ozaibak1

Wanted to add something. I also saw a nice sized catfish, at least 3 pounds cruising. I also saw what looked to be as big as a small lobster, crayfish possibly? Crab? It sure looked like a BIG crab, I don't think crayfish can reach that size this thing was at least 3/4 pnd, colored orange, walking along the bottom, anyone know what it could be?

Hi, was at Simcoe last weekend near Cook's bay, literally managed 1 perch all day, better than 3/5 in the group who got 0 fish that day. Today was revenge, went back to the hut I rent from usually now, fished alone as my buddy was 'sick.' He didn't heed my recommendation of garlic last week, and ended up getting sick again. What sucked last week was it was 30ft deep and I couldn't see squat, this time I could. The perch were fairly active, caught about 5 nice sized jumbos, with about 30 more keepers that have been fried deeply. I was also here for pike, bear in mind that the conditions are still slow, I may have gotten lucky. After a washroom break, I came back, and all the perch were gone! This was weird as the fish had been there since the start of the morning, about 3 hours prior. I drop my lure in, a gold swedish pimple tipped with a minnow. In moves mr. pike! It was a bit bigger than the one my friend had caught here 2 weeks ago, I'm not good with estimating pike, I would say possibly pushing 6 pounds? It was a nice size for sure. It went right up to the bait, like an inch away, I didn't move the bait, it didn't take it and swam away. Somewhat dissapointing in that it wuda been my first pike and a nice one at that, but very happy to actually see one. I heard the fishings been tough on Simcoe recently, but I had a good day, and I'm thankful, will see what Monday holds. Saw some people in the morning havin an irish coffee, they were goin for perch during the day, then whitefish at night, wonder how they're doin! Well hopefully on Monday I will have another good day and perhaps some pictures to go along, I would attach the crisped fish but I dont want to make anyone jealous or hungry, for now!

Great report, thanks for taking the time to put it up, lots of nice pike and walleye.

Nice one congrats, had a tough day on the ice today, which part of simcoe were you fishing?

Hi I'm heading up tmrw morning from Toronto, expecting to be around Lefroy area by 7:30am, does anyone know of any baitshops that would be open nearby, that specifically sell large sucker minnows? Thanks for any help.

Hi thinking about heading up to Simcoe this weekend around Virginia Beach, the forecast is calling for a high of +7 and rain, would this make the ice dangerous to be on?

I read that 46/50 states are expected to file for bankruptcy by 2010, forget where I read that. I do believe the whole country will go bankrupt however, that's the plan unfortunately. I sense another revolution brewing...

Hello all, well decided to venture out ice-fishing again after the first time was a smashing success. Last time we went, the temperature dropped from about 0C to -18C overnight. This time around, it dropped from around 0C to -23C in the morning! Had more clothing on this time so was manageable, but still quite cold! Think -23 may be the coldest I've ever experienced, not sure. On our way up north from Toronto, stopped by Bass Pro. Picked up some swedish pimples, and williams lures in gold and silver. We wanted to get our first pike ever on this trip. When we got to the first hut, I dropped down my new williams hoping to get a pike right away. Alas, it was quite a slow day. Moved on to targeting perch, but they were quite lockjawed as well. We started chumming the waters with sardines, this did not produce results and it seemed like the day was going quite slow. As a result of this, the drinking increased at quite a fast rate with the bottle being finished before noon I believe. I don't know what time it was, but me and my friend were talking, he had his line in the water not paying attention to it. All of a sudden, his rod doubles over, he goes 'holy crap,' and the line starts peeling!!! I could not believe it, it seemed like it was not gonna happen for us, and the line kept peeling indicating a fish on the line. Now before this, I had requested that the operator get us a gaffing hook in case we will need it. And we did! I had 2 goals this trip: to either catch a pike, or use a gaffing hook on a pike. Well the second goal was met, as soon as that thing surfaced, it was instinct. I didn't think, I just acted, and within a few seconds we had our first pike ever. I felt like the luckiest kid in the world, a feeling of pure joy I seldom experience, unless its while fishing. Our heater failed, and we moved to another hut. The fishing was slow as well, we did manage very few perch each however. But I would call the day just as successful, if not more, than our first perch-mania outing. Furthermore, this pike was cleaned and half of it has been eaten. I must say the meat is delicious, and easy to make a boneless fillet, I did this just by watching a youtube video on how to remove the y-bones. I'm looking forward to my next fishing trip, which hopefully will be this weekend, I'm thinking about leaving the city and living off the land becoming a hunter/fisherman for a few months or a year, and increase my outdoors skills, never know when they will be needed. Duno if that will pan out however. Here's a few pics, I'm the person on the right: I don't know why pike are ridiculed by so many on this forum, they don't seem so bad!

Sorry to hear that, you have my condolences. Grandmother passed in her sleep, if you're going its the best way imo.

I would say if you need the money and want to be on the safe side, take it out now. If you can afford some risk and time, hold on to it. My feeling is this economy is gonna get A LOT worse before it gets better.

