When to fish Lake Ontario out of Port Dalhousie.

This page explains how the Lake Ontario charter season runs off Port Dalhousie month by month, and states the real open seasons and daily and possession limits Ontario's Fisheries Management Zone 20 sets for each species.

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The best trip is the one planned around when the fish are in. Here is how the Lake Ontario season runs off the south shore, month by month.

Spring, summer, and fall

The typical charter season out of Port Dalhousie runs April through October. Spring, April to June, opens on trout: steelhead run strong, brown trout are willing close to shore, lake trout are reliable on the troll, and the first Chinook salmon start to show in deeper, colder water by late spring.

Summer, July to August, is prime salmon season, with the Chinook bite at its peak in the open water off Port Dalhousie as kings hold deep where the cold water sets up. Fall, September to October, is the fall run: Chinook and Coho salmon stage near the river mouths as they prepare to spawn, and the steelhead run returns.

Month-by-month reference

Month	What is running	Notes
April to May	Steelhead, brown trout, lake trout	Spring run, calmer water, good for beginners
June	Trout plus first salmon	Steady mixed fishing, light crowds
July to August	Chinook and Coho salmon	Peak salmon, early mornings, book ahead
September to October	Salmon fall run, steelhead	Excellent fishing, watch the weather

Real seasons and limits, Fisheries Management Zone 20

Everything above is how the fishing usually runs. The open seasons and limits are set by Ontario's Fishing Regulations Summary for Fisheries Management Zone 20, which covers Lake Ontario off Port Dalhousie, and they are the numbers a charter captain works to.

Species	Season	Sport licence limit	Conservation licence limit
Pacific salmon (Chinook and Coho)	Open all year	5	2
Rainbow trout (steelhead)	Open all year	2	1
Brown trout	Open all year	5	2
Lake trout	January 1 to September 30 and December 1 to 31	3	1
Walleye and sauger combined	January 1 to March 1, and the first Saturday in May to December 31	4	2
Smallmouth and largemouth bass	Catch and release only January 1 to May 10; regular season from a species-specific date in June or July through December 31	6	2

How the limits work

S is the sport fishing licence daily catch and possession limit, C the conservation licence limit; brook trout and splake are closed all year in this zone. Seasons and limits can change between printings; the government's own current summary is the authoritative word, and a licensed charter operator is responsible for fishing to it.

Sources

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