Simcoe perch - open water, earliest opener ever?

[Jerkbaiter]

The weather was unbelievable yesterday for Mid March so could not help it and took my boat out to Simcoe for some ice out perch fishing

Went out of Harry's . Fished for a bit in the river but there were mostly small ones with occasional medium sized perch. The water is still muddy and cold there - 5-6C .

Then went to Cooks and it took me a while to find perch. No big Spring schools yet. Found perch in about 20-25 FOW and the bite was hot midday as the water is still murky after the ice melt. Used scented small tubes as bait (I did not use minnows)

After 2-3 pm the strong NW winds picked up and the bite slowed down and perch became spread out and hugging bottom. Downsized my presentation to small berkley trout worms' pieces and gulp maggots and caught a few more.

All in all took home about two dozen decent ones with a few jumbos.

Good luck if you go and be careful out there as the water temps are about 3C in the main lake.

Anyone knows if we ever had earlier ice out on Simcoe ?

[Jerkbaiter]

Some triplets …

[Jerkbaiter]

Cooks bay - Mar 13 …

[toothhealer88]

nice start to the boat season

[longfish]

Wow some good eating there....well done JB.

Arnie

[sabmgb]

very nicely done. was a great day yesterday for sure

[perch guy]

Thanks for the report and some nice pics.

[SD CHEWIE]

Awesome catch. Nice eats for sure. Enjoy

[crappeeeman]

Back at it again. You just can't keep a good fisherman down. Here is to a great soft water season. I knew you would be out there somewhere.

[bassmasterrr]

Nice perch jerkbaiter , I’ve been out a few times too and same deal not schooled up yet but found a few schools as well as some whitefish before closer, basically just hopping around traditional ice fishing areas. What a crazy year to be out on the boat before the martch 15th closer.

[simcoeslayer77]

Great report! That's awesome that you got out and managed a nice meal. It was definitely a sunscreen day

[Jerkbaiter]

Thanks guys .
Yeah , definitely was nice to be out on a day like that looking for perch without the need to punch holes in the ice .
Crazy weather , not sure what to follow . Often times after warm winter and early spring we have pretty crappy weather in April and May .

[mykola]

Awesome! I was out there today and couldn’t buy a fish. We fished shoals out between snake and Georgina and marked some big fish, had a couple chases, but no hookups. Tried in shallower, all depths around Sibbald and nothing on the perch front. Fished 8:30-4pm. Chilly day out there today with no sun. Put my 9.9 to work that’s for sure. I forget how big that lake is.

[Knuguy]

wow. Some of those look well stuffed. Did you really catch 3 at a time or is that your stringer?

[Flukes]

Nothing wrong with those fish that's for sure.