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| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid11° | Eve9° | Night8° | Dawn5° | Mid10° | Eve9° | Night6° | Dawn8° | Mid13° | Eve11° | Night10° | |
| ★Perch | 54 | 53 | 48 | 44 | 73 | 70 | 26 | 60 | 81 | 53 | 32 |
| ★Pike | 61 | 60 | 55 | 55 | 78 | 75 | 28 | 62 | 86 | 56 | 36 |
| ★Crappie | – | – | 7 | – | 18 | 17 | – | 6 | 28 | 2 | – |
| ★Largemouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | – | – |
Fall perch on Cook's Bay right now, southeast shoreline is your primary target. Wind has been pushing bait into that corner all day. Fish are stacking. Start at 18–22ft over soft bottom transitions near any weed edge or hard-to-soft bottom change. If you mark fish tighter to 13ft, work up, but the 20ft zone is where the bigger schools are consolidating this time of year.
Rising pressure at 1023 hPa with partly cloudy skies is a good sign, perch feed aggressively when pressure rises after a front. That 32 km/h wind means drift-jigging is a legit option if you can control your boat speed with a drift sock. Work parallel to the southeast bank, covering water until you mark fish on the sounder, then anchor or spot-lock and pound them.
Use a 1/8oz round ball jig head paired with a 2–3" paddle tail or grub in white, chartreuse, or perch-pattern. Drop to bottom, lift 6–8 inches, let it flutter back, 1-second pause. That flutter is the trigger. When you're on a school, jig hard twice to call fish up, then slow to a 2-second lift with a 1.5-second pause to get bites. A small jigging spoon tipped with a wax worm or minnow head is an equally proven option in this depth range, flash attracts, the scent closes the deal. Keep spoon weight at 1/4oz max for 18–22ft.
Perch season is open and these fish are excellent table fare right now, they're fattened up for fall. One caution: that 32 km/h wind will build chop. Stay inside the bay where fetch is limited, keep your drain plugs clear, and don't push your range in a small tiller boat today.
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind has been pushing baitfish into that corner all day, pike know it. Work 4–12ft along dying weed edges and any point that juts into that wind-pushed zone. Look for the inside-to-outside weed edge transition where green meets brown and dead. That seam is where the big fish sit.
Rising barometer at 1023 hPa means pike are on the move and feeding. Fall pre-freeze aggression plus a stable, rising bar equals reaction-strike windows. Throw a large spoon, 3/4 to 1oz, silver or gold in this partly cloudy light, and burn it along the weed edge at 4–5ft. A magnum inline spinner or a 7–8" paddle tail on a 3/8–1/2oz swimbait head in white or chartreuse also fits perfectly here. Vary your retrieve: 3 fast turns, 1-second drop, repeat. Pike in Simcoe's Cooks Bay are fat and aggressive this time of year, they'll chase.
Wind at 32 km/h makes presentation harder on the open end. Stay tight to the southeast bank where the fetch is shorter and you can maintain lure depth. A 3/4oz weedless spoon punched through any remaining surface vegetation at 6–10ft is worth a few casts, big pike use that cover as ambush points even as it dies back. If the wind kills your drift, anchor on the upwind side and fan-cast the structure.
One timing note: morning and late afternoon light windows inside this partly cloudy day will concentrate the best action. Mid-day pike on this system still bite, but the flurry periods are shorter. Keep moving until you find active fish, covering water matters more than sitting on a spot in fall.
Crappie are schooled tight on the southeast shoreline right now, wind push is stacking baitfish there and the slabs follow. Target 12–18ft along any submerged weedline edge, dock structure, or timber. Rising pressure on a partly cloudy day means the fish are active but likely suspended just off bottom, not buried in cover.
Rig a 2" finesse tube or small paddle tail on a 1/8oz round ball jig head, white, pearl, or light chartreuse in this clear-to-lightly-stained fall water. Drop to the bottom, lift 6–8 inches, pause 3 seconds, repeat. That slow lift-pause cadence triggers neutral crappie in cool water far better than any aggressive retrieve. Keep the presentation vertical if you can, panfish sonar marks will show you exactly which depth the school is suspending at, and matching that layer is everything.
Crappie have paper-soft mouths. Set the hook with a firm wrist snap, not a full-arm sweep, and maintain constant pressure all the way to the net. Slack line loses fish. Use light mono or fluorocarbon, 4–6lb, and a light-action rod so you feel the subtle tap-tap bite that replaces a full thump in 15°C water.
Wind at 32 km/h is your friend today, it's concentrating fish, but it makes boat control tough. Get the bow into the wind and use your trolling motor to hold position, or anchor uptide and cast back into the pressure zone. Dawn and dusk windows will be the hottest; midday under partly cloudy skies can still produce if you stay on the school.
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind push is stacking largemouth against that bank right now. Work 4–12ft of water along any hard edge, dock pilings, weed edges, laydowns, rock transitions. Partly cloudy skies with rising pressure means fish are active but moving deliberately, not chasing hard. Close-range, precise presentations beat blind covering today.
