Lake Simcoe, Jan. 2/08

[uglyfish]

well, got an invite from a fellow board member on another site to join him on a trip to lake simcoe yesterday to do some perch fishing through the ice. i jumped at the chance because i have never fished simcoe before and i am new to the ice game so it was a great chance to learn. well, i have to say... i am now spoiled for any other fishing trip i will take in the future. we headed out at 6am, got on the ice and to our spot just before 8am. drilled a test hole, solid 8-10- inches of ice, lots of pressure cracks around, but even the cracks were frozen solid. jeff dropped a line down to see what was goin on down below... within 30 seconds... FISH ON! so, we drilled another hole, set up the hut and a fishin we did go! well, from 8:30-12:45 we couldn;t put our rods down. bite slowed at 12:45 just a few fish here and there till about 1:30. so we packed it up then and headed home. we went out quite a ways on the ice, fished 40-45 FOW. jigging rapalas worked great, small jigging spoon, even a bare hook tipped with a minnow, waxie or maggot got fish. they hit anythin we dropped for them. days end, we landed over 250 perch, no real dinks, either. most fish were 8-10 inches... couple 11's and i landed my best best perch ever at 12 inches. jeff was handed a surprise when he pulled up his first whitefish ever. and that was funny cause neither of us were totally sure as to what it was, but i was pretty sure it was a white fish by the look of it... then, as we threw it to the hole... we realized the season was open for them so as we went to grab it... off it went, lol. it was a great day though, super cold and windy, but still lots of fun. can't wait till next time!

 

 

 

 

Jeff's Whitefish

 

Jeffs Bucket, 27 Keepers

 

My Bucket, 23 Keepers

 

And My sink, before cleaning

 

Should have got more pictures... but we kept catching fish and didn;t have time, lol... and... it was just too damn cold!! thanks for reading guys!

[fatherof3]

congrats on a great day

[Guest gbfisher]

Nice to be out for sure. Thanks for the report.

 

 

Pretty sure that whitefish is a Herring. Good think it didnt go in the bucket....

[Beats]

Hard to tell but that pic looks like a herring. They look quite a bit like whitefish and can't be kept. Get a look at the mouths of the 2 fish and you can easily identify them. Whitefish have more of an overbite look to their mouths that is for bottom feeding and herring have more of a standard fish mouth

Edited January 3, 2008 by Beats

[irishfield]

Nice invite and outing for sure.

[wee scot]

well done boys nice coupkle of bucket loads will be out this weekend hope i have the same luck

[wallacio]

It looks like you had a great day.

 

The fish in the fourth picture was definitely a herring. You did the right thing by releasing it as they may not be kept on Simcoe (there is no open season so that their numbers may rebound).

[Terry]

yeah, looks like a herring

 

nice haul

 

 

I think misfish was trying to insult me, so how...LOL

[uglyfish]

thanks for the feedback guys, and thank u for those who identified the fish for us. we had been told that it was a whitefish... after readong some of ur responses i checked and it does look like a cisco or lake herring. i believe its referred to by both names? from what i read that was my understanding. but thanks for clearing it up.

[Beats]

thanks for the feedback guys, and thank u for those who identified the fish for us. we had been told that it was a whitefish... after readong some of ur responses i checked and it does look like a cisco or lake herring. i believe its referred to by both names? from what i read that was my understanding. but thanks for clearing it up.

 

 

I've never heard a person refer to a herring as a cisco on Lake Simcoe. It is the same fish as a cisco, just another name for it. I've never caught one or seen one caught but I was told a few years ago that new people come to Simcoe and mistake the fish for a whitefish quite often and have to be told to look for the differences between the 2 fish so as to make sure a herring is not kept for dinner. As long as you throw them back its no big deal. Just don't want to mistake it for a whitefish and throw it in your bucket.

[wallacio]

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/cisco/index.html

[uglyfish]

i agree... i abide by all laws and regs while fishing. so i;m glad i now know the differences between the fish now, so i can be sure in the future. but still exciting to catch one none the less. but thank u for helping in identifying the type of fish it really is!

[douG]

Well said, UglyFish. No Issues!

 

Thanks for the pictures and a great report on them perches.

 

Any other comments on the WF / Herring?

Edited January 4, 2008 by douG

[fishindevil]

Great report & nice catches,for sure !!!!...as well as nice pics too... ,looks like you are eating good for a while....cheers

[uglyfish]

oh there is gonna be a fishy fry tomorrow for me and my dad! lol... mmmmm. been so long since i had frest perch! and douG, i had posted this on a few other boards and was corrected as to the type of fish it was. other then that, not much said. it was a first for my buddy jeff who caught it, so he was excited about it still. it was a fun fish to catch, put up a good little scrap on an ultra light rod and 2# test though. thanks for the comments!

[mcallister.grant]

Great report and nice pics as well!!!!

[b2kptbo]

Gatta like that action...

[bucktail]

I think the herring are slowly making a comeback. I caught one last winter and witnessed 2 others in Cooks bay. The northern areas near Grape Island used to be the herring grounds 30 years ago. People would fill 5 gallon pails with big bluebacks.

My wife caught a big blueback about 7 years ago in 45 feet of water in Cooks Bay that was 2-2.5 pounds. I thought it was a whitefish as well until I looked more closely at it. hopefully this is a good sign of improving water quality.