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| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Friday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid20° | Eve17° | Night15° | Dawn15° | Mid15° | Eve13° | Night11° | Dawn11° | Mid10° | Eve9° | Night8° | |
| ★Perch | 85 | 81 | 69 | 85 | 79 | 78 | 72 | 81 | 74 | 81 | 69 |
| ★Pike | 86 | 86 | 75 | 90 | 85 | 86 | 81 | 88 | 82 | 88 | 78 |
| ★Crappie | 69 | 53 | 40 | 57 | 39 | 48 | 45 | 47 | 27 | 46 | 34 |
| ★Largemouth | 24 | 20 | – | 25 | 10 | 14 | 3 | 16 | – | 10 | – |
WHERE: North shoreline of Cook's Bay is your primary target right now. That strong southwest wind push is stacking baitfish and perch against the north bank. Work 15–21ft, perch are schooling hard at that depth in late fall, staging before freeze-up. Find a soft bottom transition near weedy edges or any subtle hard-bottom flat and you're in the zone.
WHAT: Small jigging spoon (1/8–1/4oz) in gold or white is your highest-percentage play in this stained, low-light, cloudy setup. Alternatively, a 2–3" paddle tail or grub on a 1/8oz round ball jighead, white, chartreuse, or perch-pattern, covers the mid-column perfectly at 15–20ft. Keep the profile small. Perch mouths are small.
HOW: Drop to bottom, rip it up 12–18 inches hard to call the school in, then dead-drop it back. That falling barometer tells you the bite window is tightening, perch will be aggressive early but may go neutral fast. When they go finicky, switch to 2-second pauses on the drop and a slow 1–2 crank lift. The aggressive rip attracts; the slow fall closes. If you're getting follows but no commits, downsize to 1/16oz and cut retrieve speed by half.
LIMITS & WARNING: Yellow Perch is open, check your licence class for daily limits. Falling pressure plus 22 km/h wind means wave chop on Cook's Bay will be real. Stay off exposed water if you're in a small boat, hug the north shoreline structure where the wind is working for you, not against you.
Head to the north shoreline, wind-pushed baitfish are stacking there right now. The 22 km/h fetch has been piling forage against that bank all day. Work the dying weed edges in 4–12 ft, specifically where weeds transition to open bottom or hard structure. Cloudy skies and a falling barometer mean pike are actively feeding, this is a high-percentage window, not a slow grind.
Lead with a large spoon or magnum spinnerbait in a bright colour family, chartreuse, orange, or firetiger. Cloud cover and stained fall water demand visibility. Size up: 5–7 inches is the target profile. Run the spoon at a medium-fast pace, roughly 3–4 turns per second, with irregular rod twitches every 10–15 ft to trigger reaction strikes. Spinners: steady medium retrieve, blade thumping hard. These are the highest-percentage presentations for aggressive fall pike on Cook's Bay based on documented local behaviour.
A large paddle tail on a 3/8 oz swimbait head is your alternate if the reaction bite stalls. Go 5+ inches, white or perch pattern in clearer pockets, chartreuse in darker water. Swim it parallel to the weed edge at 5–8 ft depth, 2–3 turns per second, with a 2-second pause every 20–25 ft. Fall pike on Cook's Bay are pre-freeze feeding machines right now, their forage base is exceptional and fish are fat and aggressive. If you find one, there are more within 30 ft.
Watch the wind, 22 km/h with strong fetch means boat control is your biggest challenge today. Drift speed can wreck a retrieve angle fast. Use a drift sock or spot-lock to stay on the weed edge. Keep casts parallel to structure rather than perpendicular, you'll stay in the strike zone 3–4× longer per cast that way.
North shoreline of Cook's Bay right now. That 22 km/h wind has been pushing warm surface water and baitfish into the north shore all afternoon. Crappie are stacking there. Fish 10–18ft along any dock piling, submerged weedline edge, or marina structure you can find. Overcast sky is your friend, crappie are light-sensitive and this cloud cover keeps them active through the day, not just at dawn and dusk. Falling barometer means they may be feeding aggressively right now but could go tight-lipped within hours. Get out there.
Small tube bait or 2" paddle tail on a 1/8oz jig head, hook size 1/0. White, light chartreuse, or pink in that stained bay water. Drop to 12–15ft first, that's the sweet spot in the 10–18ft window where crappie suspend off structure. Use a swimbait head with the paddle tail or a tube head with the tube. These fish are schooled tight, so once you mark them vertically or find the right depth on a cast, stay exactly there.
Dead-slow retrieve or a straight vertical presentation. Drop to depth, let it sit 3–4 seconds, lift the rod tip 6 inches, pause 3 seconds, repeat. Crappie in late fall are cold-water fish now, their metabolism is dropping. Fast retrieves blow past them. If you're casting horizontally, count down to your depth and inch it back at roughly one foot per second. Set the hook soft, firm wrist snap, not a rip. These fish have tissue-paper mouths and you will tear the hook out if you muscle it.
The falling baro is the clock ticking. That pressure drop often triggers a short feeding window before crappie go negative and suspend mid-column refusing anything. Hit the north shore hard in the next 2–3 hours before the front tightens the bite. If the fish go quiet, downsize to a 1.5" tube on a 1/16oz head and slow everything down another 30%. Schools move, if you go 15 minutes without a touch, relocate 50ft along the same depth contour and find them again.
North shoreline is your first stop. That 22 km/h wind is piling baitfish against the north bank, largemouth will be stacking tight behind any windward weedline, dock, or laydown in 3–8ft. Don't waste time anywhere else until you've burned that stretch. Cloudy sky and a falling barometer are a green light, fish will be active and aggressive, not hugging bottom.
