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| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eve9° | Night8° | Dawn5° | Mid10° | Eve9° | Night6° | Dawn8° | Mid13° | Eve11° | Night10° | |
| ★Perch | 51 | 48 | 44 | 72 | 69 | 26 | 60 | 81 | 53 | 33 |
| ★Pike | 58 | 55 | 55 | 78 | 75 | 29 | 62 | 86 | 56 | 36 |
| ★Crappie | – | 7 | – | 18 | 17 | – | 6 | 28 | 2 | – |
| ★Largemouth | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | – | – |
Fall perch on Cook's Bay right now, this is prime time. Locals specifically target them for the table in fall, and the schools are large and aggressive heading into winter. Hit 18–22ft on the southeast shoreline first. Wind push is stacking perch there, don't second-guess it.
Drop a small tube or grub, 2–3", on a 1/8oz round ball jig head in perch or goby pattern, natural colours in this cool, calm water. Work it with sharp 6-inch pops to attract the school, then let it sit 3–5 seconds dead-still. That pause closes the deal. Keep your rod tip low on the fall and watch for the tap, perch hit on the drop more than on the lift. Once you find the school at depth, stay tight to that 18–22ft window and work horizontally, not just vertically.
Rising pressure and overcast skies together are a good sign, stable baro means perch hold their depth zone consistently rather than suspending randomly. At 9°C water temp they're metabolically locked into a feeding rhythm. 29 km/h winds will create chop, so anchor tight or use a trolling motor to hold position on the southeast bank. Don't let the boat drift off the depth, a few feet shallower and you lose the school entirely.
Slot limit reminder: Yellow Perch season is open. Check your current Ontario licence type and daily limit before you keep fish, limits differ between Sports and Conservation licence holders. This is some of the best eating you'll get all year.
WHERE: Southeast shoreline is your primary target, wind push is stacking baitfish and pike right there. Work the dying weed edges in 4–12ft. Focus on where hard bottom or points meet the remaining green weed. That transition is where the biggest fish hold. Overcast skies kill the glare and push pike shallower, don't run deeper than 12ft today.
WHAT: Large spoon in a gold or chartreuse/gold pattern, 3/4–1oz. Alternatively, a magnum spinnerbait (1–1.5oz, double Colorado blade, white or chartreuse skirt) covers water fast in the stained shallows. A 6–8" paddle tail on a 3/8–1/2oz swimbait head in perch or white is a strong secondary option, pike are keyed on big forage going into winter and that fat pre-freeze feeding drive is real right now.
HOW: Fast retrieve is the play. Spoon: cast parallel to the weed edge, rip it back at 4–5 cranks per second with a hard pause every 8–10ft. Spinnerbait: burn it just above the weeds, blades thumping. Paddle tail: steady medium-fast, 3 cranks per second, tick the weed tops. Rising pressure with stable baro trend means pike are active and willing to commit, don't slow down and don't finesse them today.
WARNING: 29.5 km/h wind on the southeast shore creates a direct chop. Run a boat with enough freeboard for that fetch and keep a float plan with someone onshore. Pike teeth will cut through light mono, use a minimum 30lb wire or 80lb fluorocarbon leader, at least 12 inches. A 36-inch fish inhaling a big spoon without a leader is a lost fish and a lost lure.
Black Crappie, Cook's Bay Right Now
Rising pressure and overcast skies are your best friend today. Crappie are actively feeding, overcast kills their light-sensitivity advantage and keeps them aggressive longer than a bluebird day. Wind is pushing bait toward the southeast shoreline. That's where you start. Target 11–19ft of water near submerged brush, dock pilings, or any vertical structure off that wind-loaded shore. Schools are tight, so mark them on sonar before you drop.
Drop a 1/16–1/8oz finesse jig head paired with a 2–3" tube or grub in white, chartreuse, or a light pink-pearl colour. Chartreuse edges or a white pearl body will show well in fall's slightly stained water. Let it sink on a semi-slack line, crappie hit on the fall constantly this time of year. If nothing on the drop, work it with 2-inch lifts and 2-second pauses at 12–18ft. Dead slow retrieve. These fish are cold-water sluggish at 9°C, if you're moving fast, you're moving wrong.
Crappie have paper-soft mouths. When you feel a tap, resist the snap-set, a firm wrist lift is enough. Steady pressure all the way to hand. Schools are mobile in fall, so if you mark fish and the bite dies in 10 minutes, don't grind that spot. Move 20ft laterally along the same depth contour and re-mark. Keep your sonar running constantly.
Watch the wind at 29.5 km/h, wave action can make boat control difficult in the shallows. Anchor or use a trolling motor on low to stay precise. Don't let drift speed kill your vertical presentation.
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind at 29.5 km/h has been pushing bait onto that bank all day, largemouth are stacked there chasing shad. Work 4–8 ft first, then step out to 12 ft if the shallows are slow. Overcast sky keeps fish active longer through the day, so don't sleep on this.
