Fishin
for Kids
The dock is the funnest
place at camp. (Parents call it cottage but us kids call it camp.) Docks
are magic to us. Docks are magic to fish too. For us kids the best fishing
on Lake Ontario is off the dock. Sometimes us kids catch more fish
in Sandy Pond off the dock than the adults do in Salmon River or Lake Ontario. (We
beat them a lot.) If you prepare for it, you can be catchin fish within
seconds of getting to camp.
Kids Lake Ontario Fishing tip
#1
Pack your fishin pole,
life preserver, bait bucket and bait last when you pack the car, then it's the
first stuff to unpack when you get to camp. You could be fishing for
giant Lake Ontario and Sandy Pond fish within seconds of your arrival.
Lake Ontario and Sandy
Pond grow monster size fish and many swim by our dock. While fish up to 30
lbs. feed around your dock, a light pole with 6
or 8
lb. test line will catch most of the fish. You will likely catch lots of
fish every day.
Kids Lake Ontario Fishing tip #2
Bring a plastic pail to
keep the fish alive after you catch them. Since you can't eat all the fish
you catch, you will be letting many of them go. It is fun to look at them
for a while first.
Most us kids fish
with a bobber, a worm and a small sinker.. we use small hooks. they
work the best and they're safer than lures. Our favorite bait is worms.
Kids Lake Ontario Fishing tip #3
Bring lots of worms. A zillion
will do. Some kids use 100
worms a day. It is a good idea to pack a flashlight and extra batteries
incase you use up all your bait and need to find more crawlers.
Many of the monster size fish come to the dock at
dusk or just after dark. So do the mosquitoes.
 Kids Lake Ontario Fishing tip
#4
Make sure your parents
know how to light a
smoky fire and bring bug repellant to keep those pesky mosquitoes away.
The funnest of all the fish to catch from the
dock is the monster bowfin. It looks like a 2
foot pollywog with big ugly teeth. It pulls hard and splashes a lot. The bowfin hits at dusk or after dark.
sometimes its sharp teeth bites through the line.
Kids Lake Ontario Fishing tip #5
Bring wire leaders - 8
to 20 lb. test, about 10 inches
long. Use these at night so the bowfin can't bite your line off.
the bowfin is very strong.
Once a kid left his fishin pole laying on the dock with the line dangling over
the side. Then the kid went to the campfire to roast a marshmallow.
while he wasn't watchin a giant bowfin pulled the line and dragged the pole
right into the water and swam away with it. He never saw the pole
again. The bowfin probably swam across the Pond and maybe all the way to
Lake Ontario, even. 
Kids Lake Ontario Fishing tip #6
Never trust a bowfin. He
will steal your fishin pole if he gets a chance.
The bowfins lurk around the docks
looking for wounded or dead sunfish. Dead sunfish are the best bait to use
to catch a bowfin. The bowfin is strong. With one munch he crushes a
sunfish in his powerful jaws. The sunfish looks like a railroad train ran
it over after a bowfin bites it.
Kids Lake Ontario Fishing tip #7
Watch out for you hands,
Keep them away from the bowfins teeth. Get your parents to take the hook
out. take his picture and let him go. Anything as mean and ugly as a
bowfin can't taste good.
Salmon are bigger and
stronger than bowfin and they got teeth too. Parents Like to go Salmon fishing
in Lake Ontario and in Salmon River. If they make you go you need to be
ready. Salmon are tricky! they can break your line in a second and
they can untie your knots so they can swim away. They're waaaay too big for a
regular net and they're so heavy they can break the handle.
Kids Lake Ontario Fishing tip
#8
Bring special stuff for Lake Ontario fishing.
Fill your reels with 15 to 20 lb. test line. Use cross lock swivels tied
on with a clinch knot plus* Get a Lake Ontario fishing net. (They sell
them up here if you can't find one at home.)
One thing you will
notice really quick when adults go fishing on Lake Ontario or Salmon River is
that they stay out a long time. If they don't catch anything they stay out
even longer. This is tough on kids 'cuz they know that back at the dock
the fish are hitting like crazy.
Kids Lake Ontario Fishing tip #9
Help your parents catch fish.
Go to
bed early so you can wake up early so you can be on the water before
daylight. Whether you're fishing Lake Ontario or Salmon river, the fish are
up early and most hungry the first 3 hours of daylight. (pssst I have a fishin secret - Fishing Lake
Ontario or Salmon River the first 3 hours of daylight catches more fish than the
whole rest of the day.) As soon as you
catch your first fish put the same lure on all the rods and set them to the same
depth. And if you keep catchin fish remember to use the same stuff
tomorrow. Helpin your parents get their limit will get you back to the
dock on sandy pond quicker, where the real action is.
Now that you're back at
the dock there's another lake ontario fishing secret to tell. Giant
Carp! They
weigh 40 lbs and some of them may be as tall as you. They cruise the
shallows eating mostly plants. When they find the right food they will eat
there a long time. They are hard to catch cuz they feel the weight of the
hook and drop it before you have a chance to hook 'em. Also it's hard to
put a plant on a hook to use as bait.
Kids Lake Ontario Fishing tip #10
Carp like corn! Ask mom if she'll get
you a can of corn. (green giant whole kernel corn is the best.) What I like to do is sprinkle
some corn at the shoreline every day. The carp will find it and feed near
shore. (I don't do this around the dock 'cuz the carp are to heavy to get up on
the dock.) To catch 'em use a small hook and a slip sinker tied to your 6 -
8 lb. test line. This will trick the carp cuz
it won't be able to feel the
weight. I like to place my pole in a fork stick so I can do other stuff
while waitin for a carp to bite. I leave the bail on my reel open so the
carp can't steal my pole just like bowfin do. When fishin for carp, it's a
good idea to wear your life preserver even if you're on land. If you hook
into a strong carp it might pull you in the water a few feet.
Back To Top
*clinch knot
plus
- through the eye of the hook 2
times, then wrap 6
times around the line and then back through the bottom two loops at the eye.
Be sure you lick the knot before you pull it tight.
back to
tip #8
| 
New York!