Trout season opens

For ardent fisherman in southern Ontario, the last Saturday in April signifies a special day.
It’s a day for which all of the streams become fair game for those in pursuit of trout.
Within the boundaries of York Region, the Rouge River and its tributaries is a main focal point where anglers can find migratory rainbow trout, known as steelhead, along with a healthy population of resident rainbow and brown trout.
The former species, which can attain weights up to 20 pounds, have for the most part spawned out, said Mark Heaton, a Ministry of Natural Resources biologist from the Aurora District office. This, he said, was due to the unseasonably mild temperatures earlier this spring that, in turn, induced spawning in the river’s upper reaches.
Once these fish have fulfilled their annual spring ritual and providing water temperatures remain cool, they will occupy deeper holding areas before making their retreat back towards Lake Ontario. Some of these places include areas adjacent to high banks, undercut banks, sunken trees or logs or river bends. These same places in headwater areas will also be ideal places to find residential fish.
Fish occupying these areas can often be identified with the use of good polarized sunglasses.
To catch these fish, there’s an array of baits that can be employed. Dime-sized spawn sacks, cured single eggs, earth worms, meal worms, number 2 or 3 Mepps or Vibrax spinners, wobbling plugs, small plastic Berkley power worms and artificial flies such as the egg-sucking leach or wooly bugger are among the more popular pieces of arsenal an angler should have in his fishing vest.
Using spawn, earth worms, plastic worms and artificial flies, these baits can either be drifted off the river bottom or suspended off a small trout float and through a pool. The odds can also be tipped in your favour if you employ these baits off leader material that’s made of flourocarbon.
Wobbling plugs, such as the K5 Kwikfish, are best employed when dropped back into a holding pool while spinners can be tossed in a quarterly direction upstream and slowly retrieved.
When encroaching a stream, be sure the access points are public land. In the case of fishing on private property, written permission from the landowner is required.
If you intend to wet a line on the Rouge River near the Milne Dam fishway, be sure to stand at least 75 feet downstream from the structure.
If you intend to keep any fish, be sure to check the current 2005-2006 provincial regulations for possession limits. As well, a residential angling licence is required if you are between 18 years of age and 64.
For more information on the provincial angling regulations, log on to: www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/fishing