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| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid9° | Eve9° | Night8° | Dawn8° | Mid9° | Eve8° | Night8° | Dawn7° | Mid11° | Eve10° | Night7° | |
| ★Perch | 57 | 52 | 40 | 56 | 57 | 60 | 40 | 57 | 57 | 41 | 22 |
| ★Pike | 59 | 54 | 43 | 58 | 59 | 62 | 43 | 59 | 59 | 44 | 24 |
| ★Crappie | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | – | – | 5 | – | – |
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind push is stacking perch tight to that bank right now. Target 18–24 ft, that's where fall schools are aggregating pre-freeze on Cook's Bay. Stable pressure with a slight rise is good news: perch will be active and feeding, not suspended and lock-jawed. Light drizzle kills surface glare and keeps fish comfortable in the water column.
Lead with a small jigging spoon, 1/4 oz, gold or chartreuse. Cook's Bay runs stained, so go warm and bright. Drop to bottom, rip it 12–18 inches to pull fish in from distance, then kill it. Let it flutter 3–4 seconds on the drop, that's when perch commit. Once you mark or catch one, you're on the school. Dial back aggression: switch to a 1/8 oz round ball jig head paired with a 2–3" paddle tail in chartreuse or perch pattern and slow the retrieve to a subtle lift-drop cadence at 10–15 ft off bottom.
Perch are schooled tight this time of year. When you find one, anchor or hold position and work the same depth band. Don't chase singles. If the bite dies, drop back to the spoon and rip hard 3–5 times to call the school back, then finesse again. These fish are pre-ice feeders; they're stacking calories hard right now. Mid-morning through early afternoon is typically when midday light peaks and perch move up slightly, keep checking 14–18 ft if the deeper bite goes quiet.
Limit is S-4 / C-2 per day, confirm your licence class before keeping fish. Season is open. Cook's Bay perch are excellent table fish this time of year, fresh, firm, and clean-tasting. Prioritize fish in the 8–10 inch range.
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind has been pushing baitfish into that corner all day, and pike are stacking behind them. Work the dying weed edges in 4–8ft first, then slide out to the 10–12ft outside edge where vegetation meets hard bottom. Light drizzle and a stable-to-rising barometer are ideal, pike are active, not locked down.
Your highest-percentage play is a large spoon or magnum spinnerbait in 6–9 inch profile, gold or firetiger in this stained, low-light drizzle. Burn it fast, 4 to 5 cranks per second, along the weed edge, then kill it for 2 seconds at any inside corner or point. Fall pike on Cook's Bay are pre-freeze aggressive; reaction strikes are real. If you want an alternative, a paddle tail swimmer on a 3/8oz swimbait head in a white or shad pattern at 8–12ft works well on a steady medium retrieve, 2–3 cranks per second, with the occasional pause over open pockets in the weeds.
November pike on Simcoe are the fattest of the year. This forage base produces heavy fish, so size up your presentation, nothing under 6 inches today. Points and current seams where dying cabbage meets open water are your highest-percentage ambush spots. Work structure transitions, not open water.
Pike are open and in good numbers, so handle fish quickly in this cold water and get them back. Cold-water pike revive fast but tire easily, keep them wet and limit air time to under 20 seconds.
Crappie are stacking on the southeast shoreline right now, that wind push is concentrating baitfish and the slabs are right behind them. Target 12–18ft along any submerged wood, dock pilings, or weed edge transition. Overcast drizzle is a green light for crappie, light-sensitive fish feed confidently all day in these conditions, not just at dawn and dusk.
Rig a 2" soft plastic grub or paddle tail on a 1/16–1/8oz round ball jig head in white or chartreuse. Those colours punch through the stained, low-light water. Drop to the bottom, lift 6 inches, pause 3–4 seconds, repeat. Crappie in cool water hit on the pause, keep that hang time generous. If you see suspended fish on sonar in that 12–18ft window, hold the presentation right at their eye level and barely twitch it.
Rising pressure combined with stable skies and the wind push means fish are active and grouped. Schools are tight and mobile, mark fish, stay vertical, and if the bite dies, move 20 feet and check again. Don't hammer one spot for more than 10 minutes without a hit.
Soft mouths are the number-one crappie killer today. Set the hook with a firm wrist snap, not a full arm swing, and maintain steady pressure all the way to the net. Any slack and they tear free. Use light line, 4–6lb, so the jig swims naturally at these shallow-to-mid depths.
Largemouth Bass, Cook's Bay, November 6
Water at 8.2°C puts largemouth in slow-motion. These fish are still feeding, but they won't chase, bring the bait to them. The southeast shoreline is your first stop. Wind push is stacking baitfish there right now. Work 5–12ft along any emergent weed edges, dock pilings, or remaining green vegetation. Light drizzle and a stable-to-rising baro is as good as it gets this late in the season.