Cover water fast with a lipless crankbait first. At 9.3°C you're right on the edge of the slow-down threshold, fish are still chasing but the window is tightening. A ¾ oz lipless crankbait in shad, silver, or natural baitfish colour burned at a medium-fast retrieve through 6–10 ft is your highest-percentage search bait right now. Deflect it off any submerged weededge or hard bottom transition you find, that's where the strike happens. A jerkbait worked on a 2-second pause is a strong second option on the same water.
Once you mark fish, slow way down. Drop to a 3–4" paddle tail on a 3/16–1/4 oz swimbait head in white or shad pattern. Swim it slow and low, 1 ft off bottom at 4–6 ft depth, with almost no rod action. At these temps largemouth won't chase hard for long. A jig with a 3–4" chunk trailer in green pumpkin or black/blue is equally effective on any wood, dock piling, or rock edge you find along that southeast bank.
Rising barometer and overcast is a fishable combo, but temps are the warning. If air drops another degree or two, largemouth metabolism shuts down, finesse presentations only at that point. Check your local FMZ regulations before keeping anything; slot limits and season windows on Simcoe can be specific.
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eve9° | Night8° | Dawn4° | Mid10° | Eve8° | Night4° | Dawn7° | Mid14° | Eve10° | Night9° | |
| Smallmouth | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Perch | 46 | 34 | 37 | 67 | 64 | 16 | 57 | 56 | 55 | 35 |
| Pike | 48 | 38 | 43 | 67 | 63 | 19 | 55 | 54 | 53 | 33 |
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eve9° | Night7° | Dawn5° | Mid10° | Eve9° | Night6° | Dawn8° | Mid13° | Eve11° | Night10° | |
| ★Smallmouth | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| ★Perch | 51 | 47 | 43 | 72 | 69 | 26 | 58 | 57 | 53 | 33 |
| Pike | 50 | 48 | 48 | 69 | 66 | 26 | 54 | 53 | 49 | 32 |
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind-pushed water is stacking baitfish and smallmouth against that bank right now, 29.5 km/h fetch doesn't lie. Target the rocky points and submerged structure along that wind-beaten shore in 13–25ft. Rising barometer after a low typically triggers a short feeding window, so be on the water and fishing hard within the next few hours before the bite settles.
Deep-diving crankbaits are the highest-percentage play. A wide-bill crankbait that digs 15–20ft, in a natural goby or crawfish colour, cranked tight to bottom rock at a steady medium retrieve, roughly 2–3 turns per second, is the proven fall approach here. Pause it 2–3 seconds when you feel it deflect off rock. That deflection triggers reactionary strikes from cold, bottom-hugging fish.
Second option: a football-head jig, 1/4–3/8oz, paired with a 3–4" craw-style soft plastic in brown, green-pumpkin, or natural rock colour. Drag it slow, painfully slow, across rock rubble at 18–25ft. One foot of movement every 3–4 seconds. Cold water means cold metabolism; don't rush it. The football head keeps the craw upright and wiggling on rock, which is exactly what a smallmouth sitting on bottom wants to see.
Overcast sky removes shadow and triggers smallmouth to roam slightly wider across structure rather than pinning tight to shade. Use that to your advantage, cover more water with the crankbait first, then slow down with the jig once you find the school. Limit is Sports-4, Conservation-2. Handle fish quickly in this cold water, they recover fast but deserve the respect.
Southeast shoreline is your primary target right now. That 29.5 km/h southwest wind is stacking bait and perch tight to the southeast bank. Start in 18–22ft and work out to 24ft if the bite stalls. Rising pressure at 1025 hPa means perch are actively feeding, this is not a subtle, slow-down day. They're schooled, they're aggressive, and fall is prime table-fishing season on Simcoe.
Lead with a small jigging spoon in gold or chartreuse, 1/4–3/8oz. Drop to bottom, rip it 18 inches, let it flutter back on a 2-second pause. That flash and flutter mimics dying baitfish and calls fish from distance in these overcast, low-light conditions. Once you mark the school on sonar or feel the first tap, switch immediately to a 2–3" tube or grub in white or perch-pattern on a 1/8oz round ball jig head, hook size #1 to 1/0. Deadstick it just off bottom, 6 inches max. The spoon finds them, the finesse plastic closes the deal. Work both rods if regs allow.
Wind chop at 29.5 km/h will make boat control your biggest challenge. Anchor or use a bow-mount to stay precisely over structure, even 5ft of drift puts you off the school. Overcast skies compress the light window, so perch will stay active longer through the afternoon than on a bluebird day. Keep your sonar screen up; fall Simcoe perch suspend 2–4ft off bottom in tight balls. Match your jig depth to the mark, not just the bottom.
Season is open, so check your licence class before you keep fish. Perch season is active and these fall schools are what locals target most, it's prime time. If you're marking fish but not converting, drop jig weight to 1/16oz and slow your pause to 4–5 seconds. Cold water and stable high pressure together mean perch want the bait practically sitting still once they're under it.