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| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Friday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid18° | Eve16° | Night15° | Dawn14° | Mid15° | Eve13° | Night12° | Dawn11° | Mid12° | Eve11° | Night10° | |
| ★Perch | 85 | 85 | 74 | 85 | 87 | 85 | 74 | 76 | 84 | 81 | 69 |
| ★Pike | 86 | 86 | 75 | 90 | 88 | 90 | 81 | 84 | 89 | 88 | 78 |
| ★Crappie | 69 | 72 | 65 | 59 | 66 | 59 | 50 | 48 | 49 | 51 | 39 |
| ★Largemouth | 26 | 23 | 3 | 29 | 24 | 28 | 8 | 11 | 20 | 21 | 1 |
North shoreline is your first stop. That 19.8 km/h wind is pushing baitfish into the north shore right now. Perch stack behind that wind push, find the transition from 15 to 22 feet along any hard bottom or weed edge. Set up with current pushing into you, not over your shoulder.
Work a 1/8 oz round ball jighead tipped with a 2–3" white or chartreuse grub. Stained Cook's Bay water in November calls for high-visibility colour, chartreuse or white first, switch to orange if marks are there but bites are soft. Drop to bottom, snap up 6 inches, let it fall on a semi-slack line. Perch bite on the drop. Count 2–3 seconds before the next snap. If the school is there but cold, switch to a 1/16 oz finesse head with a 2" ned-style bait and barely twitch it at 18–20 feet.
Stable pressure at 1013 hPa with cloud cover is a green light. No pressure swings means no lockjaw. Overcast keeps perch off the bottom less than 2 feet, expect them suspended 2–4 feet off the floor at 18–22 feet. Mark them on sonar, drop to their level, and jig hard twice to pull the school in, then slow to that 2-second-pause retrieve to convert. These fall fish are aggressive and grouped large, once you're on them, you stay on them.
Watch the wind. At 19.8 km/h with strong fetch, chop will be real and position control matters. Anchor or use spot-lock to hold that depth contour. Perch season is open, check your licence type for your daily limit before you keep fish.
North shore is your first stop. 19.8 km/h wind pushing baitfish and pike into that shoreline right now. Work the dying weed edges and weed-to-rock transitions in 4–12ft. Cloudy sky kills the light penetration, pike will be shallower and more aggressive than on a bluebird day. Stable pressure at 1013 hPa means the fish aren't lock-jawed; they're in pre-freeze feed mode and looking for a meal.
Throw big and fast. Large spoons (3–4 inches, 1–1.5oz) in white/silver or chartreuse/gold are the highest-percentage play under overcast skies, erratic rip-and-fall through 6–10ft of dying weeds. A magnum spinnerbait (1–1.5oz, single Colorado or tandem willow, white or firetiger) worked at a medium-fast burn just above the weed tips produces reaction strikes from aggressive fish. This is not a finesse day. Big profile, fast movement, loud vibration, that's the formula.
If fast presentations get ignored, slow down with a large paddle tail swimbait (5–6 inches) on a 3/8–1/2oz swimbait head, natural perch or white. Slow roll it at 2–3 feet off bottom through the same weed edges, 6–10ft depth. Pause 2–3 seconds over open pockets in the weeds. Cooks Bay pike have gorged all fall on a deep forage base, the big girls are fat, slow-moving, and an easy target on a methodical slow roll right now.
Watch your footing on wet rocks along that north bank. Retrieve with the wind at your back for distance and control. When the weed edge gets sparse and transitions to hard bottom or rock, slow down, that transition zone is where the biggest fish stage this time of year.
Black crappie are schooling tight on the north shoreline right now. Wind push from the south is stacking baitfish against that bank, crappie follow the food. Work 11–20ft of water along any available structure: docks, submerged timber, weed edges, marina pilings. Cloudy skies are your friend today, crappie are light-sensitive and that overcast keeps them shallower and more active than on a bright day.
Primary setup: a 1/16–1/8oz round ball jig head paired with a 2–3" tube or paddle tail in white, chartreuse, or pearl. Stable pressure at 1013 hPa means fish are holding a consistent depth band, find the school once and stay there. Drop to bottom, lift 6 inches, pause 3 seconds, repeat. That slow lift-pause is the trigger. If nothing in 5 drops, move laterally, crappie schools are compact, sometimes only 10 feet wide.
Speed is slow. Aggressive retrieves kill crappie bites in cold water. Water is cooling toward freeze-up, which means metabolism is dropping. Keep the jig barely twitching on the pause. A tiny 1.5–2" grub on a 1/16oz head in natural white or chartreuse-and-white is a proven cold-water producer here. Stained Cook's Bay water pushes toward the chartreuse side of that choice.
Soft mouths mean soft hooksets. When you feel the take, often just a slight heaviness or tick, sweep the rod gently, not a hard rip. Keep steady pressure all the way to the net. Losing fish at the boat is the most common crappie mistake. If the bite goes quiet, don't grind the same spot, crappie schools move, so grid the north bank 20 feet at a time until you relocate them.
North shoreline is your first stop. Strong wind push is stacking baitfish against that bank right now, largemouth will be pinned tight to whatever structure breaks the current: weed edges, dock pilings, laydowns, any hard bottom transition you can find in 4–12ft. Don't burn time anywhere else until you've worked this stretch thoroughly.
