If you are like me, every time you pass a lake, river or any body of water you cant help sneaking a peek and wondering, “What fish live in there?”

Maybe you see a weedy bay and think, probably largemouth bass, maybe pike.  Or maybe while driving along Lake Ontario you fantasize about intense battles with chrome beasts or with giant bronzeback smallies on the depths of some remote shoal.  Maybe you have absolutely no clue what species live where and feel discouraged.

Well, thanks to our tax payer’s dollars and some GIS technicians over at the Ministry of Natural Resources, you no longer have to wonder.

The fishing Explorer, otherwise know as Fish ON-line is a handy web based, free to use GIS delivery site that displays which specieis live where in Ontario.  Data is summarized by each lake and can be searched via parameter or by zooming in on a specific lake using the site map interface.

Searches can be conducted by proximity to a lake, species or town or just by species.  As an added bonus to all you trout and walleye fans, stocking information is also provided for some lakes.

Fish ON-Line Link:

http://www.web2.mnr.gov.on.ca/fish_online/fishing/fishingExplorer_en.html

Please keep in mind this service is fairly new, and I imagine it is always under construction.  That being said some lakes lack information on a specific species or for that matter, any information at all.

Cheers

Al