Gilford/Cook's Bay Bait and Tackle

[RustyShackleford]

Hello all, I am planning on heading out off Gilford for the first time this winter tomorrow. I grew up in the Orillia area but moved away after joining the military in 2002 and just recently bought a home in Barrie so I haven't been around the Simcoe fishing scene in quite a while. I was just wondering if Gilford Bait and Tackle is my best bet for minnows in the morning and if anyone knew what time they open. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Edited January 6, 2011 by RustyShackleford

[skeeter]

Innisfil Bait & tackle

right on the s/w corner of 89 & yonge street

open at 6am /7 days a week

$5 a scoop (average 60-70 minnows)

keith gives a good scoop of minnows too!

when you leave there go south to the first street ( gilford rd) and turn left.

watch where you park in gilford

south side of rd ONLY

[Fisherman]

And not within 9meters or 30 feet of intersection or the parking nunzio will tag you.

Edited January 6, 2011 by Fisherman

[BillM]

If you are from Barrie pick your minnows up before you hit the road at Rack and Reel.

[RustyShackleford]

I live in right in the South East corner of Barrie in a subdivision in the Yonge and Mapleview area, I'm not super familiar with the fishing shops in town. I know Innisfil better to be honest so I will head in there before I head over to the ice. Thanks for the help guys.

[Joey]

And if you park behind a snowmobile trailer, for Gawd's sake, leave some room for the sledder to put his sled back on the trailer will ya

 

Nuff said

 

 

 

 

Oh, and good luck

[Rattletrap2]

And if you park behind a snowmobile trailer, for Gawd's sake, leave some room for the sledder to put his sled back on the trailer will ya

 

Nuff said

 

 

 

 

Oh, and good luck

 

Joey,

Did you by chance come across an idiot at some point recently? LOL

[Joey]

Joey,

Did you by chance come across an idiot at some point recently? LOL

 

 

What was your first guess

[cwpowell]

And if you park behind a snowmobile trailer, for Gawd's sake, leave some room for the sledder to put his sled back on the trailer will ya

 

Nuff said

 

 

 

 

Oh, and good luck

 

 

 

Not to be an ass or anything but wouldn't it be easier to pull your truck and trailer out of your spot to load up the sled? noone is going to leave a good parking spot behind your trailer. You're taking up at least 2 spots with your truck and trailer. Leaving a spot behind your trailer is taking up 3 spots. That's not fair! haha.

[myot]

And if you park behind a snowmobile trailer, for Gawd's sake, leave some room for the sledder to put his sled back on the trailer will ya

 

Nuff said

 

 

 

 

Oh, and good luck

Nothing that a little violent track spin wont fix

 

Dan

[Governator]

I live in right in the South East corner of Barrie in a subdivision in the Yonge and Mapleview area, I'm not super familiar with the fishing shops in town. I know Innisfil better to be honest so I will head in there before I head over to the ice. Thanks for the help guys.

 

 

Really? So do I. Off Prince William Way?

[Headhunter]

If Perch is what your after, I would like to suggest that minnows are a waste of time and money!

The Perch in Cook's are feeding on emerging grass shrimp. Every one of 'em that I caught on Monday spewed shrimp as they reached the top of the hole... so, if you wanna catch high numbers, you have to get the bait to them quickly and you need to mimic what they are eating.

Jigging Rapala, with Berkely micro's on the treble will get you bites all day long! Minnows are a pain, you waste too many of small fish and re-rigging takes too much time.

HH

[spoon]

Innisfil Bait & tackle

right on the s/w corner of 89 & yonge street

open at 6am /7 days a week

$5 a scoop (average 60-70 minnows)

keith gives a good scoop of minnows too!

when you leave there go south to the first street ( gilford rd) and turn left.

watch where you park in gilford

south side of rd ONLY

 

Innisfil Bait & Tackle at the corner of 89 and Yonge charges $6 per scoop Don't use minnows for perch, all you need is plastics, they out fish minnows

[12footspringbok]

Innisfil Bait & Tackle at the corner of 89 and Yonge charges $6 per scoop Don't use minnows for perch, all you need is plastics, they out fish minnows

 

He must not like you cause he only charged me $5 last week, and the thing about plastics outfishing live bait is debatable.

