Lake Simcoe, Day 1

Fished Lake Simcoe with Dwayne, Fred and Dan. We stayed at Whispering Pines bed and breakfast in Sutton, Ontario. Temperature in the morning was -7 degrees and when we quit fishing it was around 10 degrees. The wind was blowing out of the east about 10 to 15 knots and the wind chill was very cold. We fished with Ice Fishing Outfitters out of Virginia Beach, Ontario. We fished in the huts furthest out in about 14 feet of water, about 3/4 miles from shore. The ice is 12 inches thick and it is a good black ice. The water was gin clear so we were able to sight fish all day, which is a lot of fun. We had small perch in the hole most of the day and eventually a larger fish would show up. The first couple of hours we had a tough time hooking up with the larger fish. I finally put on a Slab Grabber spoon tipped with a minnow head and Dan put on a silver and gold Williams spoon tipped with a piece of a minnow. That seemed to attract more fish and our catching improved. We kept 39 fish between the two huts with the largest perch around 12 inches. It was a tough day fishing but it was only our first day.

It's Officially Over

Fished with Captain Dan. We launched out of Sterling State Park because with the south wind it would be an easier ride back to the harbor. Temperature this morning was in the middle 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 50's. The wind was out of the south to southeast 8 to 15 knots. The waves were 1 to 2 feet for most of the trip. The water temp is 46 Degrees. Started fishing where we were on the last two trips and we never got a bite. Made about 6 moves in this area without any luck. Made a move to the 1 and 2 buoys off the Raisin River and not even a hit. Went back to where we were fishing and moved out a little further, nothing. Talked to another fisherman out by us and he only had 2 hits. Started moving into the bay and nothing. Made it over to Stony Point and tried about 3 spots here, again nothing. Tried a couple more spots in the bay and nothing so we said we would try in front of the rock pile by the harbor for our last stop. Nothing. The last trip of the year and not even a bite. That does not happen very often on Lake Erie.

Almost a Cooler Full

Fished with Captain Dan. Temperature this morning was in the lower 30's so we waited until it warmed up before we went fishing. Temperature when we started fishing was in the lower 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 40's. It's hard to believe but we took off our coats and were just wearing short sleeve shirts. The sun was out for most of the trip and it was beautiful on the lake. The wind was very light and there were no waves. We were just floating around the anchor for most of the trip. This is not good when your perch fishing. The water temp is 52 degrees. Started out fishing where we left off on the last trip and we were catching white perch. Made a move about 200 feet to the northeast and we started to catch some perch. The fish were not as large as the last trip but they were still nice fish. We stayed put and sorted through the fish to keep the larger ones. We thought we had close to a limit of fish but when we got done cleaning them we had 81 perch. It was just a perfect day to be on Lake Erie. At one time there was a pack of 22 boats about a 1/4 of mile east of us, and it's the end of October!

Cooler Full

Fished with Captain Dan. Temperature this morning was in the lower 30's so we waited for it to warm up before we went fishing. Temperature when we started fishing was in the middle 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70's, pretty nice for this time of year. The wind was out of the southeast 10 to 15 knots when we started to fish and after a couple of hours it switched to the south 10 to 15 knots. On the way out the waves were about 2 feet and when the wind switched the waves were less than a foot. The water temp is 51 degrees. Started fishing in front of the harbor with a couple of boats and we caught nothing. Moved out to 1 mile east of the 1 and 2 buoys on the Raisin River and set up. Caught a lot of white perch and silver bass. Made a couple of small moves in this area and we caught the same thing, white perch and silver bass. Dan decided to make one more small move in this area before we made a move to the buoys and it paid off. We were on the perch and it was non stop action. 99 percent of the fish we caught were perch and 95 percent of them were keepers. After a hour of catching perch we called it quits, the cooler was getting full. Kept 85 perch and only 9 of those were about 8 inches, the rest were 9 to 12 1/2 inches.

The End Has Arrived

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 30's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 50's. The wind was out of the northwest less than 10 knots with hardly any waves. After a couple hours of fishing we were wearing short sleeve shirts. That is how nice it felt. The water temp is 50 degrees and there is still a trace of algae in the water. Started fishing right in front of the marina with a couple of boats and we only caught small perch. Made a move to the S- Buoy and we caught a couple of small perch. Headed back to where we have been fishing and we started to catch some nice perch. The catching was slow so we would just make small moves in this area. Ended up keeping 40 pretty nice size perch. The boat is all cleaned up and put away for the winter. It's hard to believe how fast the fishing season went. Bought some fuel at the marina and it is still $5.09 a gallon. I paid $2.89 a gallon for fuel around the house yesterday, go figure.

