Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, was named for the lake. It is the last in the Great Lakes chain and serves as the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean via St. Lawrence River. Lake Ontario is also the only one of the five Great Lakes not to share a coast with the state of Michigan. Lake Ontario is the easternmost of the Great Lakes and the smallest in surface area (7,340 sq mi, 18,960 km2), over 712 miles shoreline, its maximum length is 193 miles, and its maximum width is 52 miles.
By 1900 the Atlantic salmon were all but extinct in Lake Ontario. This was due to poor management and over harvesting. Currently, the NY DEC has been vigilant in trying to restore the Atlantic salmon. This has been moderately successful at best.
Chinook salmon were first stocked in Lake Ontario in 1873. Although Chinook salmon were sporadically stocked throughout the years, it was not until the mid-1960s that aggressive stockings of both chinook and coho salmon began. Since the extinction of Atlantic salmon in Lake Ontario, there was no apex predator to control the mooneye and smelt populations. Both species experienced rapid rates of reproduction. Mooneyes would spawn in the spring and then perish. Washing up on the shore by the millions, the DEC looked towards the pacific coast salmon as a viable source to help control the mooneye and to a lesser extent, the American smelt. Coho salmon were introduced first and after the success of the first spawning run up the Salmon River the DEC decided to stock Lake Ontario with the chinook to provide sport for anglers. With the mooneye now in a desperate fight for survival in Lake Ontario as well as the smelt, a newer prey fish has taken over: the alewife.
Lake Ontario also receives ample stockings of steelhead (rainbow) trout as well as brown trout. Living in Lake Ontario allows the trout to attain trophy sizes and are pursued by anglers for their fighting ability.
Now days, Lake Ontario offers some of the finest freshwater fishing in the US!