Muskoka WF, Simcoe bug strikes

Finally got out to a lake I have been wanting to fish for a while. Ice was not great but doable but only got to an areas that was not quite where I wanted to be. It was about 5-6" (variable depending on location) but most of it was the white stuff (but decently solid white stuff). Good enough for walking and there was a snowmobile out there as well transporting building materials across the bay so I felt a bit better seeing that. Where I wanted to go had ice that I was able to punch through in about 4 moderate hits (I could see the edge of the ice I was on and that thinner (darker) ice so I walked to the edge of the ice I was on and gave the thin ice a few whacks) and that was enough for me not to go out there. So fished anywhere from 25-35' on the ice I felt comfortable on and not a mark for about 2.5hrs and about a dozen holes drilled. Decided to do something different and scout the lake for possible panfish locations as well as possible alternate routes out to the main body of the lake. Found a strange little spot where I could see the main lake and it had thin ice and some open water along the edges of a large rock shoreline (the sun did a number of that shore) so I didn't venture out any further. Decided to pop a couple of holes just to see what the depth was at that spot and if I had stumbled across the mother lode of the lake's panfish. Only 10'....well, since I'm there, why not drop a line down - ultralight panfish gear and picked out a Simcoe bug and tipped with a plastic waxie. First and only mark on the sonar all day came in within 2 min. and it didn't hesitate. I am sure I did everything wrong being out of practice for so long but I hooked it right where I needed to in the nose and after three tries getting it to the hole, I was able to grab it and pull it out. 23" whitey of all things (and so yellow and dark). Coughed up a bunch of caddis larvae (some were still alive and crawling around - I put them in a jar of water and into the fridge and they are still alive as of now). So it turns out my choice of lure kind of matched the hatch. Tried a for a few more minutes but nothing and I had to head out.

Nice one John! Glad to hear you were rewarded for your efforts. Sometimes the best place to be is right where you are on the lake with a line in the water. Did you get any photos of the caddis larvae?

Nice surprise catch…bet it tastes the same as one from the spot you wanted to go

For sure. Glad I decided to explore the lake a bit. It's for sure something I need to do to get a better feel for where different species are likely to be....but needs alot of time (spent decades fishing Simcoe to be in a place where complete skunks are rare now).
I do have some photos of the caddis larvae (I think they are caddis) but not great ones (too hard to photograph something that small in poor lighting and while they continue to move). But what I can say is that they look like the caddis larvae tied by the fly guy you had sent me. The belly of the fish was full of half digested ones (I am only assuming because I didn't really feel like picking a part all the little half-digested pieces of insects).

Hope the bug eater tastes better than the fish eaters

Hope the bug eater tastes better than the fish eaters

From my experience- they actually do!

I’m no expert on freshwater macroinvertebrates but it certainly does resemble that pattern. If you can count the amount of prongs at the tail end of the larva, I may be able to ID it.

Congrats on the successful first trip to a new lake.

Amazing what a fish eats, and then we eat the fish.

Perfect! Glad you found one. Guess I’ll be drilling shallow next couple trips!

Very nice whitefish.... I will have to fish YOUR lake sometime soon...

I'd say them's mayfly larvae.. bait stores in northern MI sell them. They're locally known as wigglers

Looks like an alderfly larva:

Thanks all for the kind comments and help with the ID of the bug (the real bug). It was very good to have caught a fish from this lake and there is so much more of it to explore (hoping the next two weeks of cold will let me move around a bit more).
I think alderfly looks right to me. I was wondering why they didn't have there "homes" with them. The only thing that I can see in the critters in my jar in the fridge (that I can't see in the alderfly photo) are the two large pincers that seem to be out all the time in the critters in the jar (it's possible that the one in the photo has the pincer like jaws folder under the head?). But it sure looks the same to me....and they seem to be a bit nasty to each other too - they will clamp down on each other with those pincers.
Mayfly - I tried to spread the tail apart and never saw the three points (always seemed to have just a singe one or maybe two). BTW, they are still alive in the fridge so will have another look in a few days when I find some time....too busy today and for the next few days. If they are still alive when I can get out fishing again, I may have to try putting a couple on a hook in that shallow spot and see what else maybe lurking there.

Update on my adler fly larvae that were living in a jar in the fridge. There were 5, now there is one. Last "man" standing - apparently eating up the other ones (bits and pieces of the other ones still there). Was hoping to have gotten back to fishing that spot so I can put a couple of them on a hook and see what happens - still have one to try if I can get out before it dies as well.