you want a shot at everything, go to Guelph Lake.

 

Kelso isn't great but it does have some nice bass.

[Shloim]

I put all back, and im a rookie so happy to catch anything and everything

[leaf4]

mountsberg is a frenzy for pike I catch and release probably 7-10 in a given morning of a few hours all in the 16" range usually and that's just shore casting I haven't gotten my canoe out there yet but if shore casting a good spot is along the rocks at the train tracks

[d_paluch]

mountsberg is a frenzy for pike I catch and release probably 7-10 in a given morning of a few hours all in the 16" range usually and that's just shore casting I haven't gotten my canoe out there yet but if shore casting a good spot is along the rocks at the train tracks

 

Just make sure you aren't parallel to the tracks on said rocks...or you are trespassing.

 

Mountsberg is good if all you care about is catching something. It is hard, especially if on a boat/canoe, to NOT catch a pike out there. Throw on a chartreuse spinnerbait and have fun. There are some decent bass in that lake also. The bass in my avatar photo was caught there, and I have caught bigger.

 

Problem is if you are targeting bass, it is VERY hard to keep the pike off.

 

Have fun

[Acountdeleted]

What everyone else said about Mountsberg.

 

If they haven't opened the dam the bass fishing is fantastic in Guelph lake. I went once after the dam was open..... I had no idea where the fish were.

[registerfly]

At Guelph last week, bass everywhere. Personally not a big fan of Mountsberg, but have caught more there than Kelso

[northernpike56]

I live in Burlington and frequent Kelso, Guelph, or Mountsberg at least once a week. I'll also echo what everybody above has said. Mountsberg you are going to get mostly 16" to 20" pike. Kelso you are going to get only bass which most if are on the small size but I have caught a 2 lber out of there. There are also supposedly smallmouth although I have only caught one puny one right above the dam. Kelso was also stocked with rainbow brown and brook trout at one point, so you could theoretically catch one, however it seems unlikely that a population would have established. At Guelph you are going to get a very nice combination of bass and pike, not as many as mountsberg but there are bigger ones. Fishing near the dam is awesome as said, and I have also had luck along hwy 129 (I think its called). Just make sure you park your car properly there because the OPP drives around all the time to hand out parking tickets to fishermen.

[Shloim]

Thanks for all the help guys! Now if we could just get some good weather on weekends i could put it all to use!

[Alex416]

I've done Guelph once, was quite an irritating day. I've worked through mountsberg on a canoe quite a few times. If you can find the right spots at the right times of the day, you can pull sexy pike and good bass... May not be the biggest you'll ever pull, but my pb there is a 28" pike and a 3.5 lb largemouth. Never done kelso. Just by the looks of it, it looks like someone tried turning a thrown out mattress into a couch.

[Tim Mills]

Mountsberg shallower max depth 7 or 8 ft, warmer water has cats, pike bass and panfish, lots of weeds spinner baits top water work well, some good size bass and pike there

 

kelso used to have trout but mainly LM bass now, water colder so fish are smaller, deeper over 20ft in spots, some nights triatheletes use lake to train,

 

Have not tried Guelph lake

[misfish]

Kelso was also stocked with rainbow brown and brook trout at one point, so you could theoretically catch one, however it seems unlikely that a population would have established

 

Last brown trout I caught there was in the early 80,s. And that was at the bottom of the dam in the river. Im not sure if they still stock them there. As for bass,we got some real nice ones back then as well. Both largies and smallies.

 

Is that ski jump still there? It,was at the east end of the lake. Use to watch ski jumpers there . Pretty cool.

[northernpike56]

Mountsberg shallower max depth 7 or 8 ft, warmer water has cats, pike bass and panfish, lots of weeds spinner baits top water work well, some good size bass and pike there

 

kelso used to have trout but mainly LM bass now, water colder so fish are smaller, deeper over 20ft in spots, some nights triatheletes use lake to train,

 

Have not tried Guelph lake

yes colder water and smaller fish, but surprisingly there are actually a decent amount of them in there. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple of brown trout swimming around at the bottom near the dam, because as you said, it does get fairly deep and cold.

[northernpike56]

Last brown trout I caught there was in the early 80,s. And that was at the bottom of the dam in the river. Im not sure if they still stock them there. As for bass,we got some real nice ones back then as well. Both largies and smallies.

 

Is that ski jump still there? It,was at the east end of the lake. Use to watch ski jumpers there . Pretty cool.

There could possibly still be a few brown trout left in the upper reaches of 16 mile around there, and I think that there could be a few left swimming in the reservoir. And as far as I know, they don't stock trout there anymore but it would be really nice if they did, I think the lake could hold them year-around, given that its fed by 3 coldwater creeks. There are a lot of rainbow smelts downstream of the dam now, the steelies make it all the way up from lake ontario and try to jump the dam into kelso lake. I've seen em. And no ski jumps, they don't even allow power boats on the lake now.