Shore Fishing in Toronto

[MuskieBait]

(07-25-2014 09:06 PM)myth7676 Wrote:  

(07-25-2014 08:51 PM)MuskieBait Wrote:  it may depend if you can make a 100 yard casts or not at times.

I was planning to use live bait. Is it better to use spinners, spoons, etc?

Thanks

Like the document that OT provided (for free and worth every cent!), think about what you are after. Do spinners and spoons work? Yeah, they will catch pike, maybe a wandering trout (or even salmon depending on time of year), but much less likely to catch carp or bullhead...and if the lures you are using are too big, you will not catch any panfish either. If you use worms, you'll catch more panfish, bullhead, carp, bass (big and small) and whatever else may come your way. If you use larger minnows, you may catch larger bass, pike, maybe even a walleye or trout.

It all depends on what time of year you are fishing, and what kind of fish you are after.

I only mentioned that in some areas you may need a 100 yd cast because that's where I saw fish when I was canoeing. Fish can move from deep to shallow and back to deep depending on time of day (amount of light, or especially for the harbourfront area...boat traffic). Even when we were canoeing in the canals through the Toronto Islands, fish were associated with the outside weed edge that was in the middle of the boating channel. They were not shallow at all during the day. The shallows are too weed choked to fish effectively in a lot of places. If you can't cast far enough, or fish weedless enough, you won't be reaching the fish at all (or...you have to wait until fish moves shallow to intercept them...but when they move shallow to hunt, they are usually on the move...hence, there isn't a single place I can tell you to cast there, do this, can you'll catch fish...because fish are on the move).

If you really, really have no clue where to start, then I would suggest you do some google search to find out first how to catch carp, bass, pike, trout and panfish (in general)...because these are the more common species around Toronto. In general, fishing technique varies little...but seasonal movement and habitat preference could dictate what to use and where to fish. Some areas can be very weed choked now to fish any sort of lures during the day, with the only option (from shore) that can remain weedless being surface lures, texas-rigged plastics or spinnerbaits (even so, some places are too choked for spinners). If you use poppers during the day on a busy boating weekend, you will not be very successful. I say this just to illustrate that there is no one single answer. It all depends.