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| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawn9° | Mid9° | Eve9° | Night8° | Dawn8° | Mid9° | Eve8° | Night8° | Dawn7° | Mid11° | Eve10° | Night7° | |
| ★Perch | 57 | 57 | 52 | 40 | 56 | 57 | 60 | 40 | 57 | 57 | 41 | 22 |
| ★Pike | 59 | 59 | 54 | 43 | 58 | 59 | 62 | 43 | 59 | 59 | 44 | 24 |
| ★Crappie | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | – | – | 5 | – | – |
WHERE: Southeast shoreline, wind push is stacking perch there right now. Target 15–21ft along any available drop or hard-bottom transition. Stable pressure at 1010 hPa with a falling temperature means schools are tight and holding deep on structure, not scattered. Light drizzle kills surface glare and keeps fish comfortable in the upper column, but expect the meat of the bite to stay 15ft and deeper this time of year.
WHAT: A small jigging spoon (1/4–3/8oz, gold or chartreuse) is the highest-percentage search tool for fall perch in this depth range. Once you mark fish, drop to a 2–3" paddle tail or grub on a 1/8oz round ball jig head, chartreuse or white, matched to a #1–1/0 hook. The spoon pulls the school up and fires aggression; the soft plastic closes the deal when they go finicky.
HOW: Hit the spoon hard, 3–4 sharp rips off bottom, then dead stop for 2–3 seconds. When you mark fish but stop getting hits, switch to the 1/8oz grub. Slow it down: 1 lift per second, 3-second pause, let it barely tick bottom. Perch in 15–21ft in November are chasing but not sprinting, they want the bait to fall into their face. Keep your jig within 18 inches of bottom. If the school scatters, re-jig the spoon hard to regroup them.
LIMITS: Yellow Perch season is open. Know your licence: Sports licence holders may keep up to their daily limit, check your specific licence class and local regs before you bag fish. These late-fall schools are fat and table-ready, but protect the size class, release anything under 7 inches to keep the fishery healthy.
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind push is stacking pike along that bank right now, baitfish pile up, pike follow. Work 4–12ft along dying weed edges and weed-to-hard-bottom transitions. Light drizzle cuts surface glare and keeps pike shallow and aggressive. Stable pressure at 1010 hPa means fish aren't locked down, they're hunting.
Lead with a large spoon or magnum spinnerbait. Go big: 6–8" profile, gold or firetiger in this stained, low-light drizzle. Spoons worked fast along weed edges trigger reaction strikes from pre-freeze pike that are actively gorging. Burn it back at 3–4 cranks per second, then kill it for 2 seconds at the weed edge, that pause gets eaten. If reaction bites slow, drop to a large paddle tail on a 3/8oz swimbait head, 4–5" in white or chartreuse, and slow-roll it at 1 crank per second just above the dying weeds.
Late fall means trophy fish. November pike on Cook's Bay are fat from the exceptional forage base and are packing on weight before freeze-up. Don't downsize, stay with large profiles. If you're not getting bit, move faster and cover more water. These fish will chase. Points and current seams adjacent to weed edges are secondary targets if the southeast shore goes quiet, pike position on transitions, not open mud.
Watch your footing on wet docks and shoreline access in this drizzle. Pike season is open with no size restrictions noted, so check your current Ontario Fishing Regulations for Cook's Bay slot or possession rules before you keep anything.
Black crappie are schooled tight right now, find one, find thirty. Light drizzle and stable pressure are perfect; crappie feed confidently under overcast skies. Southeast shoreline is the priority today, wind is pushing baitfish and crappie right into that bank.
Target 8–16ft along the southeast shore, specifically where docks, submerged wood, or any hard-bottom transition exist. Crappie stack vertically in fall, they're not scattered, they're layered at a specific depth. Start at 12ft and work up or down until you mark them. Stay mobile; if you don't get bit in 10 minutes, move 20 yards and repeat.
Fish a 1/16oz round ball jig head paired with a 2" paddle tail or curly grub in white, chartreuse, or pearl. Drop straight down, let it settle 3–4 seconds, then lift 6 inches and dead-drop again. Retrieve is almost vertical, crappie want a slow fall, not a swim. In stained water, go chartreuse. If visibility looks decent, white or pearl out-produces. Keep hook size in the #4–#1 range to match the small bait.
Crappie have paper-soft mouths, set the hook with a firm wrist snap, not a full arm sweep. Keep steady tension on the fight; slack line loses fish. Licence limits here are S-15 C-10 for crappie, check your licence class before you keep anything. Dawn and that first hour of overcast drizzle this morning are your highest-percentage window; don't sleep in on a day like today.
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind push is stacking baitfish and bass against that bank right now. Work 3–11ft of water tight to any remaining weedy edges, dock pilings, or hard bottom transitions. Largemouth are still mobile enough to chase but cooling fast, 9°C air means surface water is likely touching or already below 10°C. This is a finesse bite, not a power bite.