Same Spot Different Results

Fished with Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the upper 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 60's. The wind was light out of the northwest and there were hardly any waves. Just a nice day to be on the lake. The water temp is 56 Degrees. Went back to where we fished yesterday and we caught some fish but no jumbos. Made a few moves looking for the big fish but we could not find them today. Made a move to Huey's spot and caught nothing so we went back to where we started fishing. We would catch a nice perch every once in a while but the catching was slow. Saw a pack of boats south of the E-Buoy so we headed over there. Made a pass through the pack of boats and we never saw a person catch a fish so we went back to where we started. The catching was slow so after a couple of hours we headed in. Kept 20 perch and the season is coming to an end real soon.

Jumbo's Today

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 60's. The wind in the morning was out of the south around 17 knots with waves under 2 feet. After a couple of hours the wind laid down and so did the waves. The water temp is 56 Degrees. Started fishing past the S-Buoy by the Michigan / Ohio border. The catching was slow but we were catching nice fish. Once the waves laid down the catching slowed down. We made a few small moves in this area and we ended up where we started. Saw a storm coming our way so we pulled lines and headed for the barn. Kept 30 perch with 6 of them over 13 inches and three of those were 14 inches. Haven't caught perch this large in 12 years. The big perch made the 11 1/2 inch perch look small! We also caught 3 small mouth bass between 18 and 20 inches. The girth on the bass was amazing.

Big Fish Little Fish

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the middle 40's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 50's. The wind was out of the west 10 to 15 knots with waves about a foot. The water temp is 56 Degrees. It was a little cold in the morning but as the day went on it was pretty nice out. Started fishing by the S-Buoy and we picked up a couple of nice fish and then it shut down. Made a few moves in this area but no action. Made a move out to the Michigan/Ohio border and tried 3 spots there and we caught no fish. Went back to the first location and we caught one keeper perch. Made one last move 1 1/2 miles northeast of the E-Buoy and we started to catch some fish. Caught a lot of little perch but  we stayed put and sorted through them. Kept 26 perch for the trip. Guess who caught the big perch and who caught the little perch?

I'm Getting Worse at This

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 50's. The wind was out of the northwest anywhere between 10 to 25 knots. Waves in the swamp were less than a foot and by the E-Buoy they were about 1 1/2 feet. The water temp is 65 degrees. It was drizzling rain for the first 3 hours. Started fishing in the swamp and we only caught small perch. Made 3 moves in this area and we had 4 small perch that we kept. Went out to Turtle island and fished all around it. At one spot we were about 500 feet from the island. When we dropped anchor at the north side of the island we caught 1 big perch and a lot of little ones. After a half hour of fishing we pulled the anchor and headed towards the E-Buoy. About half way to the E-Buoy we stopped and tried fishing, nothing but little perch. We then went to the E-Buoy and tried 3 spots around there and only caught 1 keeper perch so we came back to port and put Daryl's boat to rest for the winter. Kept 6 perch on a rainy day, not good.

No Perch Yet

Fished with Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the middle 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70's. The wind was light out of the northeast and the waves were less than a foot. The water temp is 64 Degrees. This string of great weather just continues. The fog was not too bad, visibility was about 1 mile. Started fishing in the swamp and we were catching perch but they were small. Made a couple of moves here and we only had 2 keeper perch. Moved to Huey's old spot and caught nothing. Made the move to the light house and fished the second set of buoy's to the east. Not even a bite. Saw a pack of boats on the gravel pits in Ohio so we headed there. Caught 2 perch about 5 inches and saw no one else catching fish so we moved to the first set of buoys before McDonald's. Not even a bite. Went back into the swamp and set up. We were catching perch but most of them were small. We stayed here and sorted through the fish. Kept 11 perch on a very nice day on the lake. The algae was pretty bad in the swamp from all this east wind. I know if we had stayed in the swamp we would have had more fish.

