Beginner Simcoe Advice

Hello hello,

Finally bit the bullet and bought a full ice fishing set up. The last 4-5 years my father and I have always gone out a couple times a season, just renting huts from various outfitters. After many fishless hours, I decided to buy a hut, auger, sled, etc. so I can have a bit of mobility out on the ice. I don’t have a snowmobile/ATV so I will be walking.

Was just hoping for a bit of advice on the hard water season. Will likely be targeting perch, whities and lakers. Not asking for anyone’s honey hole or anything, just some basic info, depth, timing, bottom type, lures vs live bait, etc.

Any and all advice is really appreciated.

Thanks!

I'd help you if I could.. but I soft water fish.

You'll find there are amazing guys here willing to help you a lot.

Do you have a finder? Electronics have been profoundly helpful to me. Knowing whats going on down there seems to be particularly important for Simcoe

Thanks for the response. I do have a finder, forgot to mention. Also, have a subscription to Navionics and have been doing some homework on decent drop offs and structure accessible for a walker.

Imo no live bait required on simcoe , spoons like the slab grabber for perch and bottom baits like meegs for whities or soft plastics. Early and late ice are the best , mid season gotta work a bit harder for them. In terms of areas literally the entire lake holds whities Lakers and perch , not as much whities n Lakers in south cooks bay would be the only exception. I’d suggest just trying different areas of the lake until you stumble on your own little honey hole , for access a good tip I can give you is literally just drive around the lake one day once we get safe ice and see where people are parking. By looking at navionics it should give you an idea of what they are fishing for.

Welcome to the game!

My advice: after all of your research and thinking and markers and logic, considering structure, pressure, temps, sun, colours, bait type... and empty buckets you'll learn it's as much art (aka luck) as it is a science.

My biggest learning was that the softer bite is usually a bigger fish. The jumbo bite can be unbelievably subtle.

I also believe in cameras as a learning tool. Not to fish with every time, but I've learned a ton about fish behaviour and lure action using a camera. Don't always fish with one - some days they seem to spook the fish and other days they don't seem to care at all, and on a day requiring movement it's just another set-up task - but they're a great learning tool to help you increase your odds when luck does go your way.

That’s great, really appreciate the advice.
Do you normally find whities are a bit shallower than lakers? Or are the usually mixed throughout various depths?

Appreciate it! Will definitely be a bit of a learning curve this winter. I'm and avid fisherman, but definitely a beginner on the hard water.

Camera is definitely a great idea. I believe I have an old GoPro lying around somewhere, do you use a proper underwater camera like an Aqua-Vu, or just tie a GoPro to some strong line and send er down the hole? I imagine it would have to be in shallower depth to have enough light to film.

Thanks again!

I bought myself an underwater camera and its great to see them down there as well as structure etc,,, also you get a good indication of size (if your searching for big ones quick).

I use the sonar as well but pay more attention to that in deeper waters for Wf & LT.

I like to sightfish if possible once im set up.

Always have some chatter to call'm in.

Slab Grabbers are my go to for perch & I dont dead stick much at all.

Report & post some pics of your time out and catches & it'll be matter of short time before we start asking you how when and where lol

Lure of choice for me : Slab Grabbers, Berkeley Wax Worms, Flapping Jacks and Simcoe Bugs.

One last tip,,,, if your going to be walking as I do mainly,,,,,, always have the cleats on your boots at all times. I have an extra pair in my bag always as I keep losing the darn things.


Have fun and stay safe !

Nice tips. Dang, you guys are going to make me go ice fishing this year as you're making me excited to get back to fishing before the spring. I typically don't operate under 25c as my instruction manual states that I may be irritable and not operate as expected.

What I can add is each species is very specific. Advice for dialing in Perch is not the same as dialing in whitefish or Lakers or Pike.

Small Perch you can find just about anywhere there are weeds but big perch are a whole different game. I actually find big perch more often no where near weeds at all.

White fish I find there are two ways to target. Shallow on top of shoals they are aggressive and there feed and will hit readily but you could go bust it f they are not around. Deep whitefish you can get on a school and work them. If you have the “touch” you’re good to go. If not you can mark them all day a be frustrated as hell.

Nice tips, Disco.

What about lakers? Are they still deep in the winter? Can you still jig lakers in 100 ft of water how you'd do it in the summer?

Very helpful, will probably be looking into an underwater camera soon. Would be a huge help to see fish patterns and behaviour.
Appreciate the lure advice, going to need to make a trip to bass pro or sail before the season starts.
Thanks again! Good luck out there!

Thanks Disco! Definitely going to take some time to learn the species movement patterns and behaviour.
Definitely going to take some time to learn the whitefish touch, from what I’ve read it’s a super light quick bite.
Guessing you would need a fast-action tip for whitefish eh?

Here is my tip.

Stay away from the cluster of huts. They may be in great grounds. But 100 people over 300 fish is not as great as you by yourself over 10 fish!