Lake simcoe crappie, question

Hi guys,
I have heard of the awesome spring crappie fishing on lake simcoe once the ice is off. My question is....where do they hang out before that happens? Does anyone target them through the ice? I'd love to make the long run up there (I live in Woodstock if I had a chance at connecting with some of these fish......but I'd be completely shooting blind without a little guidance/help. Thanks in advance for any feedback guys.

i have limited a few times right off the dam ......wouldnt think it,but great fishing!

This post has been edited by Bayliner on Mar 03, 2015 - 07:03 pm

if on simcoe,id try the mouth of the holland river first 2 weeks of march..i would imagine you would do well

Thanks for the reply firstlove. I am surprized that with the huge amount of crappie in the lake that not more people target them. I guess the perch fishing trumps the crappie.....or the perch are easier to find

Good question re where the crappies go..

Perch fishermen and others fish this lake all winter , in depths from 8-50 for perch , using raps, slab grabbers , minnows and on and on...no crappies ??

In my years of sight fishing from 6-18 fow have never seen or heard of anyone else seeing any crappie..??

Every year hoards of crappies show up in the rivers and canals ...what gives ??

Dave, you got that right the big disappearing act by the Lake Simcoe winter crappies.. As stated with so many people fishing all over the lake why is it that you don`t hear of reports of crappie caught during the winter, other than the late ice staging areas at the mouth of the canals and rivers where they spawn. Whenever a fish population disappears in a system, they either stop feeding or school up in tight schools in very small areas. I think for crappie it is the later, they are probably in a tight school somewhere, most likely suspended. Which opens the possibility if some one can find them and pattern them, they will hit the motherload..

Lots of folks target them starting about now in the south end of Cook's bay...

To big of a lake to target them mid-winter unless you live near the lake and have the time to try for them every other day.
Unless you have some info from someone, to me it's certainly not a lake you want to take a day trip to try and locate them mid-winter on the vast planes of Simcoe if you're only going to visit 2 to 3 times a year.
I'm sure some might but the masses don't.
They'll be flocking the river and creek mouths soon as well as the shallow flats.

I'm also sure that if someone found the honey hole of all honey holes on Simcoe, they wouldn't be too quick in telling everyone where it is.

Agreed

cooks bay south end,good luck,I found them once never found them again.

i hear someone caught a bucket full of crappies last weekend on simcoe north end near orillia