Lunch at Trapper's

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was out of the northeast less than 10 knots with waves around a foot. The water temp is 66 degrees. When we arrived at the marina the fog was thick, as Huey would say it's thicker than pea soup. We motored out very slow to the E-buoy and set up for perch fishing. Not even a bite so pulled anchor and made a small move. Again nothing and the fog was still thick. We decided to head to the spot we fished last time out. It took over an hour to get there. Spent the rest of the trip here. The catching was slow and the size was not very large. We just stayed here and caught enough fish to stop at Trapper's and have a perch dinner. Kept 26 perch. The fog did not lift until 11:30 AM.

Caught a Few

Fished with Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 60's. The wind was out of the southeast in the morning less than 10 knots and when we quit fishing it was out of the east just over 10 knots. The waves were 1 foot early and when we quit fishing they were around 2 feet. The water temp is 64 Degrees. Started fishing by the E-Buoy and the water was a little dirty and we caught no fish. Moved out to the shipping channel between Sputnik and McDonald's and caught nothing. Made a couple of moves around here and caught nothing. We packed up and moved to some old way points off the Raisin River channel and caught no fish. Moved into Breast Bay on the Michigan/Ohio border (41 53 013/ 083 11 650) and we started to catch some perch. We had one flurry where we caught about 12 fish between 10 and 12 1/4 inches. It was slow picking but a least we kept 35 perch.

Still Slow Perchin'

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50's and when we quit fishing it was in the upper 60's. The wind was out of the west southwest less than 10 knots with waves under a foot. The water temp is 66 Degrees. Started fishing by the number 2 buoy on the River Raisin. We stayed here for quite a while just catching a perch a once in a while. The fish that we caught here were pretty nice. Once the catching quit we moved straight out about 2 miles in a pack of boats. We drove through the pack and only saw a few fish being caught so we moved towards Stoney Point in 25 feet of water. We set up and spent the rest of the trip here catching a few perch that were just keepers. We finished the day with 31 perch. We also caught and released a few small mouth bass and a couple of small walleye. The one walleye was only 5 inches long. We also saw 24 monarch butterflies out on the lake today making their long journey to Mexico.

Same Old Story

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 50s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 50s. Kind of cold for this time of year. The wind was out of the southwest around 10 knots with waves about 1 foot. The water temp is 67 Degrees. The game plan was to head to the number 2 buoy and start fishing there. Well, we got a report at the dock before we left that they were catching some perch at McDonald's so that was where we headed. Started fishing on the northwest side of McDonald's and we caught a couple of keeper perch but after an hour we moved to the other side of McDonald's. Caught nothing here so we went back to the other side of McDonald's and caught no perch. Decided to head to the River Raisin Buoy #2 and fish. On the way there we were going by an old perch way point from last year so we tried that. Again nothing. We went to Buoy #2 on the River Raisin channel and set up. We would catch an occasional keeper perch so we stayed put for the rest of the day. Kept 20 perch for the trip. It started to rain when we were by McDonald's and then it quit. It then started to rain again by the number 2 buoy and we had light rain for about an hour.

Here We Go Again

Fished with Captain Daryl and Joe. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60's and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70's. The wind was out of the southwest around 10 knots with waves about one foot. The water temp is 74 degrees. Started fishing on the Michigan/Ohio border with the guys from the marina and we caught only junk fish. Made a move towards the Toledo Lighthouse and set up and we caught little perch and junk fish. Made another move in this area and it did not help. Moved up the channel and fished by the second set of buoys from the Lighthouse and had he same results. Moved again past McDonald's half way to Sputnik and set up and again we had no fish. Went to an old perch spot north of Sputnik and we caught a couple of keeper perch so we moved again. Saw a pack of boats in the bay so we headed there and again small perch and junk fish. Made one last move to the #2 buoy off the Raisin River and we caught a few keeper perch. Fished all morning and made a lot of moves and we kept 11 perch. Something is not right. The season is winding down and we only have a few perch to show for it. We just might try walleye fishing next time out.

Tough Perch Fishing Again

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind was light and variable and there were no waves. The water temp is 74 degrees. The plan was to fish at the number 1 buoy off the Raisin River but we changed our plans at the dock. The water was dirty when we left the harbor and when arrived at McDonald's it was still dirty. Caught nothing but small perch at McDonald's so we moved to the north of Sputnik. We would catch an occasional keeper perch but nothing to keep us in this location. Started moving around in this area and the catching did not improve. Made some moves to the east and fished some old perch spots and that did not help. After fishing for 3 1/2 hours we called it a day. Kept 15 perch on a day the lake was like glass.