Chum the area with cutup smelt or sardines.

Not going fishing because its too cold on the body is a valid reason, but not going because the bite wont be on because its cold is not! I went last Saturday with the exact forecast conditions: relatively warm (~0C) dipping to -18 low, and the bite was on!!! Was fishing for perch though.

Ice fishing so far vodka, summer time its rum or beer.

Wow great job, thats a fast limit!

Well I can second the using half-senko bit, on my first summer using them cut the fat 6" into 3" pieces and it was deadly!

Well, I got the urge to go ice-fishing after realizing I can fish during winter time too and seems like its the cool thing to do so I decided to give it a shot. I knew I would like it, and I was not dissapointed. Booked the morning with a hut operator out on Virginia Beach, stayed at a nearby motel the night before. So I had bought a tonne of cold-weather clothing/gear from mountain co-op, and I can say it was BARELY enough! I didn't wear all of it, which I would of regretted if we didn't have a heated hut. Morning temperature: -18C!!! So me and buddy take the snow cab over to the hut, and I have to say it was pretty cool looking inside, I wasn't expecting to have a huge rectangle to fish through, I thought it would just be a hole! Caught my first fish about 10 minutes in on a tear-drop and maggot, pretty exciting. After a few hours of fishing, we had produced decent numbers of perch, but nothing too outstanding. It was now about 12:30pm, and the operator came by to check how we're doing, I asked if there's any other huts we could try. Well there was an empty heated one about 100 yards from where we were, and we decided to try it out. We get into it, break through the frozen ice. My friend goes out for a leak, and doesn't come back after 20 mins, I'm thinkin where the hell is this person. I try opening the door, and its stuck! I decided to fish, and boy was it good, caught fish after fish each cast. Then I worry about my friend, and kick open the door, and scream out his name in the frozen white: KEVIN!!!! It was good I yelled that out, cuz the idiot got lost outside! He said all the huts looked the same, and my voice helped point him in the right direction. The dangers of getting too drunk illustrated right there (him not me). This new hut had slightly deeper water and what seemed like a deeper weed bed. The lure of the day: SWEDISH PIMPLE! We tried these in gold and glow in the dark white, and boy where they hot. I've rarely caught any fish period on a spoon, but the perch were hitting these things even with no minnows tipped. Well it got to 4pm, my friend was having a blast catching a tonne of fish, we wanted to stay all night, maybe next time! All in all we caught over 50 perch, the winter blues have dissapeared for me I can look forward to fishing again during winter time. Next time, gonna go for pike, lure of choice: the swedish pimple, I can't say enough about this thing. And I hope next time will be a bit warmer. OZ

get the net!

VERY funny post, one of the funniest i've ever read on here!

Great post, any dream is achievable.

Cool thanks for the responses so far. Question about the boots, do they have to be rated to -100, or would -55 do. I plan on wearing two layers of socks the inner one would be the neopolyprene/similar material for wicking moisture, with a wool sock over it. I am looking into Baffin boots which I heard are quite dependable, and also into Columbia Titanium Bugaboot XTM Omni-Tech Boots I found at mountain coop for about $150, however they are only rated to -55.

Well would like to start by wishing everyone a happy new year! I was down in the Cayman islands for the break and it will be very hard to wean myself off a continuous supply of seafood for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! This year will mark my very first time ice fishing, I'm quite excited about it, I figured why should I stop fishing for 7 months of the year?!?! There is no good answer to that question. I'm gonna start by going to Simcoe possibly this Saturday and renting a hut from there. My question relates to proper winter clothing for ice fishing, I've done all my research and know what items and materials to get. The price tag is enormous, I've been looking at Mountain Co-op and European Outfitters. I was wondering if anyone knew of a place that has all the gear needed, and I mean everything from boots, socks, inner all the way to the outer layers for a GOOD PRICE. I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice quality, and maybe I will not be able to avoid a high price tag. But does anyone know of places that may not be the big box stores that offer great value on a wide range of products? I think BassPro is expensive as well, any advice appreciated thx! Also looked into staying over at Simcoe in a B&B but the price was quite steep, about $360 per person for just 2 nights. Can anyone recommend a nice cottage to rent from there with close access to Cook's bay? Happy fishing...

Great report, that was a lot of fun to read and watch! Makes me even more excited about trying out ice fishing in Jan.

Freshwater: Bass, walleye, perch (hopefully will get to try pike this winter). Saltwater: Salmon, mackerel, tuna, tilapia.

Hehe I saw this a few days ago, it's actually a Chinese commercial that they made using special video techniques to make it seem like Bruce was playing ping pong, it's not actually real. Sorta like the Michael Jordan commercials where he plays his young self, Gretzky and the Rocket on the ice at the same time, etc... But very cool nonetheless!

Cool, nice report. The terrain / surroundings look great, and the birds look tasty. Quick question about the coyote, what is the purpose of killing it? And I'm not asking that in a judgemental way, just curious. Is it for sport, to eat, to mount, to use the fur, or to increase the numbers of other game?