Tag Archives: Lake Simcoe

The elusive hungry whitefish

January 26, 2016

Returning from Belize and preparing to depart to Hawaii in a few days time, I had all but one day to spend on the hard water this season. The whitefish must have been aware that I wouldn’t be bothering them much this year, because they decided to return the favour by making my one day quite a memorable one! Read more

On the ice, in the dark

March 30, 2015

As dusk fell on Lake Simcoe’s icy expanse, the moon’s silvery glow began to take hold. The wind calmed and an absolute silence settled in its place only to be broken, yet again, by the roar of my Jiffy auger. The night was approaching and I was back, drilling another hole, in search of a fish that had captivated my late ice fishing endeavors. Read more

Some fall-time fishing

December 1, 2014

Aside from catching my first gizzard shad, I wanted to share some other highlights of my fall-time fishing. While most of my hours were spent in the kayak, I did spend a few sessions chasing steelhead in the open sections of Lake Ontario’s tributaries. Read more

Maybe I should start bringing a bird call

June 7, 2014

Went back out this weekend for another Simcoe Saturday. Bright and early I found myself peddling to my spot in near-perfect conditions. I made a quick pass around the area, in search of last Saturday’s fish. To my dismay, my screen was quite blank. Read more

End of May bird presents

June 2, 2014

Nearly 6 hours into my fish on Simcoe, searching for fish that were no longer around, I spotted a bunch of birds off in the distance. I decided to join them since it would more exciting than my current activities of skunkage. Read more

Wendy and friends

May 29, 2014

I had a chance to take the newly acquired Hobie Outback for a peddle on Lake Simcoe after work today. Despite some reports of the whitefish changing locations in the warming weather, I still found them in the same area. It wasn’t gangbusters, but it was a slow stream of interested fish bringing me to 3 for 4 in about 2 hours of fishing time before sunset. Read more

More surprise whitefish

May 18, 2014

A slow start to the day with three fish in four hours had me just about to write the day off and call it quits. However, the calm conditions were just too inviting for me to do that. I decided to pick up the anchor and try some different depths. Read more

Slow morning on Simcoe

May 16, 2014

I wanted to get a nice and early start today before the usual midday wind picked up. Unfortunately, the fish and I weren’t on the same page. From 5:30 am all the way to 9 am all I managed to accomplish was losing one whitefish under the yak and landing one 26″ laker. Read more

Bury my yak in whitefish

May 12, 2014

It’s a rare day when the collection of variables that influence a day’s fishing just seem to mesh perfectly. Today was one of those days. I began fruitlessly trolling out from Simcoe’s shoreline at 5:30am on glass-calm water. When I got to where I wanted to be, I dropped anchor and got ready for some jigging. Read more

No ice this time!

May 11, 2014

Out the door at 3am and the anchor was down at 6am. I fished the same place with the same rod, same lures, and with the same technique as I employed through the ice. The result was the same coveted Lake Whitefish! Read more

How to not find burbot on Simcoe

March 22, 2014

Super lazy day today, didn’t get onto the ice until 12:30ish and I had a long sled ride ahead of me. With temperatures increasing it seems like prime time to find spawning burbot. The target was a shoal I’ve had my eyes on but never had the chance to fish before the season closure for lake trout and whitefish. Read more

Once more, with feeling

March 13, 2014

… or whatever you can feel when it’s -30 in the morning. Stuck to my guns this morning by setting up on the same spot as yesterday. I arrived a bit later than I would have liked (there was already light out), but by 10am I was 2/3 on whities. Read more

Catching Them All

Michael Verdirame's journey of fishing.