Lake Ontario Fishing Species, Big Game Sportfishing Species

The body of the chinook salmon is elongate and somewhat compressed. The head is conical. The color is bluish to dark gray above, becoming silvery on the sides and belly. There are black spots on the back and on both lobes of the tail. While five species of salmon occur along the Pacific Coast, over 99% of all salmon caught in the ocean off California are either chinook or cohos. Chinook and coho salmon can be distinguished by the color of the lining of the gums at the base of the teeth. In chinook salmon, this lining is blackish, while in cohos it is white.

Adult king salmon are typically 25 to 50 pounds with 60 to 80 pound king salmon not uncommon among sport fishermen and commercial catches. They typically range between 2 to 4 feet in length. Because of their size, they're well recognized for their power and endurance. The largest King salmon ever caught weighed in at 126 pounds. It was caught in a fish wheel near Petersburg, Alaska in 1949. The largest sport-caught king salmon was 97 pounds and caught on the Kenai River in 1985, by Les Anderson. Both of these salmon measured over five feet long!

Chinook salmon occur from southern California to the Bering Sea and Alaska. They occur in the Great Lakes including Lake Ontario and Erie.

They feed on terrestrial and aquatic insects, amphipods, and other crustaceans while young, and primarily on other fishes when older.

Juvenile Chinook may spend from 3 months to 2 years in freshwater before migrating to estuarine areas as smolts and then into the ocean to feed and mature. They prefer streams that are deeper and larger than those used by other Pacific salmon species.

Coho salmon are dark metallic blue to black on top with bright silver sides. They have black spots across the top of their body and on the top of their tail fin, but not on the bottom, which distinguishes them from chinook salmon. The gums of the lower jaw are gray or white. They are excellent swimmers and have muscular bodies that are both long and thick.

The native range for coho salmon is from California to Japan and, because they are so adaptable, they have been successfully introduced in many lakes in Canada and the Great Lakes region including Lake Erie.

Before entering the ocean, young coho salmon feed on aquatic insects, zooplankton, and small fish. As adults in the ocean, coho salmon use their sharp teeth to feed on other fishes, squid, and crustaceans. The large amounts of euphasid shrimp they eat account for the deep, purplish red of their flesh. In the Great Lakes, they eat alewives, lake chubs, rainbow smelt, and herring.

The coho salmon is one of the most popular game fish for anglers in both freshwater and saltwater regions. Coho are also spectacular fighters and considered the most acrobatic of the salmon, often leaping when hooked.

While in the ocean, coho salmon are taken by trolling with herring or other fishes, as well as on spoons. In fresh water coho strike salmon eggs, flies, spoons, or spinners. Casting with a fly is also successful, as long as the fisherman can handle a long line to cover the fast-moving schools.

The appearance of seagulls or other birds gathering to feed can tip off the angler to the whereabouts of schooling coho salmon. Some Great Lakes fishermen locate coho salmon by watching for seagulls attacking herring in the water. Herring travel along the surface in large, tightly bunched groups.

Coho salmon spend part of their life in the ocean and part in small, coastal freshwater streams. They choose streams with a weaker current than other salmon, such as chinooks. Young coho salmon also require adequate streamside cover to hide underneath, such as submerged branches and undercut banks. Some coho salmon spend their entire life in lakes, particularly those transplanted in the Great Lakes region.

Steelhead have a bluish-gray back and upper sides and bright, silvery lower sides, with a crisp separation between the two colors. The upper halves of their bodies are heavily speckled with small black spots. Their tail fin is completely covered with spots and may be squared or slightly forked. The interior of the steelhead’s mouth is white. The body is more elongate than other types of rainbow trout, and they are fast, strong swimmers.

Steelhead are native to the Pacific Ocean, but travel to inland streams and rivers spanning from southern California to southern Alaska during spawning runs. During this migration the steelhead may be found as far as inland as Idaho and Montana. They have also been successfully introduced to the Great Lakes region and its tributaries, as well as other freshwater lakes and rivers.

Adult steelhead feed on squid, euphasid, amphipods and fish. While young, steelhead feed on insects, copepods, amphipods and other crustaceans, as well as other small fish.

Steelhead are one of the most prized sport fish of inland anglers because of their tasty meat, large size, and strong fighting abilities. They are notably acrobatic and have been observed leaping five feet out of the water when hooked. Although steelhead are caught in the ocean, most are taken in the river systems in which they return to spawn.

Steelhead present a challenge to both find and land. Conditions on rivers change rapidly and a productive fishing spot one day for steelhead may be barren the next. They are, however, often found in the same parts of the river year after year. Thus, for the unfamiliar angler, it is recommended that a guide be hired or consult with local residents that are familiar with a given river.

If that is not an option, remember that steelhead like fast, deep-running water, so cast in white-water areas and the deep holes of the stream. Areas on the edges of fast water or where the water is broken by a rock, log, or another object may also prove fruitful.

Also try the heads or tails of pools. If the fish are on or near their spawning bed, they will generally be found in shallow water with a gravel bottom, but could still be in deeper spots nearby.

Another factor to consider is the season. Steelhead seek out faster water or shady areas during summer, while they tend to be in the slower stretches if the water temperature is below 40 degrees.

In rivers, they bait well on salmon or steelhead eggs, shrimp, crayfish tails and night crawlers, but also take lures, such as spoons, spinners and jigs, bobbers and flies. Flies that are colorful often work best.

Steelhead are anadromous, living in both fresh water and salt water. In fresh water, they prefer temperatures below 70 F and can tolerate temperatures anywhere from 32 to 80 F. They require clean spawning rivers and prefer the faster running parts of those streams.

