Muskoka lakers, where are the WF??

3hrs of actually fishing....marked only a very few (but lots of what looked to be small smelt)...first mark happened when I pulled up my main line to put down my rod for smelt (ultra-light with two red flies on it and I used the smallest vibrato I had to get it down) - I had another one with a small spoon and a live shiner (wow are they expensive now...hadn't bought minnows in a long time because of the new bait regs that I think need to be much refined because some of what they are trying to do can't be achieved with the current regs...annnnyyyywwaaay - I think it's the last time I will buy minnows for a while; this was mainly for other people fishing not really for me but thought I would give it a try since it's been so long). First drop with the smelt line and before it gets close to bottom, the "smelt" looked to have gotten thicker and the bottom looked more solid and thicker. Hit bottom, gentle tap tap and fish on but it's not a smelt. Some drag was pulled but it came up and I had myself a 19+" laker. After letting it bleed for 10 mins or so and no action on the sonar, I decided it was time to go. Flipped open the flip-up and stood up to start packing it up...my minnow line bounces...first thought, my survival suit's arm must have hit it as I was wearing it open and buckled at the waist only. Quick check on the sonar and there was a solid mark right where my minnow/spoon was. Picked up the rod, and slowly lifted it up, rod bends, weight felt, hook set. Lots of drag was pulled, tighten the drag and it slowed the fish down. At the hole, it was clear it had wrapped itself around the line, a few more twists and the line gets unwrapped and I was able to guide it's head through the hole...about 23" (didn't take the time to measure well because it was not going to hit the 25+" anyway and I have an entry for the 20-25" (and the 25+") categories but wanted another one for the 25+" one because I had forgotten to photo my entry with my card the last time.
Passed off the larger fish to another board member that was also fishing at the same general area...he and his group hadn't caught one by the time I had to call it quits. The smaller one is going to a neighbour. Where are the WF? It's now 6 or 7 lakers to 1 WF. Not really complaining about the action but I would like to have some WF to eat.

Both were really colourful fish with nice looking fins.
Oh and the slush situation appears to have gotten a bit better up here but the snow is still pretty deep (off the main trails, there were places where I sank up to just under my knees - I didn't try the snowshoes even though I had brought them because the main trail was pretty easy walk...it was just off the trails that got deep and by that time, I didn't have to go far so too lazy to get the snowshoes on for the short distance from the main trails to my spots to fish). After this thaw, the snow should pack down some and some colder nights after the thaw may leave a good crust to walk on, on top of the snow and slush? We can only hope.

Congrats on the nice haul! It's tough time for fishing now, that's pretty good catch, whitefish gonna bite later, I think.

Nice catch! I as well got into the Lakers finally but kinda on the small side.
I think the bite is picking up though!

My son was fishing in that general area over the last couple weekends and has been catching 4 or 5 lakers(all between 20-23 inches) for every whitefish. The lakers were picking up spreader minnows.

Worst is when you find the whities and they’re under your hole all day and you can’t make them bite. Well done on the couple lakers

This was us yesterday. Whitefish are a social fish, sometimes they just want to be near us but not too close.

Congrats on the lakers still lots fo time for the white fish, I'm still waiting on my first of the season

Nice report; thanks for posting! I'm planning on being up there on Thursday; I hope the WF will be biting by then, LOL.

That seems to be how things are going...all the folks that fish the area on regular basis have been saying the same thing about lakers/WF ratio.

Thanks and I agree. But where are they now. I think I need to try to change things up to see if I can figure out where they are holding during mid-winter...that's alot of work in this deep snow and slush (but it seems to be getting better than before....no more snow please!).

Unless I get a 30+" for the derby (I have an entry for each of the other gamefish categories now), my preference is for the smaller lakers for eating (...and also for giving to friends - I don't want to give them anything I wouldn't consider eating and the larger ones are best for breeding too). I really haven't noticed much change in the actual catching all winter. For my almost always short 2-3 hr trips, I have mostly come back with a fish or two, which I am happy with.

At least if they are below me, then I know my lack of catching is my inabilities to get them to bite (and I can change up baits to try different things). I can't even seem to find them right now. Even the lakers...I'm not marking much but glad I was able to get two of the 3 (maybe 4) marks to commit (and both were barely hooked and could have come off easily - they hooks were easy to just pop out). I am finding smelt though.

For sure. Esp. since up here, we don't have the short(er) season that Simcoe does.

Good bet, if you get anything, it will be a laker. But who knows, maybe Thursday is the day the WF start turning on and ...fishermen are always the optimist.