Fish that inhabit the Don River

From "Bring Back the Don River"
http://www.toronto.ca/don/faq.htm

What species of fish live in the Don?
The most common native fish in the Don are minnow-sized species, including creek chub, blacknose dace and long nose dace, and white suckers. These fish are pollution-tolerant and also tolerant of the unnaturally high water temperatures in the Don. Large fish that are noted in the Don are usually suckers or carp, although northern pike have been observed in Toronto Bay near the Mouth of the Don.

In the fall since the mid-1990s, salmon have been observed migrating up the river, looking for a place to spawn. These fish are native to the Pacific Ocean, but they have been stocked in Lake Ontario for sport fishing. In recent years the Toronto & Region Conservation Authority has constructed fish passages at several small weirs (dams) in the Don to help salmon and other migratory species find their way upstream. However, a great deal of restoration work remains to be done before these fish will have much chance of spawning successfully.

Yes, there have been chinook sightings.

I'm pretty sure that there are a few Steelhead that make their way up the river also, possibly strays. I'll have to double check that though.

but if they dont get this bypass built intime, i dont think anyone is going to want to fish there for a while,lol.

I grew up in Don Mills just east of the Don Valley Parkway and Don River. In the late '70s or early '80s when I was about 12 or so, I was riding my bike with friends around the river near Lawrence Ave. and to my surpise I spotted fish. I was surprised because in those days raw sewage flowed into the river in some parts, like a neighbour's ravine backyard. Well, we came back with fishing rods that day and a few other times. The fish that we caught was like no other I had ever seen, about six inches long, not unlike a sunfish or rock bass with strange colourings. I thought it was some kind of mutant.

Fishing in full view of the Don Valley Parkway, I guess we caught the attention of a few people. On one of those subsequent days, a man came up to us and asked some questions. He wanted to see the fish that we had been catching, so we caught one and pulled it out for him to look at. I believe he was with the Ministry of Natural Resources, but I can't remember very well being so long ago. I do remember reading sometime later in the Toronto Star a write up about the various fish in the Don River. I recognized one of the drawings was the fish that we had been catching and it was native only to the Don River. Sorry, I can't remember the name. I spotted this fish near Lawrence and further north at the Donalda Golf Club near York Mills Rd. into the mid-to-late '80s.Recently, I happened to be walking through a public bridge through the Donalda Golf Club this summer. I didn't see any fish at all in the river. Nothing. I'm wondering if this particular fish is now extinct.

Where exactly did you other people spot fish in the Don River? Which part? Steelhead? Never in my day.

Are you sure he wasnt with the Ministry of Magic?

They still stock salmon into the Don. Not many but a few.

Just as an update - I have seen lots of carp in the don river. Down near king st.

I grew up in the Don Valley. Charles Sauriol, who was a prominent Don River conservationist told me back in the Eighties that he was still catching brookies in the Don in the early Sixties. The subdivisions (where I grew up) in North York killed the river. I hope in some way the river does come back. I live now 2 minutes from a trout stream.

[SIZE=medium]I play at Donalda Golf Club (Entrance York Mills and Don Mills) and the Don winds through it. In the fall, there is a salmon run. Would be interesting to find out if one can legally fish them - Up stream? Down Stream?[/SIZE]

You would be very SURPRISED with the Don River.
Like any Trib, you actually have to GO OUT and EXPLORE it.

Other than the Keating Channel, ... Once you head up past Bloor, the Don has some amazing holes.
Better than any I have seen on the Credit, Humber, Rouge, Bronte.

Course, if you do fish at the Don ... might make you a LOSER in the eyes of others.
Course, if you fish for your own personal enjoyment ... You just may be pleasantly surprised.

fishingdude said:

You would be very SURPRISED with the Don River.
Like any Trib, you actually have to GO OUT and EXPLORE it.

Other than the Keating Channel, ... Once you head up past Bloor, the Don has some amazing holes.
Better than any I have seen on the Credit, Humber, Rouge, Bronte.

Course, if you do fish at the Don ... might make you a LOSER in the eyes of others.
Course, if you fish for your own personal enjoyment ... You just may be pleasantly surprised.

Click to expand...

I saw a video of a man I'd call a friend catching suckers in the Don. Sounds like a good place to break my sucker cherry.