Dave Chong was caught off guard when police stopped him from casting his line along the waterfront near Ontario Place in mid-March.

A professional angler, Chong, 53, has fished for pike in that very spot for more than 40 years — with a valid licence and in season, of course — but this is the first time he’d been told it’s illegal.

“Apparently you can fish if you’re in a boat on the Toronto waterfront, you just can’t fish from shore,” said Chong, a sponsored angler who has won numerous fishing tournaments with his motto “Fish hard! Dream big.”

Patchwork ownership along the dock walls along with two competing fishing bylaws make it difficult for anglers and authorities alike to figure out where fishing is legal along the waterfront.

The land along the waterfront belongs to the city, the Toronto Port Authority, the Harbourfront Centre, Ontario Place and a variety of private companies.

While it is illegal to fish on private property, urban fishing is allowed in city parks so long as there isn’t a sign prohibiting it, according to section 603-38 of Toronto’s municipal code.

The TPA’s rule is just the opposite. Its practices state “no person shall fish from shoreline unless in an authorized area designated by posted signs.”

But the regulation doesn’t mean much since the TPA currently has no fishing-designated zones along its dock walls. It owns less than 20 per cent of the waterfront.

The Harbourfront Centre’s land, which stretches from York St. to Portland St., posts signs banning fishing.

Provincially-owned Ontario Place has been a popular fishing spot for years, but that is where Chong ran into trouble.

Ontario Place, which the government recently decided to close for revitalization, didn’t respond to a request for information over the weekend.

The rules are much more clear at city parks, such as Tommy Thompson Park at the foot of Leslie St., and the Toronto Islands. So long as there isn’t a sign, people are allowed to fish.

“As long as somebody is fishing responsibly, on public lands we should be able to enjoy the resources,” Chong said, adding the police marine unit stopped him when there were only a few people around.

While land ownership does restrict fishing by the water, solitary anglers aren’t typically bothered down there, said Gord MacPherson, a manager at Toronto and Region Conservation.

“But you can fish, and I encourage people to fish,” MacPherson said. “Fishing on the waterfront is great. People should do it more.”

Waterfront Toronto, an organization funded by three levels of government to improve the lakeshore, seems to agree. In a 2006 marine use strategy plan, one of the points was to expand fishing by the water and perhaps create fishing piers.

It’s not clear which rule he broke, but Chong said he respected the officers’ wishes and moved on.

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Chong, who releases most of the fish he catches, wants to encourage people to fish, especially city youth, he said, so he’s written letters to the mayor and the agencies to try to get designated fishing zones.

“When I grew up in the city my parents weren’t well off and we didn’t have a cottage to go to,” he said. “My ties to the outdoors, like fishing, are from whatever I could do in the city.”

On an Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources list of 16 fishing hot spots in Toronto, the waterfront didn’t make the cut.