Nottawasaga River

The Nottawasaga, the Notty to most anglers, starts at the Orangeville Reservoir, cuts through the Niagara Escarpment and reaches Georgian Bay at Wasaga Beach. Steelhead, chinook and brown trout run up from the bay through the Minesing Wetlands. Fish ladders let the rainbows past the dams to spawn in the upper river. From the Boyne River down to Georgian Bay, the river is open all year for trout and salmon, so it gives you water to fish in the months the smaller Georgian Bay streams are closed.

The lower Notty is a slow, sandy, winding river, not a riffle-and-pool stream. Below Edenvale it runs deep and quiet to the bay, and through the Minesing Wetlands it spreads into a huge marsh with few roads to the bank. Most anglers fish it from a boat, or walk in at the bridges and parks around Angus, Edenvale and Wasaga Beach. Chinook come in September and October. Steelhead follow in the fall and keep coming through the winter into the spring run. Fish a float and roe bag or a weighted fly slowly through the deeper bends. Read the Edenvale gauge for the lower river and the Baxter gauge for the water above Angus. The river colours up fast after rain and in the spring melt.

The rules change at the Pine River. Between the Boyne and the Pine, every rainbow trout goes back. Below the Pine you may keep rainbows within the zone limit. The Nicholson Dam water near the Boyne is a sanctuary from January 1 to the second Saturday in May and again from October 1. Wasaga Beach, Angus and Barrie have motels and services.