Just returned from Lake Simcoe ice fishing.
After this depressing winter I was desperate and had to make one more try at Lake Simcoe.
Checking the internet message boards and my contacts up there (I've been going for over 30 years), I concluded that Snake Island was out, and the east shore of Cook's Bay questionable. I didn't have a lot of confidence in trying Virginia Beach...not for the ice, but it's pretty shallow there and seems to be hit or miss with the fishing. So I decided on the west side of Cook's Bay off Gilford. I have never fished that side, but seems the shore ice was better over there.
I left Wednesday morning and was on the ice by 1300 hours. It was incredible - almost 60 degrees and pretty strong south wind. Fished til about 1730 and must have caught 100, but awful small. I kept 25 marginal ones (I'm good with a knife). Even though it was warm, the wind made fishing difficult outside, which while I have a Fish Trap, I wanted to enjoy the sunshine and warm air. There was about 14 inches of ice.
Thursday was one of the worst days weather-wise I ever fishing in. Walked out at 0700 with what seemed like gale winds and pouring rain. I got set up, in my hut and dug in with my ice creepers to keep from blowing over across the bay to Keswick. Fished til about 1330 and headed back with 37 mostly small perch again (although all three days I had one pig that would go 12 inches). There was a couple inches of water on the ice and the shore line was getting sloppy and the one pressure crack we had to cross we did quickly!
Friday was a bit better weather wise. It was actually calm and temps in the low 20s. Started a little earlier, about 0630 and was done with 38 more perch by 0930. Ice was about 8 inches...lost 6 inches in two days!
Besides the meat, got to test my new gear I was ready to go with last December. I switched over from Shimano reels to the Pfleuger President 6920 and they performed great - very smooth.
This was also the first year for me to try fly reels on the ice. There are good articles on the benefits of using fly reels for ice fishing to be found online, and while you have to get used to the obvious differences with a spinning reel, they were enjoyable to use, and when looking down the hole, you can definitely tell the difference if your line is twisted (spinning reel) or not (fly reel) as the jig on the fly reel was stationary and the one on the spinning reel would helicopter. Looking forward to a full season using them next year, I hope. Especially when picking up steelhead locally, or the occasional lake trout or white fish up at Simcoe, the drags on fly reels and fighting large fish is supposed to be superior to that of a spinning reel, although I have caught and landed many of those with spinning reels. I just like to experiment and try new things.
Lure wise, the jigging Rapala's continue to deliver as did the Genz Worms (now called Lindy Ice Worms), but the new trial this year was using "Trout Magnets" for perch, and I gotta tell ya, they hammered them. I used orange/chartruese, black/chartruese, and solid white. I think they are what Trout Magnet calls the "crappie size". They measure 1-1/8 inch long. I used them with either a solid white or chartruese 1/16 oz. jig head (with eyes) and would tip them with a maggot.
The pattern of the three days was I'd get a run of 6 to 8 fish then it would slow. So I'd drop a different color or jig down and pick up another batch and this repeated itself all three days. Fish getting smart, or what? Thats why I take 6 outfits (3 fly, 3 spin) each with a different color or jig. I hate tying knots when ice fishing. Between cold fingers and poor light in the hut and aging eyes....so I try to keep knot tying to a minimum.
Probably the biggest story of the trip was that on Friday there was a dramatic rescue of 26 fisherman involving over 50 first responders, two air boats and a helicopter. All were rescued but you wont' believe this video til you see it!
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20120309/ice-fishermen-stuck-lake-simcoe-120309/ Well, here's hoping 2012/2013 ice fishing season is back to normal!