Why Go Carp Fishing in Canada?
Canada’s premier carp fishing is to be found on the St.Lawrence river system largely located in Ontario, a couple of hours drive from Toronto airport. The carp here are known to reach 40lb regularly. One story I heard was from a local lock keeper, he told me that the summer before my first visit he was on the drainage part of the lock system brushing the excess water out of the small pools which appear after the spring rains, when he spotted what he thought was a big clump of weed in one pool, turns out it was a carp, and no ordinary carp at that it was perhaps the biggest carp he had seen, he fetched some scales, which went up to 30 kilo’s (around 60-65lb’s), and low and behold the fish outweighed out the scales. His estimate was around 70lb! Pictures of the fish were rather hazy but the Carp was definitely bigger than anything I have ever seen in any fishing magazine or personally achieved.
Canadian river carp are around 98% common carp, all lean specimen’s which fight like no other carp you will find in British waters, assisted by the force of the mighty St.Lawrence also. Below I have placed a list of the tackle I use regularly on my trips to Canada, note that the rivers are mainly boulder bottomed brutes, with large rocks and sharp shelves to contend with, don’t underestimate the gear you will need. I have personally been snapped up by several fish because I have switched to 30lb braid because of the presumed clear bottom and smaller fish present.
Tribal 9/11 ft 2.75lb Test Curve
Fox Stratos 10,000
50lb Spiderwire braid reel line (available at half the price of the UK in most large supermarkets in Ontario)
4 Oz Leads, preferably drop off style
Canada Carp Fishing Tackle
I would not recommend assuming that the better quality tackle available in the UK will fair better on the rivers in Canada, on my first trip i managed to bust 2 top quality shimano bait runners and was left with a £30 Brutus Shakespeare reel, which caught me 72 carp in 2 days with no fuss whatsoever. I would test a few reels to see which stand you in good stead over the first day on a less turbulent stretch of river before attempting the mighty locks which are scattered everywhere across Ontario.
The aforementioned locks would be my first piece of advice for newbies to Carp fishing in Canada, these locks tend attract huge shoals of carp, often sitting in little more than a foot of water, on one occasion I recall seeing around 100 carp at a small place called Young’s Point near lake Katchawanuka all above average size cruising between lock sectors on my first ever day. Grabbing my rod and a handful of maize I wangled one out almost instantly free-lining 3 bits of maize on a size 2 hook (which turned out to be my favoured method). It was around 21 pounds of solid dark common carp, a bit battered and bruised from living on one of Ontario’s gigantic locks but that being said I was well and truly chuffed.
Canada Carp Fishing Methods
If you have ever caught a river carp form the UK you will know how hard they fight, but compared to Canadian river carp they are like bream! Couple there sheer power with the strength of the river itself and you have a combination to rattle even the hardiest of anglers. 50lb braid and strong hooks are a must!
When you enquire about the carp fishing methods in and around Ontario, usually the guide or complex manager’s are full of advice from years of experience, they will always tell you to cast into the river beds, often 60 70 or even 100 yards out in some places. I obviously started doing this as the guides know there stuff, but as the days past by catching a few decent carp from the middle I began feeding the crystal clear 3ft margin in some spots which were instantly set upon by the inhabiting carp. The next day I began to fish the margins of the same spot, perhaps 90 yards of river stood between me and the far bank so not a huge distance for the fish to home in on but still I gave it a shot, 9 carp and 3 30’s later I found my method for the following days on the St.Lawrence!
The next job was to find similar or better swims, where the river bottlenecked perhaps or on the far edge of a bend where the current had undercut the bank, a few hours later I had baited a few spots with perhaps a dozen kilo’s of bait each (a lot I know in English terms but a mere nibble for a 100 heavy shoal of carp). This tactic then produced around 200 carp in the following week, top weight being 36lb 8 on that particular trip. Although the thrill of fishing in 8-10ft of crystal clear water and spotting the carp munching at the maize below your feet far beats whacking 100 yards out in my humble opinion.
The way I fish every time I return to Canada is to slip 2 large grains of maize sideways over the shank of the size 2 hook, and a final piece lengthways so to sit on the bend with the point showing perfectly, completely free-lined straight to 50lb braid. The 3 pieces of maize are also relatively easy to spot in the water which helps with my next tip. Although the carp are pretty much virgin feeders in the St.Lawrence they are naturally wary fish, they can obviously see the 50lb braid in the water but are not 100% sure what it is so it doesn’t put them off feeding like it would the over fished carp in the UK, so they can be slightly cautious when it comes to the area that the braid sinks down into, I noticed this by watching the carp on a margin fished method feeder (which is the normal tactic), this showed me the the carp picked up the bait several times and “mouthed it” before they eventually took the method with them and were hooked! so I started paying close attention to when the fish mouthed the bait and simply struck as they sucked it up, this is also good for avoiding the smaller fish, simply don’t strike!
