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| Species | Tuesday | Today | Tomorrow | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Night14° | Dawn13° | Mid18° | Eve16° | Night15° | Dawn14° | Mid15° | Eve14° | Night13° | |
| ★Perch | 77 | 88 | 88 | 85 | 80 | 88 | 84 | 87 | 80 |
| ★Pike | 78 | 90 | 90 | 86 | 81 | 90 | 85 | 88 | 81 |
| ★Crappie | 68 | 77 | 75 | 72 | 72 | 78 | 65 | 75 | 72 |
| ★Largemouth | 12 | 35 | 38 | 29 | 17 | 33 | 20 | 28 | 14 |
North shoreline is the move right now. Strong wind fetch is stacking perch against that bank, they're not scattered, they're concentrated. Target 13–20ft over hard bottom, gravel, or any remaining weed edge. If you're not marking fish in that zone within 20 minutes, slide out to 23ft and find the mud-hard transition.
Small jig head tipped with a soft plastic is the top producer. Go 1/8oz round ball head with a 2–3" paddle tail or grub in a natural perch, goby, or white colour family, clear water standard. Drop to bottom, lift 6–8 inches sharp, let it fall on a semi-slack line. That flutter on the drop is what triggers the bite. Once you mark a school, slow the cadence down: 1–2 second pause between hops closes the deal. If the bite stalls, downsize to a 1/16oz with a 1.5–2" grub in chartreuse or white, perch will tell you which they want.
Stable pressure at 1016 hPa is a green light. No front incoming, partly cloudy skies, perch will feed actively through midday and again at dusk. These fish are aggressively building fat reserves heading into freeze-up. November is when locals hammer them hardest for the table, and for good reason. Keep your best 4 per Sports licence, 2 per Conservation licence, season is open.
Watch the wind. 13 km/h is fishable but it's pushing hard into that north shore. Use enough weight to stay vertical, drifting baits away from bottom is the fastest way to miss bites. If wind picks up and you're struggling to hold position, anchor or use a drift sock. Don't let a sloppy presentation cost you fish when the school is right under the boat.
North shoreline is your first stop. Strong wind fetch is pushing baitfish against that bank right now, pike are stacked and feeding. Work the dying weed edges in 4–8ft, targeting any inside-to-outside edge transition you can find. Points adjacent to those edges are holding the biggest fish.
Large spoons and big spinners are the highest-percentage play. Go 1–1.5oz, in white, chartreuse, or firetiger given the stained Simcoe water this time of year. Burn them fast, fast enough to trigger a reaction strike, not a follow. Retrieve speed should feel aggressive, 3–4 cranks per second near the surface over weed tops. If you're getting follows without commitment, switch to a large swimbait (6–8", paddle tail or boot tail) on a 1/2oz+ swimbait head and slow it to a steady pull at 1 crank per second, pausing 2–3 seconds at every weed edge transition.
Stable pressure at 1016 hPa means the pike aren't lock-jawed, they're in a neutral-to-active state, which on Cook's Bay in early November means they're feeding hard. Water cooling toward freeze-up has these fish in pre-ice gorge mode. The forage base in Cook's Bay is exceptional, so match big baitfish profiles. Don't fish small. A 6-inch profile is a minimum today; go 8–10 inches if you're hunting a true trophy fish.
Watch your prop wash for weeds fouling your hooks constantly this time of year, dying vegetation breaks off and drifts. Use heavy braid, 50–65lb minimum, with a 12–18 inch fluorocarbon or steel bite tippet. Single-hook spoons and inline spinners with a quality snap will save you ten minutes per fish.
North shoreline is your first stop. Wind push from the south is stacking baitfish, and crappie behind them, against the north bank. Target 8–14ft of water along any dock pilings, submerged brush, or weed edge you can find. Partly cloudy skies and stable pressure at 1016 hPa mean fish will be active but not aggressive, they'll be suspended 2–4ft off bottom, not hugging the mud.
Tiny jig head tipped with a 2" soft plastic is the highest-percentage play. Use a 1/16–1/8oz round ball head in white or chartreuse, stained late-fall water calls for visibility. Work it on a slow lift-pause retrieve: lift 6 inches, pause 3–4 seconds, let it flutter down. That dying fall is the trigger. Crappie in cooling water are lethargic, slow down more than feels right.
Presentation depth matters more than anything else right now. At 13.6°C water, crappie are compressing their feeding windows and holding tight to structure. If you're not marking fish, adjust your depth in 2ft increments until you find the suspended layer. A small float rig set at 10ft is an underrated option when vertical jigging isn't finding them, it keeps your bait locked in the strike zone.
Soft mouths, steady pressure, no sharp hooksets. A wrist-roll hookset is enough. Keep your line tight on the fall, that's when most strikes come. Dawn and dusk windows will outperform midday even under partly cloudy skies, be on the water at first light.
