Ontario Shore Fishing Forum

Any of you GTA anglers, what do you remember about the Rouge River?

Years ago, maybe in the late 1990's, I remember by grandfather catching salmon and trout from around the Toronto zoo.

I've scouted the river around the Zoo this year, and haven't found signs of life!

Is it just me, or did this river go south?

u need to fish the south end of the river

you cant fish up north of kingston or hwy 2... just south going through the lake O if im not mistaken...

(03-14-2012 11:58 PM)bfisher Wrote: [ -> ]you cant fish up north of kingston or hwy 2... just south going through the lake O if im not mistaken...

Correct, sorta kills my fun lol.

But you can fish for carp anywhere lol. I'd love to sight-fish for carp up and down the river... it would be like the salmon run all over again XD

So Rouge River...
Long story on this one...


you all know of the Milne Dam...


The milne pond was created in the 1800's, It was created by a Old Grist mill, as industry moved on, the mill was removed but the dam remained there, in the 1950's, orso, hurricane katrina came through and flooded the area, Wipeing out the old dam...

After that conservation programs were put into place, In actuality the areas we call conservation areas, and think its all a good thing for the wildlife, they were actually areas where a group could control or conserve the water flow so that in the future if there is a flood a river would not get wiped out intirely as mother nature would have intended...

for about 2 years after hurricane katrina came through and wiped out the original milne dam, the migrating fish species were allowed to pass that one barrier.
This helped the fish species for about 4-5 years after the milne dam was replaced, and it has slowly died since then...

Fish generally goto spawn at the area they were born, for the most part if the spawning is taking place in the lower ends of the rivers, the quality of fish will be less, and they have a smaller area to spawn in which would create less fish..


moving to today...

a Fish ladder was built in 2002, it was the first time since the 50's ?? that fish have been moved over the dam.

This year the ladder was open all year.

over the next 4-5 years you will start to notice a significant difference in the lively hood of the rouge river system.


Summer months when the weather is too warm for trout or salmon to be in the rouge, is a great time to catch Small mouth, large mouth, sunfish and even crappie, and dont forget the Carp and Suckers, Chubb and Fall Fish, Lots to be had by everyone.....

Fishing on the rouge river is open, from lake ontario to the south side of the 407 until december 31 then it is closed until spring opener,
Your not gonna want to miss that ...

Toogood pond and Milne ponds are great areas to target just about anything, your allowed to use a canoe or rowboat in either of these ponds also....


~Jeremy.

Thank-you Jeremy, that's some fascinating history there about Markham's major water bodies!

Last year, beavers in the Raymerville subdivision were trapped and killed in order to restore fast (colder) flow to Robinson creek which flows into the Rouge. I am wondering why the dams at Milne and Toogood are not opened up to restore natural cold-water river habitats.

Freeing up flows and planting trees for shade makes sense to me.

Wow... Awesome info Jeremy. Very helpful. To be honest I had always wanted to fish the Rouge but never thought it had much potential even when I hear of people catching fish there. Also I never knew you could kayak in Toogood that's awesome (very helpful for targeting Carp).

Thanks,
Giuga10

(10-10-2012 03:20 PM)Giuga10 Wrote: [ -> ]Wow... Awesome info Jeremy. Very helpful. To be honest I had always wanted to fish the Rouge but never thought it had much potential even when I hear of people catching fish there. Also I never knew you could kayak in Toogood that's awesome (very helpful for targeting Carp).

Thanks,
Giuga10

I test-paddled a canoe in toogood at night once, nice and calm and peaceful. I don't think I'd want to haul it out for carp fishing though... a nice solid cast would get the job done

I never caught anything in there not even chubs. It seems to be a dead river to me. But I keep hearing the occasional bow or salmon being taken, so I think it's either a fluke or a load of crap. Does the MNR stock in the Rouge at all? If not then there's no reason for salmon or trout to be there unless someone on their own put fertilized eggs there.

(10-15-2012 10:16 AM)grubman Wrote: [ -> ]If not then there's no reason for salmon or trout to be there unless someone on their own put fertilized eggs there.

... got me thinking....

LOL