Smelt in Simcoe?

Maybe this has been discussed already, but are there any smelt still in Simcoe?

If so, does anyone ice fish for them?

they are there,but nothing like they used to be.....

same with any other of species on simcoe....thats what over fishing does

I see them around the k-bay area. But they are swimming through. I can get 1 or 2 to take a hook and won't see them again.

ya they are more an accidental catch in the winter...its hard to really target them until they spawn

Also if you are in deep water and see them.... Get right down to the bottom with a swimbait and work your way up.... The LT usually follow these groups of smelts and you will get hooked up really quick.

Actually overfishing has not effect the population of any species on Lake Simcoe. All population crashes have been directly related to poor recruitment due to poor water quality.

Has water quality improved?

It's always so many angles, reasons for issues / problems to exist. It is a huge task to test, review issues, etc. Corrective action is a separate issue.

Here with heavy rains so much flows into the ocean that the bacteria count is sky high for at least a week. Can't eat the fish, surfers getting ear aches and all sorts of heath issues.

yup just look at the herring population. Water degraded during the late 70's early 80's resulting in poor recruitment. Cleaned up the water population rebounded we have fishing again for herring.

dont forget evasive species like the goby.they eat the eggs and smaller fish.i went to my regular fishing hotspots this summer and nothing but gobies.i bet if the mnr stocked walley back they would clean up the gobies real well. perch and whiteys eat gobies but when they get too big they can stand on there own. im surprised the smallmouth population hasnt exploded .but then again the gobies eat eggs and younge.lakers like deeper water and dont usually go into shallow water.

Here in Michigan the smallest are really growing in areas with gobies. The bass love them.

Spell check. Smallies

Last year on Cooks Bay I caught one and saw a bunch more taken the one day.