Sydenham River

The Sydenham River drops over the Niagara Escarpment at Inglis Falls and runs a few kilometres through Harrison Park and downtown Owen Sound to the harbour. Chinook salmon and steelhead run up from Georgian Bay to the Mill Dam, where a fish ladder lets them climb toward the falls. In the fall you can watch chinook climb the ladder from the bank.

Most of the fishing is in the short river below the Mill Dam. From the harbour up to a point 177 m below the dam, the river is in Zone 14 and open all year for rainbow trout, brown trout and Pacific salmon. Chinook fill it in September and October, and steelhead come in the fall and again in the spring. It is city water, and it gets busy in salmon season. The 177 m right below the dam is closed all year. Read the Owen Sound gauge, which sits just above Inglis Falls.

Above the Mill Dam the river is Zone 16 water with tight seasons. From Inglis Falls down to the Mill Dam it is closed from the fourth Saturday in April to May 31. Through Harrison Park, from the base of Inglis Falls down to the Rainbow Bridge, it is also closed in September, and the artificial spawning channels are closed all year. Owen Sound has hotels and full services.