[Headhunter]

He must not like you cause he only charged me $5 last week, and the thing about plastics outfishing live bait is debatable.

Uhm... no it's not! Perch are on the feed bag on Cook's, there's no denying it. They will eat anything that resembles their forage and their main forage is Grass Shrimp.

Put some plastic down the hole that looks like grass shrimp and you will be busy all day.

Use minnows and you will spend more time baiting, chasing minnows in the minnow bucket, trying to thread a minnow onto a hook at minus 15C can get old pretty fast.

I have done this challenge a few times in the past. Yes, both methods can catch fish, but my experience has shown that I will catch 3-4 fish, for every fish caught by guys sitting right beside me using minnows. It's all about speed!

HH

[Terry]

Not to be an ass or anything but wouldn't it be easier to pull your truck and trailer out of your spot to load up the sled? noone is going to leave a good parking spot behind your trailer. You're taking up at least 2 spots with your truck and trailer. Leaving a spot behind your trailer is taking up 3 spots. That's not fair! haha.

 

no

 

you drive your skidoo up to where you park your truck and trailer only to find someone park right to the tailgate of the trailer and another 1 ft in front of your truck

 

so you have to hit the car behind to get away from the car in front enough to pull out and where do you go???????

you have just pulled out fully onto the road so that is where I loaded my skido and hut on

 

took me 18 mintues to do it and by the time I drove away there were about 32 cars waiting behind me honking horns because I was blocking the road and I don't blame them...there is nowhere else to park and load your skidoo other then the parking spot that you are forced to drive out of. because of people who think like you...........

[mbrown]

no

 

you drive your skidoo up to where you park your truck and trailer only to find someone park right to the tailgate of the trailer and another 1 ft in front of your truck

 

so you have to hit the car behind to get away from the car in front enough to pull out and where do you go???????

you have just pulled out fully onto the road so that is where I loaded my skido and hut on

 

took me 18 mintues to do it and by the time I drove away there were about 32 cars waiting behind me honking horns because I was blocking the road and I don't blame them...there is nowhere else to park and load your skidoo other then the parking spot that you are forced to drive out of. because of people who think like you...........

I don't have a snowmobile and Its nice to park as close as possible- when I had a snowmobile I never parked close, in fact I parked further away to avoid issues. You only have an axtra 5 minute ride on your sled or atv. mb

[Terry]

and I was as far away as the parking spots were, there were no more parking spots within miles

[12footspringbok]

Uhm... no it's not! Perch are on the feed bag on Cook's, there's no denying it. They will eat anything that resembles their forage and their main forage is Grass Shrimp.

Put some plastic down the hole that looks like grass shrimp and you will be busy all day.

Use minnows and you will spend more time baiting, chasing minnows in the minnow bucket, trying to thread a minnow onto a hook at minus 15C can get old pretty fast.

I have done this challenge a few times in the past. Yes, both methods can catch fish, but my experience has shown that I will catch 3-4 fish, for every fish caught by guys sitting right beside me using minnows. It's all about speed!

HH

 

I won't deny that putting minnows all day long can be a pain in the *** and plastics and artificials do definatly work. That being said i have done a few experiments the last couple years when the fishing is fast a furious two hooks on one rod one with a minnow and one with a little tube jig/other imitations. 8 times out of ten i would get one perch on the minnow with the odd double header or odd fish taken on the artificial.

 

Scuds or little shrimp may be the main food source down the bottom of cooks bay but i have caught and cleaned all kinds of simcoe perch with shiners in their bellies. I have also found when the mid winter blues set in and the perch are scattered and not thick like smelts you can't beat te real mcoy.

 

All that being said i do tend to go with a perch eye or strip of belly on my jig when the action is fast and furious so i'm not rebating every 30 seconds LOL.

 

So there you go it is debatable

[wallacio]

Uhm... no it's not! Perch are on the feed bag on Cook's, there's no denying it. They will eat anything that resembles their forage and their main forage is Grass Shrimp.

Put some plastic down the hole that looks like grass shrimp and you will be busy all day.

