Hamilton - Peir 4

[ADC]

For those of you that have gone to or heard about Hamilton's Pier 4.

 

I was wondering if anyone could share some info on the area. Pretty please with sugar on top.

 

Ive never been there and am thinking about going.

 

Ive heard that there are bass and pike there.

 

I guess I would like to know if its good for shore fishing (dont have a boat) and anything else I can expect.

 

Is it a busy area? (Id rather not fish when there are tons of people walking by)

 

whats the bite like?

 

Is there plenty of room to fish from shore? different spots? or is everything all clumpt into 1 spot?

 

 

Any help and any info anyone can share would be greatly appreciated.

 

thanx

[Carpe Diem]

For what it's worth because i'm a beginner, i will tell you what i know. There are spots to shore fish from in that park. They call it Bayfront Park now by the way.

 

There are carp, and sheepshead in there for sure. I'm told that the carp fishing is kinda over until September though. Have heard there are bass but haven't seen any. Have seen small pike caught by ice fishermen.

 

There is a Carp Barrier in place on the trail alongside the water. The carp had gotten so large and so plentiful that they had stripped the underwater vegetation. Bad carp! Of course this affected the other fish who used to hang out there. At the barrier the fish are sorted and a record is made of the numbers of each species. The count is actually posted for public view.

 

The carp are not harmed. Just not allowed to pass through. Tossed back on the other side. Anyway, there are free public tours a couple times a day. You can watch this all being done. Very interesting to watch. Educational for the kids.

 

The waterfront is quite lovely. You will see plenty of people fishing there. Plenty of people walking by on the trail during summer evenings, but not too busy early mornings, weekdays, or when summer ends. The trail runs right alongside the water. There are places more private than others.

 

Long story short, i will PM you some of the locations i know about.

[Rich]

I have yet to catch anything there but gobies and bullheads. Though I did hook a nice carp last time. As for bass.. I've pounded that area from shore and from a boat and have yet to get any. I'm sure they are there though, it looks good enough.

[MJL]

I was fishing along Bayfront park for carp on the bass opener and surprisingly saw many bass cruising around along the shoreline - Both a mix of smallmouth and largemouth bass. They weren't very big (perhaps about 1 - 1.5lbs) but there were quite a few of them. Also saw 1 rainbow trout on the same day which appeared a little lost...Perhaps it was trying to find Lake O. The angler next to me caught a nice channel cat on a boillie.

[ADC]

Thanks for the info guys.... I really do appreciate your help

 

cheers

[pikehunter]

Lots of accessible spots all near the boat ramp. Nice easy access to the water edge. Over near the tour boat and William's Coffee Pub there are good places almost everywhere. My neighbour was telling me this morning that his buddy caught a walleye in this spot a couple of weeks ago. Others have told me that the perch action is hot in the spring.

 

Good luck, have fun and if you go to where the tour boat is there is the Marine Discovery Centre for the kids to see, public washrooms, a tram, and of course Williams for lunch and a coffee. Then when you are heading home you can stop into the Lakeport Brewery on Burlington St. for a case of brown pops for a buck a bottle!

 

My son and I were down there with the boat this morning and tried a lot of nice looking spots but no luck today.

[mgilmour83]

I'm pretty new to fishing, but I have had a couple of good nights at pier 4. Just before bass season started I hooked a couple of mid size large mouths on minnows and bobber near the boat ramp. Catfish are plentiful on the opposite side by the marina. There are apparently some nice pike to be had there as well. I don't think I would drive from Toronto to fish there though, but that's just me.

[Trevor0179]

fished from there this past saturday there is alot of room to fish and many places choose from there are two or three piers and bayfront park has complete access to the water there is some prime fishing to be done there saturday i manged to get 2 nice fish one 20 lbs and one 16 1/2 wish i would have been in the tourney i would have finished in 2nd place with also the second biggest fish of the day . It is definately worth the trip there

[hammercarp]

Why didn't you join us? We had fantastic prizes. You would not have been able to fish pier 4 as I did not peg the point itself. We will be having fish-ins in the future. You are welcome to join us if you would like.

[uglyfish]

the harbour is a fantastic fishery! as said, carp and sheepshead, and some big ones at that, reside there. biggest carp i seen pulled out was 58lbs! and i caught a sheepie that was 12.4lbs. both large and smallmouth call it home. ive seen 5lb largies come out, and my biggest was 3.8lbs, biggest smallie was 3lbs. perch, crappie, rockbass, bluegill. bullheads and channel cats. also depending on time of year, chinook salmon, brown and rainbow trout. some big pike in there, lots of smaller ones too, but there are some giants there, seen a 17lb pike caught through the ice 2 years ago, and i was bitten off by one that was easily over 20lbs about 2 feet in front of me. i live 10 minutes from it, i fish that area more in a week then most other places in a month, spinnerbaits for bass and pike, also rat L traps, and crankbaits for bass, senkos as well. minnows or small jigs and micro tubes for the panfish, carp take corn a lot, catfish hit worms, usually as soon as it hits the water, sheepies will hit anythin at anytime.

 

tons of shore access all around the harbour. get out and have fun!

[CLofchik]

Pier 8, Pier 4 & Bayfront Park are all connected, but distinctly separate areas. It's actually a huge area that takes all day to fish thoroughly, I usually do better with run & gun approach rather than park in one area for the afternoon, the fish tend to move around alot. It is pretty busy, but because it's so large you can usually find a quiet spot.

 

For bass weightless jerk plastics, wacky Senko or drop shotting ledges.

 

For everything else suspending stickbaits.

 

In the last week I've picked up bass, browns, white bass, seen a few rainbows caught and a small pickeral. My pike mojo has faltered this year, but there's some there. And there's a nice whistletrout bite on Like any Lake O harbour you just never know what you're gonna catch, but there's fish there.

 

For carp and panfish forget about canned corn, worms or any soft bait, there's too many gobies & bullheads. You need tougher baits like boilies (Carp Candy!), feed corn or small plastics.