The season started out fast with 4 exploratory trips to Bond Lake (a local pothole lake just north of the city) in early January. We managed to catch a few perch and pike there, but half the time was spent mapping the lake's depths. By mid month our focus turned north to Simcoe, and our first few trips were to one of my favorite areas: Sibbald Point. In the past the Point had been a reliable spot, but this year the schools of jumbo perch were nowhere to be found.
As the season progressed, we started fishing a new area for me, the southwest side of the lake from Barrie down to Gilford. I have to say that I'm not a big fan of hauling a perch out of 50' of water, only to have their stomach explode out their mouth, but the fish were there in numbers and size.
A few trips were made to Big Bay Point and Jacksons Point for lake trout and whitefish. Unless I get really lucky or go out with someone experienced at this type of fishing, I don't think I'll ever catch any of these deep water fish.
Interspersed amongst these local trips were a few farther afield to Belleville, on the Bay of Quinte and Gibson Lake, just south of Parry Sound.
The morning of the last day was spent searching for a location where the ice was intact along the shoreline. After an hour of checking all the right-of ways south of Barrie, we found (along with 30 other people) the only "safe" access point. The five of us loaded up just the necessities, walked an 8' plank over open water out onto the ice for the hottest perch bite of the year! Just after noon, with the temperature around 12C, the wind started to blow and it was quickly decided to git while the gittin's good. To tell the truth, that blue honeycombed ice scared the hell out of me, but the crazy thing is a week and a half after that, we saw a group a few hundred yards out from Sibbalds Point, having somehow crossed a 6 wide pressure crack.
So... until the local lakes are safe for my fat ass, I might as well start compiling the rest of the videos for this year.
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