My weekend of ice fishing SImcoe. Gilford and Bear Point

[huzzsaba]

Sorry in advance for the no photo thread

 

Got out twice this weekend, Once on Friday with the family since my girls had PA day from school.  I don't work Thursdays and Fridays so that means PA day+Day off work+ice on the lake=  family ice fishing day .The second time was Sunday for lakers and whitefish.

Friday:  We went out with Gilford Yellow huts. As usual arrived late ( 3 ladies getting ready) isn't an easy or quick task . got there around 8am (late by my standards and got settled in the hut.  Wayne (the guide) gave us the big hut and it was very nice and spacious.  He checked up on us regularly in between his busy schedule of moving the huts to a new location. We got into a dozen before 11 am. Most were small and were released unless deep hooked. Then the usual bite shutdown till 2pm. 

At 2 pm it was still slow until we got a good hit and it was a nice jumbo.  He decided to take a swim around our second line and by the time we got him to the hole, the tangle turned out to be a strategically useful for him since he self released at the hole before we could grab him.  My little one cried for a good 5 mins saying "we lost the big one!" 

Wayne came at 3:30 to check up on us and seeing just 4-5 fish in the bag told us to try another hut which was smaller.  The girls decided to play out on the ice and me and the wife started fishing.  It was non stop action for the last 45 minutes of our trip.  My job was to put the minnows on,and her job was to reel them in.  We caught probably 12-15 in that 45 mins!

 

The drive home was another adventure. snow the whole way took 2 hours to get back to Mississauga.  All in all a great day and service from Gilford Yellow huts was great!

 

Sunday: First time ever going for Lakers and Whitefish.  Took the day off work to accompany a friend who was off Sunday. We went out with Bear Point ice huts and were on the ice by 7:30 am.  Service was great and huts were the cleanest we have ever used.  My only complaint was not being able to meet the man himself, Donnie, and the fact that nobody came to check up on us until 3pm!

Fishing was very slow.  hardly marked any fish. bottom of the screen was pretty flat the whole time.  Tried all the lures and techniques in the dozens of simcoe laker videos I watched, and nothing worked. Had one line that I jigged and reeled up and down for 7 of the 9 hours lol, and 2 lines with live minnows, one on a homemade rig and another on Donnie's spreader and tip up.

If you guessed we got skunked, you guessed correct!  Talked to a the guys at the end of the day, and found out only 2 huts caught fish, one was a whitefish and one a laker.  another few told me that they only marked 2 fish all day.  Slow day for everyone and the water was dark.  could not see my lure once past 6-8 feet!

Drive back was quiet and we joked that my friend's win of roll up the rim (a coffee) was what made the trip worth it! My friend is on a fishless streak of 3 years now ( He doesnt fish much), but was optimistic the next trip out will be better,  Will try again before the huts have to come off on a weekday instead of weekend.  Weekdays have been better fishing this year for me. Not because of getting skunked but not sure If I should try Bear Point again, or change it up and try Tim Hales. Maybe Adam Goy ice huts.

Positives from the trip was getting a feel for variety of lures and learning how to use use Donnie's custom tip up. Also got better acquainted with my fishfinder.  Better luck next time!  Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

[Rizzo]

Good stuff. I also have only tried the laker/whitefish thing once on Simcoe. Struck out equally as bad. We also only heard of one or two fish being caught out of the hundred people fishing the area. Not great odds. Thanks for the report, been a few years since I have made it back to Simcoe

[huzzsaba]

On 12/02/2018 at 9:15 PM, Rizzo said:

Good stuff. I also have only tried the laker/whitefish thing once on Simcoe. Struck out equally as bad. We also only heard of one or two fish being caught out of the hundred people fishing the area. Not great odds. Thanks for the report, been a few years since I have made it back to Simcoe

Thanks for reading.  

I will try once more before the 15th of March. Hopefully the snow clears off the ice so the water isn't so dark next time around 

[Rizzo]

keep at it. Some guys do phenomenal out there...just have to put time on the ice and get it figured out.  Then you can come back here and display all your awesome catches

[Rattletrap2]

Sounds like a good couple of outings! I went out with Floyd Hales a few weeks back and we did okay. I have nothing but good things to say about their operation. We only went to the perch grounds, but it was a lot of fun and the huts were very comfortable.