When Lake Simcoe rids itself of what Old Man Winter left behind, it only means one thing to those who like to wet a line on the province’s sixth-largest inland lake — the start to some of the best yellow perch fishing this province has to offer.
It’s during this time of the year you stand the best chance of catching the biggest perch, Aurora resident and long-time tournament angler Dave Chong said.
“It’s not uncommon to catch fish measuring up to 14 or 15 inches in length,” he said.
Hearing those encouraging words gave me the urge to join him, along with Taro Murata, creator of Fish City TV, to experience one of the annual angling rites of spring.
However, the day we elected to go out didn’t seem the most conducive for fishing.
Overcast skies with threats of rain combined with an east wind — not exactly the kind of breezes anglers prefer.
But knowing Dave and Taro had been out on the waters in the days leading up to our outing and experienced a high degree of success catching good numbers of fish, my confidence was bolstered.
After motoring our way from the Sibbald Point Provincial Park boat ramp to an area near Duclos Point, Dave and Taro focused their attention on shallow-water areas where the lake bottom is comprised of rock and sand.
These areas, they noted, are places where the perch inhabit for spawning, and are rife with baitfish.
Working a stretch of water sheltered from the wind, Dave and Taro took turns manoeuvring the boat parallel to the shoreline and into depths ranging from four to 10 feet.
Using lightweight rod and reel outfits and tossing small, soft plastic minnow imitation baits or tube jigs rigged individually or in tandem onto a one-sixteenth to one-eighth ounce jig head with an erratic retrieve, it didn’t take long for the action to start.
On several occasions, our boat resembled a fire drill as we had double and triple-headers on.
Yellow perch of varying sizes were attracted to our offerings, but the ones we sought and selectively harvested were deep-bellied and more than 11 inches in length.
While there were periods we caught what seemed to be an endless number of under-sized perch, some emitting milt as we were removing them from our hooks, Taro said this can be a good sign. During spawning, the males tend to congregate near the big spawning females. Those small males told us we were in the ballpark for what we wanted to catch.
So, what had the makings of a washed out day turned out to be a rewarding one.
At that, though, Dave and Taro said we just hit the tip of the iceberg as they had experienced far better days leading up to our expedition.
The area we fished isn’t the only spot on Lake Simcoe perch can be found.
Having fished a Simcoe perch tournament the week before, finishing second, Dave noted some good fish were also caught off Snake Island.
However, a good sign of where these fish might be lurking is the number vessels might be congregated in a specific area, not to mention talking with people who have been out on the water in recent days.
With Simcoe being a rather large body of water, the odds can also work in your favour if you have the luxury of fishing from a good-sized vessel with a large outboard motor that can cover as many areas as possible.
At the same time, a vessel of this size enables you to return safely to shore if the wind picks up, which, on Lake Simcoe, can happen in a New York City second,.
If you’re looking for an alternative to rainbow trout fishing during the early spring, wetting a line for yellow perch can be just as fun.
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