Perch Fishing at it's Worst

Fished with Captain Daryl and Mark. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the lower 70s. The wind in the morning was out of the south southeast 20 to 25 knots with waves 2 to 4 feet with the occasional 5 footer. Around 9:30 am the wind was letting up and the waves were laying down to 2 footers. Not the best day to be perch fishing. The water temp is 75 degrees. With the bad weather we thought we would fish in close by the C-buoy but we did not mark any fish, so we headed to the E-buoy. Dropped anchor here and fished but we only caught little perch and little sheep head. Made another move in this same area and had the same results. By this time the lake was settling down so we made the move out to McDonald's. We set up on the Michigan side and started catching small perch and small sheep head. Made a little move in this area and we caught the same thing, small perch and small sheep head. Moved to the Ohio side of McDonald's and had the same results. Pulled anchor and moved to the Ohio dumping grounds and caught the same thing, small perch and small sheep head. Made one last move to the S-buoy and caught the same thing, little perch and little sheep head. Came home with no fish and I know Daryl will be tired tonight from pulling the anchor so many times in rough water.

First Perch Fishing Trip of the Year

Fished with Joe and Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 70s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 80s. The wind was out of the southeast less than 10 knots with waves less than a foot. The water temp is 74 degrees. Started fishing at Huey's old spot and we caught nothing so we moved out to McDonalds and fished on the Michigan side. The catching was pretty slow but we just stayed here and picked away at the perch. Not a lot of junk fish but we caught quite a few large sheephead. Called it quits before it got too hot out. Kept 36 perch with the largest one measuring 12 inches. Most of the fish were in the 8 to 8 1/2 inch range.

Salmon Fishing 2014

Salmon fished with Joe and John out of Manistee, Michigan from 8-16 to 8-23. The weather was good for most of the week. Only had rain for 1 trip and that was light and fishable. Temps ranged from the lower 50s to the lower 70s. The lake was calm except for one trip and that day the waves were 1 to 3 feet.

The fishing report was pretty bad so we did not have very high hopes of catching a lot of fish. When we arrived at port on Saturday the waves were 2 to 4 feet so we said we would not go fishing that night. When we came back from the bait store the wind switched and the lake laid down so away we went. We fished the shallow water (30 feet ) north of the harbor and caught the two kings in the picture. We were pumped and ready for the rest of the week.

Sunday the weather was perfect and the lake was flat. We fished both north and south of the harbor and we never had a hit, I can't recall this ever happening before. Monday we caught 2 kings in the morning and that was it. Tuesday we had a rip off the dipsy that we lost and that was it for the day. Things were not looking very good.

Wednesday we went south of the harbor and we caught 5 kings with the largest one weighing 18 lb. Thursday we fished south again and we only caught 3 fish.

Then came Friday, our last day to fish before we headed for home. The day started a little foggy and dark and we fished south again. We set up on a south troll at the 11 line in 80 feet of water and we never left this area. We were on the fish right out of the gate and the catching never quit. We went 10 for 14 in the morning session and when we took the boat out in the afternoon to clean it up and start to put things away we caught 2 more fish. Friday saved our trip.

Over all we caught 24 fish for the trip with the smallest fish weighing 5 lb. and the largest fish weighing 18 lb. We caught 24 fish out of 33 hits. The 24 fish weighed 265 lb. which gave us an average of 11.04 lb. per fish. We never saw a 20 lb. plus fish at any cleaning station, which is not a good sign.

Lots of Weeds Again

Fished with Captain Daryl. Temperature this morning was in the lower 60s and when we quit fishing it was in the middle 70s. The wind in the morning was out of the north northeast 14 to 17 knots with waves 2 to 3 feet. After a couple of hours the wind laid down and so did the waves. The water temp is 72 degrees. We headed towards Brest Bay (right into the waves) looking for some fish. Once we were past the River Raisin channel the lake was full of floating weeds. We kept heading northeast hoping to get past all the weeds but they were every where. We headed back to the E-Buoy and set lines with wiggle warts and hot and tots set at 75 feet behind the boards. We caught the first fish in the Michigan Dumping grounds. Made another pass through the same area and we caught 1 more walleye. We made one more pass through the same area and caught only a couple of silver bass so we called it a day. Kept 2 walleye.