Southern Ontario and its Great Lakes tributaries—the Grand, Saugeen, Nottawasaga, Maitland, and others—provide year-round fishing for large brown trout, steelhead, salmon, and smallmouth bass.

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The northern reaches of Canada have exceptional fishing for pike, salmon, and legendary brook trout, if you're willing to pay for expensive plane tickets and endure long travel times. But there is more to Canadian fishing than the big-budget destinations. The rivers of southern Ontario, for example, have a lot to offer, especially if you live close to Buffalo or Detroit.

Take a look at a map of the Great Lakes. With the exception of Lake Michigan, all the Great Lakes have a Canadian shore. Southwestern Ontario is surrounded by Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Lake Huron, and Georgian Bay. Rivers like the Saugeen, Maitland, Grand, Credit, and Nottawasaga would be famous if they flowed through U.S. soil, but they are relatively obscure because they are in an area not noted for its fly-fishing heritage. Local anglers are more apt to go north to chase walleye, pike, and bass in lakes despite the quality river fishing on their doorsteps.

Depending on what type of fly-fishing experience you are looking for, southern Ontario can probably provide it. There are intimate trout streams with wild fish and top-notch tailwaters with big, educated browns. Ontario's smallmouth rivers equal any river bass fishery in the world, and there are dozens of rivers with steelhead and salmon runs that rival those in the United States.

An added incentive to fish this area is that you don't have to travel far into the wilderness. Accommodations, restaurants, guides, tackle shops, and other entertainment options are abundant. Canadian currency is also weaker than the U.S., so your dollars stretch farther north of the border.

Stephen May is a fly-fishing guide and the project coordinator for the Grand River Fisheries Mangement Plan in Ontario, Canada.

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