When Do Salmon Run in Ontario? River-by-River Timing

The timing, river by river

Ontario's salmon rivers don't all run at once. Fish stage (hold in the lake near a river's mouth) for weeks before they move upstream. The staging and run windows shift by about a month between the earliest eastern rivers and the latest western ones. The table below comes from the timing model behind our live forecasts. It's built from Water Survey of Canada gauge records, Lake Ontario surface temperature and several seasons of fishing these rivers.

Two useful reference points from the fish-counting programs: the Ganaraska sees roughly 5,000 to 19,000 Chinook and Coho pass through Port Hope each fall (Municipality of Port Hope fishway counts), and Credit Valley Conservation has recorded salmon entering the Credit as early as mid-August in strong years. Years vary a lot. A cold, wet August pulls everything earlier, and a hot, dry one pushes it later.

Staging, before the run starts

Before salmon enter a river they spend weeks holding in the lake off the river mouth, waiting for the water to cool and flows to rise. That's the staging phase, and you can fish it from harbour piers and river mouths with spoons and spinners at dawn and dusk. Staging fish are chrome and strong, and most anglers ignore them while they wait for the river run.

Staging strength on any given day depends on lake surface temperature (fish concentrate near mouths when nearshore water sits in the 10–17°C band), wind direction (westerly wind drives upwelling along the north shore, pulling cold water and bait toward the mouths), and cloud cover. Our app scores these every day for each staging river. That's the Lake Staging Report on river pages from July on.

What triggers the run

Three things move fish out of the lake and up the river: rising flow after rain, falling water temperature, and shortening daylight. Day to day, rain matters most. Fresh fish push upriver on rising water, so the best salmon fishing is usually 24–48 hours after a good rainfall. A river that's low and clear can sit full of stale fish for a week, then reload overnight after one storm.

So a timing table only gets you so far. September 20 on the Credit can be dead in a drought year and stacked after a wet week. Check the flow against the river's normal range before you drive.

Chinook vs. Coho timing

Chinook lead, Coho follow. On the same river, Chinook typically peak from mid-September to early October, while Coho build later and peak from late September into late October, with fresh Coho still entering rivers after most Chinook are done. Miss the Chinook peak and you've still got Coho in the back half of October, with quieter rivers.

Read next

Fishing one river in particular? When do salmon run in the Ganaraska covers Port Hope in detail: run timing, the September sanctuary closure, and what a morning on that water is like.

Once the fish are in the river, technique matters more than timing. Three float fishing changes helped me most (where to start the drift, how long a leader to run, and holding the float back so the bait leads): three float fishing tips for salmon. And as the salmon run peaks, steelhead move in behind them. For when they arrive on each river, see when steelhead run in Ontario, and for where to find them, where steelhead hold in a river.

Frequently asked questions