Highly recommend Family Ice cabins on Lake Simcoe

[huzzsaba]

Went Ice fishing for the first time ever yesterday. We chose to go with Family Ice Cabins as per the recommendations and I am glad we got to meet Dave. He is one the nicest guys I have ever met. His children are wonderful and are very courteous and professional. Dave even gave us free minnows free of charge.

 

Once we were ready to go, Dave took us to our 4 man cabin in his Suburban. Gotta love the comfy ride of the older GM Suvs! The cabin was well equipped with a 2 burner propane stove which is used as a stove and heater. The cabin was preheated and ready to go with the holes already cleared of ice. The only thing to remember for next time is to wear 2 pairs of socks since everything else was warm but from the knees down was cold but bearable.

 

Fishing was slow, and we only managed one jumbo perch and 3 too small to keep. Dave told us that with the temperatures that cold, the perch were lazy. He also told us that a few days before one of his customers complained about the lack of fish, and upon checking in, he saw a massive fish swim by ( pike according to him) which scared all the perch away. We experienced the same yesterday and Sure enough we saw a massive fish swim by (looked to be 3 feet long) which looked more like a lake trout because of the fins. After that the perch were gone for a good 2 hours. After that the bite was very light and a very cautious bite, not enough to get to the hook to the mouth. We tried every lure and bait we had including the new northland buckshot rattling spoon I bought. Finally Dave came and fished with us for 20 minutes and they took his minnow making sure to not get hooked. These Perch were smart!

 

We stayed till 5:30 when Dave came to pick us up. Once we were ready to leave, Dave out of his kindness and knowing we had a slow day brought out a Jumbo Perch he had in his freezer and gave it to us. All in all, we had a great time and can't wait to return! Thank you Dave!

Edited February 23, 2015 by huzzsaba

[chris.brock]

Dave sounds like a solid guy. Sounds like a memorable day despite the tough fishing.

[Gerritt]

Cool report... Sounds like you enjoyed yourself even if the fishing was off.

 

G

[Basschaser77]

Some days are just slow. Can't really blame the outfitters. And I can't say enough good things about Dave. See him and his boys whenever I go to Gilford to fish.

[DanD]

I met Dave a few weeks back; he and his kids were great with helping us get our trailer parked (16' cargo trailer) on his lot. They then just pitched in helping to unload our gear, snowmobile and pack our tow behind sled. We took up two of his few parking spots that he has; but he had to be forced to take the money for two spots. My brother in-law insisted and stuffed the money in Dave's pocket.

Most of the people we met in Gilford were very helpful, even the other hut operator (Peter); he knew we had our own pop up hut; but he still escorted us out on the ice giving us a few suggestions of where he thought we should set up camp.

Fishing was a bit slow, with us only keeping a dozen or so of keepers and throwing back 30 or more little guys.

 

Dan.