Fishing in Lake Ontario

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Lake Ontario is a great fishing destination, with species that include pike, carp, rainbow trout, lake trout and chinook salmon.

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Advisories and Warnings

If you're eating your catch, though, care must be taken in several areas because pollutants and toxins accumulate in fish bodies as they grow. Lake Ontario suffers more than other Great Lakes because all the other Great Lakes drain their water (and pollution) into Lake Ontario.

Warnings have existed for years that people should not consume fish over 75 cm/29.5 in. A new advisory reported on in the Toronto Star on July 6, 2007, brings the warning down to some fish at the 55 cm/21.5 in. range, when caught in certain areas. Specifically:

FISH CAUGHT NEAR HAMILTON HARBOUR
(number in bold indicates the number of meals of this fish that can safely be consumed each month)
Chinook salmon (55 cm) 1
Rainbow trout (35 cm) 4
Rainbow trout (55 cm) 2
Carp (35 cm) 2
Northern pike (75 cm) 4

FISH CAUGHT NEAR TORONTO HARBOUR
(number in bold indicates the number of meals of this fish that can safely be consumed each month)
Chinook salmon (55 cm) 1
Chinook salmon (75 cm) 0
Lake trout (55 cm) 0
Carp (35 cm) 1
Northern pike (55 cm) 4
Northern pike (75 cm) 2

The report is called "Up to the Gills," and was issued by Environmental Defence.

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