Lead with a lipless crankbait to find fish fast. A 1/2oz lipless in a shad or chrome pattern covers the 4–10ft zone on a steady medium retrieve, count it down to 5ft, rip it free if it ticks weeds, pause 2 seconds, then burn again. This is a proven fall search bait when bass are chasing shad schools. If the wind window is blowing surface debris and kills your retrieve, switch to a 4" paddle tail on a 1/4oz swimbait head in white or perch, same depth, same steady pace but just under the chop.
When you mark fish but they won't chase, slow down. A jig-and-chunk, 3/4oz football or flipping jig in green pumpkin or black-blue, dropped into the exact spot fish are holding will out-grind a moving bait in a feeding lull. Work it with 6-inch hops, 3–4 second pauses. November largemouth don't want to chase far. Put it on their nose. Target any hard-bottom transition adjacent to that north shore weedline, dock posts, rock piles, any coarse bottom change.
Check your regs before you keep anything. Cook's Bay largemouth season is open, but verify your slot size and daily limit for FMZ 17 before anything goes in the livewell. Late-season fish are heavy and in peak condition, catch-and-release is the smart play to protect that fishery heading into winter.
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Friday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid22° | Eve17° | Night16° | Dawn15° | Mid15° | Eve13° | Night11° | Dawn10° | Mid10° | Eve9° | Night8° | |
| Smallmouth | 55 | 63 | 15 | 40 | 32 | 36 | 15 | 27 | 13 | 9 | 8 |
| Perch | 82 | 85 | 66 | 84 | 80 | 80 | 69 | 78 | 76 | 78 | 66 |
| Pike | 76 | 79 | 66 | 80 | 77 | 79 | 71 | 77 | 77 | 77 | 69 |
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Friday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid20° | Eve16° | Night15° | Dawn15° | Mid15° | Eve13° | Night11° | Dawn11° | Mid10° | Eve9° | Night8° | |
| ★Smallmouth | 59 | 36 | 13 | 39 | 24 | 37 | 16 | 30 | 14 | 10 | 7 |
| ★Perch | 85 | 81 | 69 | 85 | 79 | 83 | 72 | 81 | 74 | 81 | 69 |
| Pike | 76 | 76 | 66 | 79 | 75 | 79 | 71 | 77 | 72 | 77 | 69 |
| Largemouth | 20 | 16 | – | 21 | 8 | 19 | 2 | 13 | – | 8 | – |
North shoreline is your first stop. That 22 km/h wind is pushing baitfish onto the north shore right now, smallmouth stack tight behind that pressure. Work 15–21 ft of rocky bottom along that shoreline. Falling baro in late fall means fish are hugging structure hard, not chasing. Get your presentation to the bottom and slow it down.
Football-head jig, 3/8 oz, with a 3–4" craw-style soft plastic trailer. Drag it through rock rubble, lift 6 inches, pause 3–4 seconds, drag 12 inches, repeat. Natural craw colours (green pumpkin, brown, watermelon) in Simcoe's clear water. Cloudy sky buys you a bit, a subtle chartreuse or orange accent on the claw tips can trigger neutral fish. This is the highest-percentage play for cold, bottom-hugging fall smallmouth.
Secondary option: deep-diving crankbait. A wide-body crankbait that digs to 12–18 ft, cranked slowly through rocky points and main-basin humps adjacent to that north shore wind push. Count on a medium-slow retrieve, roughly 1 turn per 2 seconds. Deflect it off rocks deliberately. Brown/craw or perch colour family. This covers water faster and can locate active pods before you slow down with the jig.
Don't get greedy with the depth. Smallmouth in early November on Simcoe can still stage as shallow as 10 ft on warming rock faces, particularly in cloudy conditions like today. If the 15–21 ft zone goes quiet, bump shallower to that 9–12 ft secondary shelf. Fish are within legal season, handle them quickly and get them back in the cold water fast. Recovery in 10°C water is slower than you think.
Head to the north shoreline, wind push is stacking perch there right now. Falling baro plus stable-ish pressure means fish are actively feeding but may tighten up fast. Work 15–21ft first, sliding deeper toward 25–28ft if marks are thin. Look for hard bottom transitions, any weed edge remnants, or subtle structure changes along that wind-blown shore.
Primary setup: a 1/8oz round ball jig head paired with a 2–3" paddle tail or grub in natural perch, goby, or white. Drop to bottom, pop it 6–8 inches hard twice to call the school in, then slow to a 1-second lift, 2-second pause cadence to close the deal. Perch in late fall are aggressive but they want the bait nearly stationary on that pause. If you're getting short strikes, switch to a 1/16oz finesse head with a 1.5–2" grub in white or chartreuse and dead-stick it at 6 inches off bottom.
Secondary option: a small flutter spoon or jigging spoon, 1/4–3/8oz, gold or silver. This cuts through 20ft fast, flashes hard on the drop, and pulls fish from a wider radius when you need to locate the school. Once you mark them, drop back to the jig-and-plastic for numbers. Tip either presentation with a small piece of worm or a live minnow if the bite softens, mid-November perch will sometimes only commit to a natural smell trigger.
Warning: 22 km/h wind makes boat control critical on open water. Use your bow-mount or a drift sock to hold over your depth. Drifting through the school kills the bite fast, anchor or spot-lock. Daily limit is S-50 C-25, perch are excellent table fare right now and this is prime harvest season, but respect the limit and release the small ones to protect future seasons.