Use minnows and you will spend more time baiting, chasing minnows in the minnow bucket, trying to thread a minnow onto a hook at minus 15C can get old pretty fast.

I have done this challenge a few times in the past. Yes, both methods can catch fish, but my experience has shown that I will catch 3-4 fish, for every fish caught by guys sitting right beside me using minnows. It's all about speed!

HH

 

This is true if your aim is to catch as many small fish as possible. I prefer to target the larger fish and it's been my experience that using larger presentations will weed out the little ones. When there are good numbers of jumbos around and the bite is fast and furious, I'll throw on a jig head that would otherwise be used for fishing Walleye and thread on 2 minnows at a time to ensure I target the largest fish present.

[Headhunter]

I won't deny that putting minnows all day long can be a pain in the *** and plastics and artificials do definatly work. That being said i have done a few experiments the last couple years when the fishing is fast a furious two hooks on one rod one with a minnow and one with a little tube jig/other imitations. 8 times out of ten i would get one perch on the minnow with the odd double header or odd fish taken on the artificial.

 

Scuds or little shrimp may be the main food source down the bottom of cooks bay but i have caught and cleaned all kinds of simcoe perch with shiners in their bellies. I have also found when the mid winter blues set in and the perch are scattered and not thick like smelts you can't beat te real mcoy.

 

All that being said i do tend to go with a perch eye or strip of belly on my jig when the action is fast and furious so i'm not rebating every 30 seconds LOL.

 

So there you go it is debatable

 

 

This is true if your aim is to catch as many small fish as possible. I prefer to target the larger fish and it's been my experience that using larger presentations will weed out the little ones. When there are good numbers of jumbos around and the bite is fast and furious, I'll throw on a jig head that would otherwise be used for fishing Walleye and thread on 2 minnows at a time to ensure I target the largest fish present.

You know, I agree with both of you on this point on just about any other body of water, but on Cooks Bay, which was the body of water in question by the O.P., they feast on shrimp all winter.

I also believe that Perch can be triggered to bite and that the small one's will almost always start the frenzy. The bigger one's get "jealous" and can be more easily convinced to bite. They sure don't like seeing smaller fish get a meal that they should have!

HH

[spoon]

He must not like you cause he only charged me $5 last week, and the thing about plastics outfishing live bait is debatable.

 

My friend made me buy those minnows for him. I think I was over dressed for fishing that day, he must of took me for an out of town fisherman that won't be back. I talked with him for a bit after my purchase, and when I was about to leave he asked me if I wanted a bait card. I told him no because I don't use minnows, but he gave it to me anyways stamped 3 times, twice over what I had purchased, so I think he felt bad when he over charged me.

 

Here is a pic of the fish I caught that day using various plastics (Jensen eggs, tubes, gulp, powerbait). Every thing I caught was over 8 inches. Where my friend using various lures tipped with minnows couldn't get anything over 8''. I mean not a single fish over the 8 inch mark and I was also getting 3 times as many as him. I have to say that there are days that minnows will out fish artificial's, but 9.9 out of 10 times plastics prevail We even buy minnows just in case of a hard bite, but we never get to use more then a few and we switch right back to artificials, they always work I'm just trying to save you guys a lot of skin/bone pain now and in the feature from constantly wetting your hands in cold weather. There is just no need for minnows when fishing for perch.

 

 

 

[moxie]

WOW! Nice feast. Hope we get "Sum" tomorrow. Well done.

 

 

moxie.

[skeeter]

Innisfil Bait & Tackle at the corner of 89 and Yonge charges $6 per scoop Don't use minnows for perch, all you need is plastics, they out fish minnows

 

you are correct.

its $5 for a scoop of minnows, if you have your own bucket.

if you dont, then keith charges $1 for the bag he puts them in and the oxygen he fills the bag with.

[RustyShackleford]

Thanks for the info guys. We ended up using minnows yesterday and fished from about 7am until 11am catching about 100 perch each. Only 18 keepers out of all of those perch but we had a blast regardless. The only real annoyance with using minnows obviously was constantly having to re-apply a fresh minnow after our little yellow friends had eaten or mangled them. All that work made it difficult to remember to take pics but I am heading out on Sunday again and will snap some.