Finesse is non-negotiable at this temp. Lead with a 3–4" paddle tail on a 1/8oz swimbait head in a natural shad or white colour family. Count it down to the bottom and crawl it back at roughly 1 rotation every 2 seconds, barely moving. If you have a 3–4" finesse worm or ned-style bait rigged on a 1/8oz finesse head, that's a strong alternate: drag it, pause 4–5 seconds, drag again. These fish are not going to react to speed.
Rising pressure after a weather push often triggers a short feeding window mid-morning, roughly 9–11am. Fish tight to structure, not beside it, tight to it. Largemouth this late are sitting in their winter staging spots and won't move far off their pod. If you mark a fish and it doesn't bite, wait 90 seconds and feed it the same bait slower. Cold-water largemouth need to be coaxed, not provoked.
One regulation reminder: confirm your FMZ-specific largemouth bass season dates before you go. Cook's Bay falls under Lake Simcoe special regulations and seasons can vary. Licence class matters, check your daily limit for largemouth under your specific licence type before you keep anything.
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid9° | Eve8° | Night8° | Dawn8° | Mid9° | Eve8° | Night7° | Dawn6° | Mid11° | Eve10° | Night7° | |
| Perch | 55 | 52 | 39 | 55 | 55 | 57 | 39 | 52 | 55 | 40 | 8 |
| Pike | 51 | 49 | 39 | 52 | 52 | 55 | 39 | 52 | 53 | 40 | 13 |
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Sunday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid9° | Eve9° | Night8° | Dawn8° | Mid9° | Eve8° | Night8° | Dawn7° | Mid11° | Eve10° | Night7° | |
| ★Perch | 57 | 52 | 40 | 56 | 56 | 59 | 40 | 64 | 57 | 41 | 22 |
| Pike | 52 | 48 | 38 | 51 | 52 | 55 | 38 | 58 | 52 | 39 | 21 |
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. That 9.7 km/h southeast wind is pushing baitfish and warmth into the southeast shore right now, fish are stacking there. Work the rocky points and main-basin humps adjacent to that shoreline in 15–25 ft. Smallmouth in 8°C water are belly-to-bottom, tight to structure, not chasing. The rising barometer on a stable read means the bite window is opening, get out early.
Deep-diving crankbait is the highest-percentage play. A wide-wobble crankbait that reaches 15–22 ft, in a crawfish or goby colour, cranked slowly through rock rubble at roughly one-third normal retrieve speed. Count 3 seconds on bottom contact, then grind it through. That pause is not optional, cold smallmouth need the bait in their face longer. Hit every rocky point and reef transition you can find along that southeast fetch.
Football jig is your backup and your closer. A 3/16–1/4 oz football head paired with a 3–4" craw-style soft plastic in green pumpkin or brown. Drag it. Don't hop it. Move it 6 inches every 4–5 seconds across rock rubble at 18–25 ft. These fish are lethargic, they want an easy meal crawling past their nose. If the crankbait draws follows but no commits, drop the jig right on that same spot.
Light drizzle and cloud cover are working in your favour, reduced surface glare keeps fish less spooky in that mid-depth zone. These late-fall smallmouth are at peak body weight and will fight exceptionally hard in cold water. Handle quickly and release fast, cold water fish stress more easily than summer fish even though they look fine.
Southeast shoreline is your first stop. Strong wind fetch is pushing bait and perch into that corner right now. Target 18–24 ft, classic late-fall perch staging depth on Simcoe. Look for any hard bottom, gravel, or weed edge transition. Rising pressure on a stable base is a green light; perch will be actively feeding, not suspended mid-column.
Lead with a small jigging spoon, 1/4 oz, gold or perch-pattern. Drop to bottom, lift 6–8 inches sharp, let it flutter back on a 2-second fall. That flash-and-flutter call pulls the school in fast. Once you mark fish holding tight to bottom, downsize to a 1/8 oz round ball jig head paired with a 2–3" paddle tail in white or chartreuse. Slow your cadence to a 1-inch lift, 3-second pause, that's your bite trigger. Light drizzle kills surface glare and keeps perch less spooky in the shallower end of that range.
Work the drift along that southeast bank systematically. Perch in November school dense, if you're not marking them on sonar within 10 minutes, move 50 ft and repeat. When you find the school, anchor or hold position. Keep your presentation within 2 ft of bottom; suspended perch are rarely the biters this late in fall. A small split-shot rig tipped with a maggot or waxworm fished just off bottom is an effective slower alternative when jigging isn't triggering grabs.
Daily limits: Sports licence S-50, Conservation licence C-25. Perch in the 8–11 inch range are prime table fish and abundant on Simcoe right now, this is exactly what locals target through late fall. Keep your sonar running, stay mobile until you find the school, and you'll have a box by midday.