Ice fishing: waaay more folks out.

[singingdog]

I have never seen this many folks out ice fishing. Must be an ideal way to get out during the lockdown.

[BillM]

Simcoe is a shitshow at the best of times, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like this year.   City of Barrie, Township of Innisfil will be making $$$$ with parking tickets, lol.

[boombap]

12 hours ago, BillM said:

Simcoe is a shitshow at the best of times, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like this year.   City of Barrie, Township of Innisfil will be making $$$$ with parking tickets, lol.

Still cant get over my $80 parking ticket at the gilford parking lot years ago.. I paid for 5 hours.. was 30 mins late. Needless to say I never paid the ticket.

[LefroyFisherman]

Drove down to Cooks 2 days ago, still wide open in Gilford. Looks like I wont be on the ice for a while up around the 7th line... It seemed like it was going to freeze early but nope.

 

Just did a boat run in Angus with the father-in-law yesterday, friggin cold  boat was filling up with snow, didnt even get a bite.

Edited December 31, 2020 by LefroyFisherman

[LefroyFisherman]

Hopefully everyone stays safe, I can imagine there is a lot of new ice fisherman being there isn't much else to do.

[LostAnotherOne]

On 12/30/2020 at 2:26 AM, BillM said:

Simcoe is a shitshow at the best of times, I can't even imagine what it's going to be like this year.   City of Barrie, Township of Innisfil will be making $$$$ with parking tickets, lol.

I'm thinking of heading up on a Wednesday this year as it's the furthest day from the weekend lol.

[Fisherman]

Bring water walkers and float suit.

[DanD]

On 12/31/2020 at 5:35 PM, LostAnotherOne said:

'm thinking of heading up on a Wednesday

have a look see.

 

[Terry]

Yeah that’s on the keswick side and the southend  on the Innisfil side it’s open all the way to the Holland river

 

[AKRISONER]

Guys trust me, if you are getting out there please be careful. The ice even on the smallest lakes as far north as the french river are still sketchy as hell. I couldn’t imagine guys going onto simcoe or anywhere south 

[singingdog]

11 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

Guys trust me, if you are getting out there please be careful. The ice even on the smallest lakes as far north as the french river are still sketchy as hell. I couldn’t imagine guys going onto simcoe or anywhere south 

Yep. The ice is "shifting" this year. Warm temps seem to mean that ice thickness can change over the course of a couple of days. A small lake not far from me was solid 4-5" 2 weeks ago, has spots that are down to 2" now. 

[LefroyFisherman]

Hard to go on Simcoe when its mostly water  Figures a lot of us are home and we have no ice down the street to fish

[AKRISONER]

1 hour ago, singingdog said:

Yep. The ice is "shifting" this year. Warm temps seem to mean that ice thickness can change over the course of a couple of days. A small lake not far from me was solid 4-5" 2 weeks ago, has spots that are down to 2" now. 

That’s exactly what I experienced...my tiny lake had a nice 4-5 of black ice but snow fell and pushed the ice down, the lake flooded and any weak spots got eaten with the shifting water. The warm weather didnt refreeze or fix the slush either so the lake water was just eating away at the ice. Full on holes formed everywhere only visible through the slush. Really really sketchy.

Edited January 4, 2021 by AKRISONER

[Tjames09]

I couldn’t believe the amount of sleds out on the lake this weekend. 

[DanD]

Come on weather please; my fish hut has been sitting in the parking lot of my shop and it just may stay there again the year. Miss the weekends staying out on the ice; sleeping in the hut. May try putting pontoons on it and using it as a boathouse, LOL Oh crap it'll need to lose a lot of weight to do that; she's a bit on the heavy side. 

Dan.

[lovetofish]

That’s 3” of white ice, in that spot. Scary stuff for the inexperienced angler. Stay safe

[bonmotwang]

I tried ice fishing at six mile channel near six mile lake last weekend.

It was near a dock. Water is about 10 feet. Ice is about 12" or more. I used worms.

But waited for about 2 hours, didn't get anything.

I guess in this cold weather fish don't move around a lot. So do I need to keep drilling holes and try different locations?

 

[AKRISONER]

21 minutes ago, bonmotwang said:

I tried ice fishing at six mile channel near six mile lake last weekend.

It was near a dock. Water is about 10 feet. Ice is about 12" or more. I used worms.

But waited for about 2 hours, didn't get anything.

I guess in this cold weather fish don't move around a lot. So do I need to keep drilling holes and try different locations?

 

Move move move...and before you fish check the charts to find structure to fish by. If you aren’t fishing a hole or an edge of some sort your production will declinr significantly. Finding green weeds can be a key depending on what you are targeting 

[bonmotwang]

The whole lake is covered by ice now. Do I need to go where the weeds were in the summer?

[BillM]

2 hours ago, bonmotwang said:

The whole lake is covered by ice now. Do I need to go where the weeds were in the summer?

No, you'll want to find the deep basins.  Be careful out there.

[LostAnotherOne]

4 hours ago, bonmotwang said:

The whole lake is covered by ice now. Do I need to go where the weeds were in the summer?

I may be wrong bud, but it sounds to me you may be new to ice fishing.  If so don't venture out where there's no people.  Cooks Bay was a great starting place for me when I started.  Good luck and stay safe.

[AKRISONER]

17 hours ago, bonmotwang said:

The whole lake is covered by ice now. Do I need to go where the weeds were in the summer?

start by fishing near where you see other people fish. if you are new to ice fishing, please please please wear a floater and read about "spudding" and how to get yourself out should you fall through. The ice everywhere although it may look totally frozen can be good in one spot and terrible 20 feet to either side.