After the successful outings we had for Lake Trout and Whitefish last weekend I could not wait to go back to Lake Simcoe and do it all over again. I headed out early Saturday morning joined by the usual suspects and some close friends Peter Seto and Sean Stewart to see if we could once again get these hard fighting fish to bite.

Unfortunately, due to the unusually warm weather and good fishing, it’s hard to get away from crowds. As we made the trip up to one of our spots on the lake, I wasn’t overly ecstatic to see the entire parking lot already full and trucks lining the road side when we arrived. When too many anglers pack into one location it can make Laker and Whitie fishing very tough, as not only noise but hundreds of lures bouncing off the bottom make the fish very wary and can sometimes shut them right off. We decided to change our game plan at the last minute and get as far away from the “city” as possible.

Forgetting about our old way points, we decided to use our Navionics apps to find similar contours in the same area. We moved about a 1.5km away from the main group of people and settled down on a break line that separated the feeding flat from the main lake basin. We fished from 114-122 FOW and Lady Simcoe did not disappoint. We iced numerous Lake Trout and some Whitefish and everyone had a blast. My friend Pete was so busy running over to Mike’s and John’s holes with the camera on Saturday, he barely had any time to fish himself. He did a great job putting some videos together for us and I can’t thank him enough for his effort. Not too many guys will run away from a screen full of fish to take a picture for someone else!

Sunday proved to be just as just as busy so we knew we had some walking to do. Sean decided to bring his nephew Dion out, who had never caught a lake trout before and I even ran into some old friends on the ice, Dennis Dewar and his brother Darryl who we usually don’t see until May long weekend when we stay at his grandparents Resort on the Spanish River. It was shaping up to be a really good day, there was barely any wind and the sun was slowly rising. My friends and I were ready to set the hook! This time we ventured even further out and were once again rewarded for our effort. The fish were once again biting and we were marking as many as 3-5 at a time. In the afternoon my friends Nick and his fiancée Jenna joined us on the ice. Neither of them had ever caught a Simcoe Laker of Whitefish so my goal for the day was to get them into one of these fish. It wasn’t long before I watched Nick set the hook into a nice whitefish. He brought the fish all the way up only to lose it at the hole, just as he turned to Jenna to say “I lost it at the hole” she screams “FISH ON!” and managed to land a nice Whitie!

The hot lures this weekend were Williams spoons in silver and of course the white tube. I don’t think I’ve ever used a more versatile bait than the tube. It has caught me more species of fish than any other bait. They catch practically everything that swims!! After a weekend like this I couldn’t ask for much more. Days on the ice like these past few, are ones I will always remember. They remind me why I love this sport and this country so much. Laughs, Friends and Fish……that’s what it’s all about!

Pete