Lake Simcoe

In summer, pike stay in Cook's Bay, but move to deeper water. Fish just outside of Keswick, look for the drop-offs at the 10-18 ft. mark, offshore areas along weedlines can be productive. Troll or cast diving crank baits in perch or minnow imitations. If fishing is slow, use a bobber baited with a live sucker.

In Winter, pike can be caught using Tip ups, baited with a large sucker minnow. Ice fishing is quite popular on Lake Simcoe and Cook's Bay, although locating pike can sometimes be challenging.

PERCH     Lake Simcoe and Cook's Bay is famous for it's jumbo Perch. Anglers target the perch heavily during the icefishing season, which begins in mid-Janurary through until mid-march.

Hundreds of anglers using various ice fishing techniques visit the lake during the winter months. Ice huts and Shanty towns are well established in the known perch grounds. The main areas of ice fishing activity are in Cook's Bay, near Gilford and Keswick, Lake Simcoe, near Innisfil Beach, Beaverton, the shoals around Thorah and Snake Island and Lake Couchiching. Live minnows and wax-worms fished near the bottom are highly effective. Artificial lures also work well on Lake Simcoe jumbo perch, especially in the mornings and the evenings. Lures of choice include small jigging raps, Teeter Totter Jigs, Tear Drop ice jigs, Genz Worms, and the famous Lake Simcoe Bug. Small pixie spoons tipped with wax-worms or small minnows can be deadly on the larger jumbo perch. The Lake Simcoe perch, school in winter and move around in search of forage, the key to a successful outing, is mobility, drill a few holes, if nothing bites in 15-20 minutes, move on until you locate the schools. Many times when you find green weeds in 15-20 ft, you will find the perch. Lake Simcoe perch feed on tiny shrimp called scuds which inhabit the green weeds, jigging small baits in these areas can be deadly. For more ice fishing information visit Ice Fishing Lake Simcoe

Spring and Summer fishing for Jumbo perch is also excellent, especially during the morning hours. Bobber fishing with worms and live minnows is the method of choice. Spring hotspots include Atherley Narrows, Keswick, Jackson's Point, Roches Point and Lake Couchiching.

LAKE TROUT      Winter icefishing on Lake Simcoe is also the best time to target the Whitefish and Lake Trout, which are quite abundant due to the stocking efforts of the MNR. In winter whitefish can be found in depths of 50 feet and up, although the magic depth seems to be 80 feet. The best time to catch Lake Simcoe whitefish is in late January to mid-February, with most action generally between dawn and noon. Live minnows fished right on bottom with Lake Simcoe spreaders or perch rigs seem to produce well. Jigging spoons, like the williams half & half can also entice some whitefish, especially when the whitefish are schooling.

Lake Simcoe lake trout can be found in the same areas as the whitefish, although they are often near deeper water between 90-100 feet. Early in the ice fishing season, jigging spoons a few feet off bottom can produce some aggressive strikes from active trout, once again the williams half & half seems to be the lure of choice, although rattle spoons and large meegs or bad boyz tipped with minnows can also be productive. Later in the season, large live minnows fished near the bottom can be deadly. Historically some the best areas to catch Lake Simcoe lakers are the shoals around Big Bay Point and Fox Island. Recent studies have shown some natural reproduction of the lake trout, which may be due to habitat restoration and abundance of forage. Lake Simcoe lake trout mainly feed on Lake Herring (Cisco) and smelt, and lures which mimic their natural prey are always a good choice.

LARGEMOUTH BASS     Largemouth Bass are abundant in Cook's Bay, due to it's shallow and weedy nature. The Holland River is legendary for it's monster bucket-mouths, 5 pounders, are not uncommon. The Largemouths in the Holland River, are concentrated in the bullrushes that line the river. They reside in the undercut banks created by the many passing boats, fish for them by pitching a jig 'n pig into the bank. Use dark colours blue, black, or brown and concentrate on areas of the river with deep water access. For the Holland River this is about 7 ft. Also fish the shoreline canals in and around Keswick, once again search for cover near deeper water. Main Lake Simcoe largemouth bass can be found around deep weedlines 15-20 feet, especially in mid-summer. Fishing jig 'n pigs or large plastic worms along these deep weedlines can produce some big bass. In Lake Simcoe, the main forage for largemouth bass is perch, and casting deep diving crankbaits in perch patterns can be deadly, especially at dawn and dusk.

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