Lead with a lipless crankbait to find fish fast. A 1/2oz lipless in a shad or chrome pattern covers the water column quickly in this cloudy, stained-light condition. Work it on a steady retrieve with sharp rips every 3–4 cranks, letting it drop 1–2 seconds on the pause, that fall triggers followers. Fan-cast parallel to the weed edge, keeping it in the 6–10ft zone. If you're marking fish but not converting, slow the retrieve to roughly one rotation per second.
When you mark a school, drop to a 3/4oz jig head paired with a 4" chunk or craw-style plastic in green pumpkin or black-blue. Pitch it tight to cover, let it dead-drop to bottom, and barely move it, 2-second lifts, 4-second pauses. Water temps this late in November are likely at or near 10°C; largemouth metabolism is sluggish, and they want an easy meal sitting in front of their face, not a bait they have to chase.
Warning: Cloudy skies and stable pressure at 1013 hPa with no trend is a neutral-to-positive bite window, don't overthink it. The bigger threat today is wind affecting boat control in 4ft of water. Keep your drift in check; a dragging anchor or electric motor surge will blow through a school fast. Largemouth season is confirmed open, check your FMZ-specific limits before you keep anything.
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Friday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid21° | Eve17° | Night16° | Dawn15° | Mid15° | Eve13° | Night12° | Dawn11° | Mid12° | Eve10° | Night10° | |
| Smallmouth | 63 | 58 | 40 | 63 | 57 | 42 | 23 | 31 | 32 | 27 | 9 |
| Perch | 85 | 84 | 71 | 85 | 84 | 82 | 71 | 80 | 80 | 78 | 66 |
| Pike | 79 | 77 | 66 | 79 | 77 | 79 | 71 | 77 | 77 | 76 | 69 |
| Species | Today | Tomorrow | Friday | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid18° | Eve16° | Night15° | Dawn14° | Mid15° | Eve13° | Night12° | Dawn11° | Mid12° | Eve11° | Night9° | |
| ★Smallmouth | 59 | 59 | 43 | 44 | 39 | 44 | 23 | 25 | 34 | 34 | 10 |
| ★Perch | 85 | 85 | 74 | 85 | 83 | 85 | 74 | 76 | 84 | 81 | 69 |
| Pike | 76 | 76 | 66 | 79 | 77 | 79 | 71 | 74 | 78 | 77 | 69 |
| Largemouth | 21 | 19 | 2 | 24 | 19 | 24 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 16 | – |
North shoreline is your first stop. That 19.8 km/h wind is pushing baitfish and warmer surface layers into the north shore. Fish are stacking there right now. Target rocky points, humps, and reef edges in 15–23 feet. Stable pressure at 1013 hPa means fish aren't spooked, they're feeding, just slow and tight to bottom. Cloudy sky kills the light penetration advantage, so you can work mid-column without spooking them.
Deep-diving crankbait is the highest-percentage play. A wide-wobble crankbait that reaches 12–20 feet, something in the 2.5–3" range, natural shad or goby colour in this clear water, cranked through rocky rubble at a medium-slow retrieve (count to 3, grind it into the bottom, pause 2 seconds). That deflection off rocks triggers neutral fall fish hard. Goby and perch colour families are the right call in Simcoe's clear water this time of year.
When the crank bite slows, go to a football jig. A 3/8oz football-style jig head paired with a 4" craw or creature trailer in natural green pumpkin or brown. Drag it dead-slow across rock rubble, 1 foot every 4–5 seconds, with a 3-second dead pause after every drag. These fish are cold, metabolically slow, and sitting on bottom. Make it effortless for them to eat it. Keep contact with the bottom at all times.
One thing to watch: November smallmouth on Simcoe are at peak body weight and hit hard in cold water, but bites are subtle, a slight line tick or rod load is often all you get. Set hard and fast. Fishing pressure on the north shore will concentrate with the wind, so if that area gets crowded, pivot to any rocky point or hump on the east or west sides of the island in the same 15–23 foot depth band. The structure, not the specific spot, is what matters.
North shoreline is your first stop. Wind out of the south is pushing warm surface water and baitfish to the north bank, perch are stacking there right now. Fish 15–22ft, tight to any hard bottom transition you can find. Stable pressure and cooling water mean schools are condensed and aggressive. This is the best perch window of the year.
Lead with a small jigging spoon or blade bait, 1/4oz, gold or chartreuse. Drop to bottom, lift 6–8 inches sharp, let it flutter back down on semi-slack line. That flash and fall calls the school in from distance. Once you mark fish on your sonar or get a few hits, slow way down, switch to a 3–4" grub or small paddle tail on a 1/8oz round ball jig head, perch or white colour. Deadstick it at 2 inches off bottom for 3–5 seconds between micro-hops. That's your close-the-deal move.
If the jigging spoon draws lookers but no takers, drop straight to a 2" tube bait on a 1/16–1/8oz tube jig head, natural perch or smoke colour. Barely twitch it, 1-inch lifts, 4-second pauses. Fall perch in 15–20ft on Simcoe are aggressive but can get finicky mid-morning, smaller profile often tips the balance. Target your drop right on structure transitions, not open flat bottom.
Watch the cloud break. Overcast right now is keeping perch shallower and more active, if the sky clears and sun hits the water, expect the school to push deeper toward 22–25ft and tighten up. Chase them down rather than waiting them out. Limits are open on a Sports licence, so this is a harvest trip if you want it. These fish are in prime condition right now, fat, firm, and excellent on the table.