Largemouth Bass, Cook's Bay, November 4
North shoreline is your primary target right now. That strong wind fetch is pushing bait against the north shore, and largemouth will be stacked shallow, 2 to 8 feet, right beneath it. Focus on submerged vegetation edges, dock pilings, and any hard-bottom transition you can find along that windward bank. Stable pressure at 1016 hPa means fish aren't moving far, but they're not buried either, they're feeding opportunistically.
Water temp at this time of year in Cook's Bay is pushing toward that critical 10°C threshold. Lead with a lipless crankbait in a shad or perch colour, gold, silver, or natural olive, and burn it fast along the 6-to-10-foot weed edge to locate active fish first. If you get short strikes or follows, slow down immediately.
Once you mark fish or find a productive spot, downsize to a finesse jig, 3/16 to 1/4oz, tipped with a 3-inch craw or creature bait in green pumpkin or natural brown. Work it dead-slow: 3-second pause between hops, let it sit on bottom longer than feels comfortable. Cold water largemouth want the bait right in their face with zero effort required to eat it.
Expect a compressed feeding window, likely a 90-minute burst around low-light at dawn or dusk. If the bite stalls completely, go even lighter: 1/8oz ned-style head with a 2.5-inch stick bait, nearly stationary, dragged millimetres at a time. That's the last gear before this season closes out on Cook's Bay largemouth.
| Species | Tuesday | Today | Tomorrow | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Night14° | Dawn14° | Mid19° | Eve16° | Night16° | Dawn14° | Mid15° | Eve14° | Night13° | |
| Smallmouth | 47 | 63 | 63 | 55 | 49 | 63 | 57 | 63 | 49 |
| Perch | 74 | 85 | 85 | 82 | 77 | 85 | 84 | 85 | 77 |
| Pike | 69 | 79 | 79 | 76 | 71 | 79 | 77 | 79 | 71 |
| Species | Tuesday | Today | Tomorrow | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Night13° | Dawn13° | Mid18° | Eve16° | Night15° | Dawn14° | Mid15° | Eve14° | Night13° | |
| ★Smallmouth | 50 | 67 | 67 | 60 | 52 | 67 | 54 | 67 | 52 |
| ★Perch | 77 | 88 | 88 | 85 | 80 | 88 | 84 | 88 | 80 |
| Pike | 69 | 79 | 79 | 76 | 71 | 79 | 75 | 79 | 71 |
| Largemouth | 10 | 29 | 31 | 24 | 14 | 27 | 16 | 28 | 11 |
North shoreline of Strawberry Island is your first stop. Wind out of the south is stacking baitfish and bass against that north shore. Target the rocky points and reef edges in 15–20ft, that's where fall smallmouth park tight to bottom as water temps cool. Stable pressure at 1016 hPa means fish are holding their depth, not scattered. Don't waste time shallow tonight.
Football-head jig, 1/4oz, with a 3–4" craw-style soft plastic trailer in green pumpkin or brown. Drag it painfully slow through rock rubble, we're talking 2 inches of movement, 3-second pause, repeat. Cold water smallmouth don't chase. Bring it to them. Natural green/brown tones for the clear Simcoe water. Match your jig head to 20ft depth, 1/4oz gets you there without killing bottom feel.
Secondary play: a deep-diving crankbait cranked down to 15–18ft along the rocky reef edges. A wide-bodied, tight-wobble crankbait in a goby or perch pattern, something that gets to depth on a medium-speed retrieve. Deflect it off rocks intentionally. That deflection triggers neutral fall bass harder than anything else in your arsenal this time of year. 5–6 cranks down, let it tick the bottom, then burn it three feet and kill it.
Warning: late fall smallmouth are on a feed window that closes fast. Bite windows will be short, first light and dusk are your highest-percentage windows even in November. If the bite dies mid-session, slow down even further before moving. These fish are there. They're just cold and require the bait in their face.
North shoreline is your first stop. Wind out of the south is pushing warm surface layer water north, stacking baitfish and perch against that bank. Fish 13–20ft first, then slide deeper to 20–23ft if marks are thin. Stable pressure at 1016 hPa means the school won't be scattered, find them once and they'll stay put.
Drop a small jigging spoon or a 2–3" paddle tail on a 1/8oz round ball head. Natural perch, goby, or white are the go-to colours in Simcoe's clear water. Work it aggressive, 6–8 hard pops to call the school up, then dead-stop it for 2–3 seconds. Perch hit on the pause. If spoons are drawing follows but no commits, drop to a 2" tube on a 1/16oz tube head in goby or smoke colour and slow everything right down.
Fall perch on Simcoe school tight and feed hard before ice-up. This is the best eating fish in the lake and locals know it, expect company on productive structure. Once you mark a school, stay on it. Vertical presentation is the highest-percentage play at this depth; keep your offering inside 2ft of bottom. If the bite stalls mid-morning, hop to 23–25ft, late-fall schools push deeper through the day as light increases.
Partly cloudy skies help today, perch feed more confidently under broken light than full sun on clear water. Moderate wind chop on the north shore will also break up surface glare and keep the school active through midday. Watch for small rock and hard bottom transitions, perch stack on the edge where soft meets hard, not randomly across the flat.