Valentine's Whitefish and Weekend Laker report...

[Slayingm]

Of all the years I have fished the Main Lake basin of Simcoe during the hardwater seasons this year brings back memories of the solid and thick ice conditions we are experiencing this year!... man, what a far cry from last year when it did not freeze over all winter!

That said, the big dump of snow we had a number of days ago left huge drifts followed by 14" of slush in many spots making traveling out difficult at best! Putting a set of tracks on my Argo is like wearing a pair of snowshoes and I had no issues getting out 14 to 18km's off shore from Beaverton to fish my spots even with 5 big adults onboard. On a couple days I saw abandoned snowmobiles that broke down and a couple of days no ATV's (even with chains) got out there.

I had the opportunity to get some groups of folks out there some of which had never caught a lake trout through the ice before. That was the case for a guest from the U.S. who's first fish was a 14lb laker.. he proceeded to follow-up with a 11, 10 and 8lb'r while missing some others. The action this year has been nothing short of amazing especially for big Laker's but we are also getting some nice Whitefish in the mix like these 2 loving ones caught on Valentine's Day .


Although I have been catching fish in 60 to 90ft of water the magic depths this year seem to be in the 65 to 70ft depths and working hard bottom area's. None of the Lakers or Whitefish we are getting are caught on minnows but rather Rapala Jigging Raps in the W5 to W9 sizes and the smaller sized William's ice spoon's. Some tube jigs and Swammers are also effective some days and accounting for some good fish. The key is to experiment each day to uncover what effective depths and presentations work best for the weather conditions. I find that this changes from weekly, daily to even hourly so being flexible and trying different jig sizes and colours is often what it takes to trigger a bunch of fish when others are struggling to get a hit and sticking with what worked last week. I usually bring out about a dozen rod/reel combo's with various line and lures and it usually does not take us long to figure out what the successful pattern and presentation is for the day. In a word, be flexible and move around when conditions are slow.. the fish are always biting on something and somewhere!






Be safe and Good Fish'n, Greg.

[Nipfisher]

Yep. That's the way to travel (fish).

[pidge]

Wow I only hope Im just a lucky, nice haul.

[danc]

Nice!! Reminds me of the days when I was foolish enough to venture out on the ice on Superior over pressure cracks and ice heaves. We'd often be home before noon with a similar catch. Thanks for the memories.