The smallmouth bass has a moderately compressed, elongated body. There are 3 spines in the anal fin, and 9 to 11 spines in the dorsal fin. The smallmouth bass sports an olive green body above to yellow-white below, typically with 8 to 16 dark brown vertical bars on the side. The mouth is large, with the posterior edge of the maxilla extending to beneath the eye.

Fry and juvenile diets consist primarily of zooplankton and insect larvae. Adults have a more diverse palate, subsisting on such varied foods as crayfish, amphibians, insects, and other fish. Adults also cannibalize young of other parents. Although large adults are often the top predatory fish in their habitats, young adults and juveniles are often preyed upon by other fish, including other smallmouth bass and turtles.

Today, smallmouth bass are very popular game fish, frequently sought by anglers using conventional spinning and bait casting gear, as well as fly fishing tackle. The smallmouth is highly regarded for its topwater fighting ability when hooked - old fishing journals referred to the smallmouth bass as "ounce for ounce and pound for pound the gamest fish that swims".

The smallmouth bass is found in clearer water than the largemouth, especially streams, rivers, and the rocky areas and stumps and also sandy bottoms of lakes and reservoirs. The smallmouth prefers cooler water temperatures than its cousin the largemouth bass, and may be found in both still and moving water.

Because it is relatively intolerant of pollution, the smallmouth bass is a good natural indicator of a healthy environment, though it can better adjust to changes in water condition than most trout species. Carnivorous, its diet comprises crayfish, insects, and smaller fish, the young also feeding on zooplankton.

Striped bass are the largest members of the temperate bass family. They are primarily anadromous, which means they live in a saltwater habitat and migrate to fresh water only to spawn. Landlocked striped bass introduced in freshwater systems are the exception to this rule.

The body color of striped bass is olive-green, blue-gray or bluish-black on the top with silver sides and a white belly. It is easily identified by its seven or eight black stripes that run horizontally along its sides. Fins are dusky silver color, except for the white pelvic fins. Young striped bass may not have the horizontal stripes or they may be interrupted.

Striped bass also have two distinct dorsal fins. The first has seven to 12 stiff spines, which make this fin taller than the second. The second dorsal fin has only one stiff spine with eight to 14 soft rays. Stripers also have a forked tail.

Many freshwater anglers have difficulty distinguishing striped bass from white bass and hybrids. The stripes on the striper are solid, unbroken and most will extend all the way to the tail. On whites and wipers, the stripes are faint and only one will extend to the tail on each side. Striped bass also have a longer, sleeker body and a larger head than white bass and hybrid. In addition, striped bass have two tooth patches on the tongue, as opposed to one.

Striped bass are found in abundant numbers along the East Coast, Gulf Coast, and West Coast of the United States. Along the East Coast, they range from the St. Lawrence River in Canada to the St. John’s River in Florida. Those native to the Mid-Atlantic (Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina) migrate north in the summer and return during the fall. In this region, the Chesapeake and Hudson River systems are the primary spawning grounds. Large numbers can also be found in the river systems of Maine during the summer months.

In the Gulf of Mexico, they can be found along the coasts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. On the Pacific Coast they range from the Columbia River in Oregon to southern California, with the greatest concentration around San Francisco Bay.

There have been numerous attempts to introduce striped bass into inland waters of the United States. Some states, such as Texas, have had much success. Stripers have been stocked in large reservoirs and their associated river systems throughout the Midwest and South. Survival and growth of stocked stripers depend heavily on an abundance of food species, primarily threadfin or gizzard shad, as well as plenty of deep water. Most inland waters lack the spawning conditions stripers require, so they must be maintained through continued stocking programs.

Young striped bass favor zooplankton and move to freshwater shrimp and midge larvae as they grow. Adult striped bass are known for ravenous appetites and predatory feeding habits. In salt water, the bulk of their diet is small fish such as herring, menhaden, flounder, silversides, and eels. They also consume significant quantities of worms, squid, and crabs. Land-locked freshwater stripers feed almost exclusively on large shad and minnow species, although they will consume mayflies (where available) when hatching near the surface.

Many fishermen have found striped bass to be more active feeders during the nighttime hours. As a result, they prefer to fish for striped bass in low-light conditions or at night. Also, striped bass move in schools and all fish within a school will generally feed at the same time on the same prey.

The greatest challenge in fishing for saltwater striped bass is determining what their favored foods are and which one they have selected to feed on at that time. Aside from those challenges, striped bass can be caught using virtually every fishing technique known (casting, trolling, jigging and fly-fishing) using nearly any type of bait or lure. Popular methods along the East Coast include surf casting, plugging from a drifting boat, drifting eels from a boat, fly-fishing with streamers and surface flies, jigging with feathered jigs, and trolling with sandworms.

The striped bass or "striper" is native to most of the East Coast, ranging from the lower St. Lawrence River in Canada to northern Florida, and along portions of the Gulf of Mexico. Stripers inhabit the whole coast surf, inshore bars, reefs, tide rips, bays and estuaries. Stripers are particularly active in areas with tidal and current flows and in the wash of breaking waves.

In their native saltwater environments, striped bass are regarded as “inshore” fish. They will not stray far from the coasts, preferring the security of medium depths (less than 100 feet) with the ability to move shallow in pursuit of food. They will generally travel in schools in search of abundant open-water baitfish and are often found near piers, flats, rocks, and surf troughs.

Although they spend most of their lives in ocean water near the coast, they migrate to freshwater rivers to spawn. Stripers will often swim up to 100 miles into tidal rivers to find proper spawning conditions.

Striped bass prefer water temperatures between 60 and 68 F but can tolerate a wide range of temperatures as evidenced by their native and introduced range.

• King Salmon
• Coho Salmon
• Atlantic Salmon
• Lake Trout

• Brown Trout
• Rainbow Trout
• Steelhead
• Striper