Lead with a lipless crankbait or jerkbait to locate fish fast. A 1/2oz lipless in natural shad or gold-flash worked at 4–8ft on a stop-and-go retrieve, 3 cranks, 2-second pause, will trigger reaction strikes from fish that are feeding but not fully committed. If water temps are flirting with 10°C, slow that pause to 3–4 seconds. Jerkbait on a 2-twitch, 3-second dead-pause cadence covers the 6–12ft zone efficiently. Hit the whole southeast bank before anchoring on a spot.
Once you mark fish, drop to a 3/8oz jig tipped with a 3.5–4" chunk-style or craw-style trailer in natural green pumpkin or brown. Work it slow, 6-inch lift, let it dead-drop, 3-second sit on bottom. Rising pressure in fall often pushes fish tighter to bottom structure. Target the base of weed edges and any isolated hard-bottom patches at 8–12ft. That's where fish suspend just above bottom waiting for something easy.
Air temp at 10.7°C means water is close to the largemouth activity threshold. If the bite goes completely cold mid-session, finesse down, a 3" straight-tail worm on a 1/8oz head, dragged painfully slow along bottom. Confirm your season status and possession limits before you go, regulations in FMZ 18 are specific and worth the two-minute check.
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid11° | Eve9° | Night8° | Dawn4° | Mid10° | Eve8° | Night4° | Dawn7° | Mid14° | Eve10° | Night9° | |
| Smallmouth | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Perch | 50 | 59 | 42 | 38 | 68 | 64 | 15 | 56 | 55 | 55 | 34 |
| Pike | 51 | 61 | 45 | 44 | 67 | 64 | 19 | 55 | 54 | 53 | 33 |
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid11° | Eve9° | Night7° | Dawn5° | Mid10° | Eve9° | Night6° | Dawn8° | Mid13° | Eve11° | Night10° | |
| ★Smallmouth | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | 13 | – | – |
| ★Perch | 54 | 53 | 48 | 44 | 73 | 69 | 26 | 58 | 81 | 53 | 32 |
| Pike | 54 | 53 | 48 | 48 | 69 | 66 | 26 | 53 | 76 | 49 | 32 |
| Largemouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | – | – |
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. 32 km/h wind pushing into that shore has been stacking smallmouth all day. Fish the windward face of rocky points and submerged humps in 15–25ft. Rising pressure after a front typically slows the bite, but fall smallmouth on Lake Simcoe are already feeding hard to pack on weight, don't overthink it. Cold water plus maximum body mass means these fish fight harder than anything you'll land all season.
Lead with a football-head jig tipped with a craw-style trailer. Match a 3–4" craw trailer to a 1/4oz football head, this depth range (15–25ft) demands that weight to stay in contact with rock rubble. Drag it dead slow: 2 seconds forward, 3-second pause, let it settle back to bottom. Colour: natural brown/green or goby pattern in this clear fall water. That retrieve keeps the bait in the strike zone on every pause, fall smallmouth won't chase, they'll ambush it off the bottom.
Secondary play is a deep-diving crankbait. A wide-body crankbait that dives to 15–20ft, in a goby or crayfish colour, cranked parallel to the structure edge. Count it down to depth before the retrieve, then run it at a medium-slow cadence, roughly 1 full rotation per second. Bang it into rocks intentionally. The deflection triggers neutral fish holding tight to bottom. Cover water until you mark a school, then slow down and work that spot thoroughly with the jig.
Watch your footing and boat position in that wind. 32 km/h fetch is pushing significant wave action into the southeast shore, anchor or spot-lock well uptide and cast in, don't fight the drift with your trolling motor the whole time. Confirm your smallmouth daily limit matches your licence class before keeping fish. Check current Ontario regulations for this water before you go.
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Strong wind fetch is stacking perch against that bank right now. Target 18–24ft, the deeper edge of the wind-pushed zone where bait is concentrating. Look for hard bottom transitions: sand-to-rock, gravel edges, any subtle drop. That's where the school holds.
Rising pressure at 1023 hPa with partial cloud is a green light for an active bite. Fall perch on Simcoe are aggressive feeders this time of year, they're bulking up hard before ice-up. Schools are large and competitive. Hit them fast first, then finesse the stragglers.
Lead with a small jigging spoon in a gold or chartreuse finish, 1/4–3/8oz, worked at 20ft. Snap it up 12 inches, let it flutter 2–3 seconds, repeat. That aggressive cadence pulls the school in. Once bites slow, drop to a 1/8oz round ball jig head paired with a 2–3" paddle tail or grub in white, yellow, or perch-pattern. Deadstick it 1–2 feet off bottom with a 4-second pause between light twitches. That finesse follow-up closes the deal on pressured fish.
At 32 km/h wind you'll fight boat control hard. Anchor uptide of the structure so your presentation drifts naturally into the school, don't fight the wind, use it. Perch limits are open so check your licence class before keeping fish.