Simcoe Report

[Headhunter]

Arranged with FishnSled and my buddy Tom to get out and get one more kick at the ice cat, for the elusive Perch on Cooks Bay. We arrived in Keswick and were on the ice by 7:00am. Conditions were fantastic for walking as the temp had dropped over night to below freezing, making the ice surface really easy to walk. Upon drilling the first hole, we found there to be at least 20 inches of solid ice, with the top four or five inches being crusty.

A little side note as to our approach to Perchin:

We feel that we are best served moving quickly and not trying to finesse a non productive hole. Tom drilled out 18 holes for every position we stopped at. We would quickly fish each hole, if no one was home, next hole please. We made 5 stops, with very limited results and were beginning to think we were not going to be in for a good day. After some discussion, we decided to head out toward the "Fingers" to give'em a try... well, the three mile hike out there was pleasant enough, easy walkin and in what seemed like no time, we were there.

Tom proceeded to drill out about 90 holes and we would simply go from hole to hole, lookin for active fish. We ended up staying there for the rest of our day, with schools moving in and out all day long.

As the day began to heat up, temperature wise, we could hear the melting ice below us, trickling down the cracks... and the surface crust began to turn to slush!

The fish were cooperating as well, with again, similar to our last outting, 2 weeks ago, plenty and I do mean plenty of small 5-6 inchers.

At around 3:00pm, we decided to head back as we were getting worried about the slush slowing us down and becoming down right tedious to walk the three miles back to the truck. We took our time, stopped at some of the holes we drilled on our way out and took about an hour to get back.

Totals for the day were as follows;

Tom 106 perch - mostly small or very small as he was working a Pimple with a dropper rig and was able to hook the small ones very easily.

Headhunter, aka Joe - 84 with biggest fish again this week!

FishnSled - 48 perch! Much better then the previous week and gettin better all the time... actually, if FnS had of just moved a little more, he's have done better as well.

I have some pics that I'll ask FnS to post later.

My opinion:

Given that the temps on Saturday night did not drop before zero, I can't imagine that the conditions are very good right now! Getting on the ice was fine and so was getting off, but with the temps being what they are, I'd be concerned and very cautious before considering venturing out. Slush and weak spots would hold me back!

Won't be long now before we can start chasin them outta a boat!

Hope you enjoyed!

HH

[Reef Runner]

Great report, lookin forward to the pics.

 

Spring is just around the corner HH. You'll be chasin them in the boat in no time.

[Roy]

Thanks for the report.....yeah, we're into the home stretch for sure.

Glad you all had a great time.

[LeXXington]

OHHHH PLEASE I NEED OPEN WATER.. these reports kill me.. Cabin feaver ahhh

[irishfield]

You went fishing Joe... how'd that happen?

 

Great day out it sounds... and food to boot. Now lets get into a week stretch of rain and 20 degrees please... sorry to those that bought in a flood plain...

[Headhunter]

Actually Wayne, I've gotten out twice in the last 4 weeks! I must be doing something right, good behavior and the Warden lets me out... truth be told, I just start gettin really cranky around the house and the Warden writes out the day pass. The piece and quiet is obviously worth it to her!

HH

[fishnsled]

Thanks for posting the report HH, a great one as well. It certainly was an awesome day to be out but some very tough fishing to start with. I think we did prove something that day with the florocarbon vs mono, mono won hands down. I also had a count of 58 because Tom gave me his 10 count for drilling the holes. This also allows me to fish with them again as the house rule is 50. If you don't get 50 then your no longer welcome.

 

As Joe said,

My opinion:

Given that the temps on Saturday night did not drop before zero, I can't imagine that the conditions are very good right now! Getting on the ice was fine and so was getting off, but with the temps being what they are, I'd be concerned and very cautious before considering venturing out. Slush and weak spots would hold me back!

Won't be long now before we can start chasin them outta a boat!

 

I'll just add to this. Solid ice in the morning, walking through 2-4 inches of slush on the way back. Mild temperatures and rain this week should take care of most of the ice at this rate. I won't be and nor would I want to see anyone thinking of going out there this coming weekend. We figure that 2 to 3 weekends from now you'll be able to get out with the boat no problem. The perch will be waiting for you so be safe and I'll see you on the WATER!!!

 

Here's a couple of the jumbos from the day.