History of Simcoe

[EC1]

Since I know so many of you gentlemen are older than me on the forum, I'd like to hear some stories about this lake.

Was the water much dirtier before the zebra mussels came?

What exactly was the fish population like back in the day?

Was there a heavy cisco population that crashed only due to overharvest?

Were smallmouth much smaller before the introduction of gobies?

Were perch always this popular in the past?

Was smelting a popular and easy thing at one point?

Did anyone experience the crappie boom? (When they first establish in a lake and grow huge before fishermen figure it out and fish them down)

Was there ever a burbot culling event thinking that it would help the lake trout population?

Walleye and muskie were fished out, was this before the last couple of generation's time?

 

Feel free to share anything you'd like!

What has changed, what's gotten better, and what's worse than ever? If you could give me an approximate decade, that would be fantastic. Trying to learn a little bit of history about this huge piece of water.

[123chadder]

i know it was called lake toronto at one time....

 

Was the water much dirtier before the zebra mussels came?.....no

What exactly was the fish population like back in the day?......a lot better than today

Was there a heavy cisco population that crashed only due to overharvest?absulutely,you will see some big trout in the next 5 years,some say oxygen,but didnt seem to hurt any other species,i truly believe they were overfished

Were smallmouth much smaller before the introduction of gobies?nope,i was catching 6-7 pounders 20 years ago

Were perch always this popular in the past?nope,,the opposite,they were considered nuicance fish at one time

Was smelting a popular and easy thing at one point?very much so

[tender52]

I can only attest to the smelting. 2 of my uncles would " kidnap " me, as I always showed a love for the sport, and young enough ( 9yrs to13 ish then hockey got in the way ) that a fire, hot dogs and pop would keep me going all night long. I would have the nets at the ready, with other fishermen awaiting also. When the run came it was an awesome experience. I was told years later that " the young boy gets the first throw. " Alas I cannot show my girls or nephews the same experience. Thinking back now, I don't really remember cleaning a lot of them either. I do remember wakening up when we got home though.

[Terry]

Since I know so many of you gentlemen are older than me on the forum, I'd like to hear some stories about this lake.

Was the water much dirtier before the zebra mussels came?... much dirtier in cooks bay weeds grew to 8 to 12 ft, after zebras weeds grew to 22ft water was much clearer and sunlight reached 22 ft

 

What exactly was the fish population like back in the day?... it varies over the years with different fish depending on what years you are thinking of.

Was there a heavy cisco population that crashed only due to overharvest?.... they like other fish in simcoe could not successfully spawn, so with continued no limits they soon disapeared

 

Were smallmouth much smaller before the introduction of gobies?......no

 

Were perch always this popular in the past? always with shore fishermen

 

Was smelting a popular and easy thing at one point? every spring you could catch 1000s of them, and had to fight to get a spot on the docks to catch them

 

Did anyone experience the crappie boom? (When they first establish in a lake and grow huge before fishermen figure it out and fish them down) yup, i remember when someone told me they caught on in the canal in keswick , a few years later you could catch 100's from shore and even more from a boat

 

Was there ever a burbot culling event thinking that it would help the lake trout population? no but as a kid I was told to just leave them on the ice

Walleye and muskie were fished out, was this before the last couple of generation's time? walleye was a very long time ago, they were still lots of muskie in the 60's

 

Feel free to share anything you'd like!

What has changed, what's gotten better, and what's worse than ever? If you could give me an approximate decade, that would be fantastic. Trying to learn a little bit of history about this huge piece of water.

[ccmtcanada]

My dad would tell me stories of going to Simcoe for walleye back in the early 60's. Here's a pic of him with one.

 

[turtle]

I've fished Simcoe mostly for perch since the mid-80's. First no limit on them, fished in relatively more shallow water and usually easy to catch half-decent to good perch. I used a hand line and spreader with at least 10 pound line and # 6 hooks. The water then was definately not as clear as today and you could not see bottom in 25 FOW as you can today. Used to catch smelt regularly, but not lots unless fished at night. Now water is more clear (zebra mussels), fishing much deeper at times (40-50 FOW), using light line and small baits and the bite is usually tougher. Now I see more smaller fish but still get into large perch at times. There is still lots of forage fish in the lake to support the game fish. Herring are now too thick in the perch grounds for my liking.

[John]

Thanks for starting EasyFish. Emigrating to Canada in the 70's I really know nothing about Simcoe as it once was. Like you I would like to know more about its history (pre 1960's).

[turtle]

I'd also add is I've seen photos and home movies of my wife's father filling bushel baskets of whitefish (no limits) but they looked like only 1-2 pounds, not the 4-5 pound average size today. They would dump salties and stay all weekend in the hut. Long ago lake trout were caught by pulling decoys up and spearing them when they were close. The huts had an opening for the top of the long spear to raise through. Tim Hales outfitter has a display of them.