Lead with a finesse jig or small ned rig. A 3–4" ned-style bait or finesse craw on a 1/8–1/4oz finesse head in green pumpkin or natural brown is the highest-percentage play in these temps. Cast parallel to structure, let it fall on a semi-slack line, then drag it slowly, 2–3 inches every 4–5 seconds with 3–4 second pauses. Bass at this temp are ambushing, not chasing. A small jerkbait worked on a long pause (5–8 seconds) is a legitimate second option when you want to cover water between spots.
Drizzle and stable pressure at 1010 hPa is neutral-to-slight positive. Low light from the overcast helps, bass will push slightly shallower, so the 3–6ft zone inside the weed edge is worth probing first before dropping to 8–11ft. Slow everything down another 20% compared to what felt right in September. If the bite is totally dead shallow, creep the ned rig along the 10–11ft flat where bass may be hugging bottom to conserve energy.
Don't burn time on fast moving presentations today. A lipless crankbait or fast-retrieved swimbait will draw follows but few commits under 10°C. If you get a follow with no bite, that fish wants the same bait dead-stopped on bottom for 5+ seconds. Season is open but late, handle fish quickly, minimize air exposure, and get them back in the water fast in cold temps.
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawn8° | Mid9° | Eve8° | Night8° | Dawn8° | Mid9° | Eve8° | Night7° | Dawn6° | Mid11° | Eve10° | Night7° | |
| Perch | 55 | 55 | 52 | 39 | 55 | 55 | 57 | 39 | 52 | 55 | 40 | 8 |
| Pike | 52 | 51 | 49 | 39 | 52 | 52 | 55 | 39 | 52 | 53 | 40 | 13 |
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawn9° | Mid9° | Eve9° | Night8° | Dawn8° | Mid9° | Eve8° | Night8° | Dawn7° | Mid11° | Eve10° | Night7° | |
| ★Perch | 57 | 57 | 52 | 40 | 56 | 56 | 59 | 40 | 64 | 57 | 41 | 22 |
| Pike | 52 | 52 | 48 | 38 | 51 | 52 | 55 | 38 | 58 | 52 | 39 | 21 |
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind push from 12 km/h with strong fetch is stacking smallmouth against that shore right now. Work rocky points and submerged humps in the 15–22 ft zone, that's where late-fall bass are holding tight to bottom. Rising barometer with stable pressure means fish are active but deliberate. Expect them glued to rock, not chasing.
Lead with a football-head jig, 1/4 oz, paired with a 3–4" craw-style soft plastic in green pumpkin or natural brown. That pairing is dialed for 15–22 ft rock. Drag it dead-slow across rubble, 1 ft per 3–4 seconds, with 2–3 second pauses on every irregularity. Cold 9°C water kills reaction speed; a finesse approach outperforms an aggressive one this time of year. Keep hook in the 1/0–2/0 range to match the plastic.
A deep-diving crankbait is a strong second option. A wide-body, tight-wobble crankbait that reaches 15–20 ft, in a goby or perch pattern, cranked slowly through rock structure on the southeast shoreline will trigger sluggish fish that won't commit to a jig. Retrieve at half your normal speed, cold water fish can't catch a fast bait and won't bother trying. Tick the bottom and deflect off rocks; that deflection triggers strikes.
Light drizzle is a mild positive, reduced surface glare keeps fish slightly less spooky. Don't let it push you to brighter colours. Natural patterns outperform chartreuse in clear Simcoe water. The real risk today is working too fast, slow down more than feels comfortable. These are heavy, cold-water smallmouth at peak body weight. They don't need encouragement, they need time.
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind fetch has been pushing warm surface water and baitfish into that corner all morning, perch stack hard on the downwind shore this time of year. Target 15–22ft where the bottom transitions from sand to softer substrate or any hard edge you can find. That depth band is the sweet spot right now as schools consolidate ahead of freeze-up.
Light a jig and slow down after the first hop. A small jigging spoon, 1/8 to 1/4oz, gold or chartreuse, covers water fast and calls fish up from depth. Drop to bottom, snap it 6–8 inches, let it flutter 2–3 seconds, repeat. When you mark fish on the sonar or get a follow, switch to a 2–3" paddle tail or grub on a 1/8oz round ball jig head in white or perch-pattern. Work it at dead-slow with 1-second lifts and 3-second pauses right on the bottom. That's the closer.
Rising pressure and light drizzle are both working for you. A rising baro in late fall activates perch, they feed aggressively on the climb. Overcast diffused light keeps them out of the shadows and feeding through the mid-morning window, typically 9am–noon before the bite flattens. Stable to rising pressure means commit to one school, if you mark them, stay on them. Perch in fall run tight, dense schools; if you catch one, you're on a pile.
Don't burn the spot by moving constantly. Drop anchor or use a drift sock to hold position once you're on fish. If you go 10 minutes without a hit, move 20–30ft parallel to shore along the same depth contour, the school is nearby. Season is open, so check your licence type for your daily limit before you clean fish on the water.