First trip to Simcoe this winter

Fished Simcoe in the morning yesterday. Nothing at few spots on the way out, but I did not spend much time at each and was heading further out having the nice weather and almost perfect walking conditions to get to a hump. On a slope of the hump found a cloud of smelt and setup there, 56'. They nibble my smallest offerings, but no hookups. About an hour later another bunch of smelt was passing and I got a hit from nowhere. Something picked up from the bottom the Blue Fox Lil’ Foxee Jigging Minnow with a shiner on the hook. Reeling first 20 feet did not have much resistance, then a show began with about 7 runs from almost the top all the way down. The last couple of runs I was almost sure I would not land that fish. Did not want to set drag too tight seeing how aggressive it fought and rushed down. Expected that it was a laker and was worried a bit that my 6" hole may not be big enough

6kg, and around 32".
If I joined the derby this year I could be the first in that 30+ gamefish category

Nice fish and congratulations. Once you find baitfish those big guys aren't far behind.
Thanks for posting.

Great story! Congrats on the dinosaur! Lol the second Pic makes it look prehistoric. Must have been some adrenaline rush. Love to hear about these catches as they are far and few between these days. Mnr really needs to take some action. It already feels too late

Nice laker! Man, I remember those days of the large Simcoe lakers. What a rush. I haven't fished for them in years. That would have been a great entry for the >30" game fish.

When you eat it, let us know how it taste. When I caught them back a couple of decades ago now (and they were on wooden tip-ups - that was a special skill to develop, using your finger and thumb as drag and making sure the tip-up had room to fly and let the line out as the lakers made long runs), they were not very good to eat. Since then, I lost interest in trying to target them on purpose.

Great report, awesome fish!

Very nice laker. Congratulations!

Right on man! Those are few and far between now a days.....congrats

wow that is a great story and fish.

Nice catch. I am wondering if people still getting action with the swim bait. Been a while since I had the chase on.

Thank you for the comments, fellow fishermen!

Thank you, John.
Not sure if bleeding helped, but we have not noticed less taste than of few I caught in summer in Georgian bay and Algonquin. Those were smaller, but eaten a long time ago. After lean pike and crappie a bit of fatty trout should taste good. We pan fried a bit yesterday and it was good. The wife made lots of pierogies, we boiled some and they tasted good. Lots in the freezer for later. Today also have air fried some meatballs and they were great.
Also have belly pieces frozen for the smoker in spring.

Nice fish and great report; thanks for posting!

Nice fish congrats.
6 inch holes can fit some pretty big fish, it's all I used to use before the luxury of the 8 inch. lol .

Fantastic fish. Meat looks nice and orange.