[lew]

Back in the 50's & 60's my grandparents had a waterfront home right up in the northwest corner of Simcoe just below the Narrows and they looked out over Grape Island. The weed beds around that island used to hold so many big pike it was unbelievable and to this day I still remember fishing them as a kid. Pike up to 15 pounds were quite common and 10 pounders were the norm. We'd troll silver Williams Wablers and would always do well.

 

Never caught a Simcoe musky myself but my old Grandfather was a master with them and did well getting them, also trolling the Williams spoons.

 

This picture is of my grandparents after a successful trip somewhere in the 60's and although I think it's a musky, it could be a pike too, but whatever, it was a common size.

 

 

We used to also go down to Kemplefelt Bay (sp) and charter a guide for laketrout. It cost us $7 per day per person and we'd supply his lunch and he supplied all the gear. We used 5' rods with large 1-1 reels and heavy copper lines. Crank in a big fish on that set-up and you had yourself a tough workout

 

I haven't fished Simcoe now for probably 45 years and no longer know anything about it, but back in the day it was a great fishery.

[bigugli]

Simcoe was once a whitefish factory in winter. Stories of my Grampa going out for a weekend, once a month, to bring home a bushel full. Gram would then get royally pissed, because she would spend 1/2 the night cleaning them and then Grampa would give 1/2 of them away. Of course, he gave them away because very few had a lot of freezer space back then.

I certainly remember going up to Orillia in spring for smelting at night when I was small. My job was to hold the lantern.

Edited January 14, 2015 by bigugli

[EC1]

Wow, thanks everyone for sharing the info and pictures!

It seems that the whitefish have seemed to change the most in recent times, especially the past few years.

 

Looking forward to making my trip out to simcoe this week!

[fishindevil]

Lake simcoe had giant sturgeon too at one time as well as Atlantic salmon !!!! They had huge fish weirs and would spear spawning fish in the shallows !!!! There is tons of stuff on the internet about lake simcoe over the many years very interesting

[fishindevil]

http://www.fishinglakesimcoe.ca/articles/resources/fisheries-timeline-and-selected-historical-events-of-lake-simcoe.html

[dhickey]

I have fished Simcoe for the past 40 years and the changes make me wonder what's going on?

My Dad and uncle fished it long before me and told me great tales of fish and I as a avid ice fisherman chased them and have had some insane experiernces .

Are big fish still there??

I don't think so.

Lots of perch and herring .

Some whitefish but no where near what it was 10 years ago.

Lakers not enough to chase after.

Eyes/musky and pike hardly worth the effort.

 

The lake has been over fished for the past 70-100 years and is becoming nothing more than a dead lake north of Toronto due to over population and fishing.

Edited January 15, 2015 by saltydawg

[Headhunter]

Uhmmm, Simcoe is anything but dead!

HH

[SirCranksalot]

They had huge fish weirs and would spear spawning fish in the shallows !!!!

 

One of the reasons why there are no more.

[lookinforwalleye]

I have fished Simcoe for the past 40 years and the changes make me wonder what's going on?

My Dad and uncle fished it long before me and told me great tales of fish and I as a avid ice fisherman chased them and have had some insane experiernces .

Are big fish still there??

I don't think so.

Lots of perch and herring .

Some whitefish but no where near what it was 10 years ago.

Lakers not enough to chase after.

Eyes/musky and pike hardly worth the effort.

 

The lake has been over fished for the past 70-100 years and is becoming nothing more than a dead lake north of Toronto due to over population and fishing.

really some that fish Simcoe regularly would disagree with most of what you have said.

[SirWhite]

My Dad lives up in Lefroy. Since the eighties. When I was a kid we used to go hunting for clams. I haven't seen a clam in the sand for 15-20 years. Also the panfishing USED to be incredible, right off the pier barely a worm needed. U could just tap the water with your hook and you'd be selecting from a cloud of ten fish buzzing around the bait. I've also notice a sharp decline in Zebra mussels over the past ten years.

 

Yeah, but no fish now, dot even bother going, lol

Edited January 15, 2015 by SirWhite

[Terry]

when you can get 26 lake trout in a morning fishing, I would not call it dead

[DanD]

My Dad lives up in Lefroy. Since the eighties. When I was a kid we used to go hunting for clams. I haven't seen a clam in the sand for 15-20 years. Also the panfishing USED to be incredible, right off the pier barely a worm needed. U could just tap the water with your hook and you'd be selecting from a cloud of ten fish buzzing around the bait. I've also notice a sharp decline in Zebra mussels over the past ten years.

 

Yeah, but no fish now, dot even bother going, lol

 

Things have changed all over; not just Simcoe.

The Normandale creek for example; it empties into Long Point Bay. When I was a kid back in the 60's, we go there smelt fishing. When the smelt came in you couldn't see the bottom of this 6 foot wide creek; they were so thick in there. A 4 foot square dip net would bring in a 5 gallon pail full every time.

Now I don't think you'd be able to find a single one in that creek, for some reason they changed their spawning habits; because they're still in the lake?

 

Dan.