Cooks Bay Pike Advice

Hey everyone,

I just picked up my first boat recently. It came with a trolling motor and a fish finder, which is all new to me. I've been trying to catch my first pike for a while now with no success. Mostly been fishing from shore with one rented boat trip to balsam last year that yielded nothing except 2 small ones that came off right as i was trying to net them, but I’m really hoping that I have a better shot now, i honestly dont even care about size at this point im just trying to get on.

I’m heading out to cooks bay early Saturday morning and hoping to be on the water right at sunrise. I’ve been told trolling is probably my best shot, so that’s probably what I’ll stick to for most of the day. I’m still pretty new to fishing in general, so any tips would be super helpful. Not looking for anyones honey holes but just a general idea of where I should be and what to look for.

Also, are there any public launches in cooks bay that you can use early in the morning? Most of the marinas I’ve looked up online seem to open at 7 or 8, but I’d really like to get out there earlier if possible.

Appreciate any help.

What side of Cook's are you thinking of launching from? I've called Monto Reno before and got permission to launch before they open, and paid when I come back in.

As for catching pike - look for weedbeds, and troll the edges. I would use jerkbait type lures or even spoons if you can get them to run shallow enough. Look for weedbeds that are close to deeper water. The bigger pike most likely suspend in the cooler deeper water, and I suspect would even target Cisco.

I've always found a slightly faster trolling speed works well with pike, but also eratic speeds and directions work too. If you decide to try casting this works extremely well. Cast, start reeling, but pause during your retrieve, or speed up your retrieve and then pause.

Best of luck! Hope you get into a couple of them!

They’ll eat just about anything. Red devil, 5 of diamonds, canoe spoons and silver/blue Williams are my fav spoons. Rapalas and white spinnerbaits also.

True! I can't count how many senkos I've lost to pike when I've been reeling them in! LOL

For Pike in cooks I wouldn’t troll.

You will catch them trolling but I do way better casting.

I find the Pike in cooks are mostly in groups. Catch me catch a bunch.

Find the sparse weeds with tall growth clumps. Can cast the area in between all the clumps. They will chew anything. I like throwing a double Colorado white spinner bait for the. The Double Colorado idea higher in the water with less speed and crates way more thump and vibration. Also spoons and swim baits. There are so many successful pike fishermen and they all have their favourites. You will catch on what you use.

Pike love spinnerbaits and swim baits those are go to baits anywhere pike are can’t tell you where on cooks to go though , I only fish hard water on simcoe

When I was a kid Dad and I used to catch monster pike at Cooks Bay where the Holland River empties.......Thats a couple of years ago.....I was 15 then and am 76 now lol.

Arnie

60 years ago did you catch any Muskie? They were still in cooks back then.

60 years ago did you catch any Muskie? They were still in cooks back then.

They were there but we never got one but The son of the owner of Windsor Boats sure did. He was 14 and I was fishing near him and he was in a flat bottomed wooden rowboat about ten feet long. He hollered over at me and said he was snagged. I looked at where his line was going into the water and saw horizontal movement. I said that is not a snag.

He was about a half hour battling this fish. He ended up at ;east 100 yards away from where he hooked it. I saw him lean over the side of the boat with a small nylon dpi-net. He straightens up and I saw this massive fish half in the net being dragged into the boat.

It was a Musky....we were close to Windsor Boats and we took him ashore and put him in the minnow tank to revive him. I do not know the actual weight but he was an inch short of going nose to tail. The tank I measured later and it was 5 ft.

I often think of this day and my dad's work friend that stayed there all summer. He often talked about the Musky he had caught and seen others catch. He was a crusty old fart that cussed worse than anyone I have ever known.

One day I took my minister and future father in law fishing and when we came in, Ernie was on the dock. When he seen me he made the air turn blue as I was giving him the shhhh and cut sign, to no avail. Loved that old red neck.

Gerry, some info from Ernie....he always talked about around Snake Island and Orchard Beach to catch Musky.

Arnie

60 years ago did you catch any Muskie? They were still in cooks back then.

It's unfortunate that the muskie reintroduction program has not taken off a little better. I have not heard of a lot of incidental catches of muskie on Simcoe. (I believe the stocking program was either halted or finished.)

60 years ago did you catch any Muskie? They were still in cooks back then.

It's unfortunate that the muskie reintroduction program has not taken off a little better. I have not heard of a lot of incidental catches of muskie on Simcoe. (I believe the stocking program was either halted or finished.)

It ended in 2018/19.

If interested in the story, click the link below.....you must have Facebook as it is a Facebook thread.

https://www.facebook.com/p/Lake-Simcoe-Musk...00077031998235/

Arnie

60 years ago did you catch any Muskie? They were still in cooks back then.

It's unfortunate that the muskie reintroduction program has not taken off a little better. I have not heard of a lot of incidental catches of muskie on Simcoe. (I believe the stocking program was either halted or finished.)

It ended in 2018/19.

If interested in the story, click the link below.....you must have Facebook as it is a Facebook thread.

https://www.facebook.com/p/Lake-Simcoe-Musk...00077031998235/

Arnie

Thanks for that. Wow! I didn't think that it had been so long. Since covid, time just seems to be flying! LOL

I used to fish with Wil Wegman quite frequently. As a former Fleming grad myself I am always interested in rehab projects. Wil could talk for hours about the muskie program. And of course, he was completely dedicated to the health of Lake Simcoe.

My Dad and I used to fish the mouth of the Holland as well - definitely some nice pike cruising around out there. He passed away 10 yrs ago, and I unfortunately haven't fished it since.