Lake Simcoe

Small yellow perch!

Why did I go back to Simcoe? Am I a masochist? This is why!!! I had read and heard everywhere that Kempenfelt was the bee's knees for lakers. However, after my previous 2 attempts resulted in a fat nil and nearly 150$ in parking, I nearly swore off Simcoe completely. But after seeing the little guys at Lake Joe darting up to grab Ned rigs, I found my attention drawn to Simcoe again for the potential of some REAL lakers. This time I found a inconspicuous little lake shore road that seemed an easy launch, yet did not provide parking space for overcrowding boaters. After verifying in person that it was indeed available for paid parking, way cheaper this time, I excitedly threw the kayak in and took off toward my goal. A new area off of the mouth of the bay. After finding a gaggle of big perch to start the day, I scanned the depths. Many large marks suspended way down below that didn't react to anything, and baitfish littered the open waters. After spending quite some time fruitlessly trying to entice these marks, I felt my sanity slipping again, and started regaling the calm lake with my own rendition of "Take on Me" with lyrics reeking of desperation for a pisciform prize. Then it happened... As I was belting out lyrics about not catching anything and violently jigging the tube over 120ft of water, a big shape shot up from the bottom and torpedoed toward my rig. The music stopped, heart raced and reel spun faster as I kept the tube on a speeding ascent. I couldn't tell you the depth he actually hit but it happened FAST. All of a sudden my rod bent down with a fury and drag started screaming with no end in sight. The run felt endless as I wondered if the hookup would last. Looking back at the screen, the fish decided to stop at around 100ft down and used his mass to his advantage. I couldn't understand what was happening as I pulled hard on the rod without any gain on the line. I could only wait until the fish was ready. As I was studying the fish down deep on screen, I saw a mass of haze rising up. Then I remembered, lakers can burp! And you can tell the size of the fish from the bubbles. I watched them reach the surface one by one; more and more came up. As if the unmoving fish and bent over rod wasn't enough, the numerous bubbles was another clue of its size. Slowly but surely the fish tired. I pulled him up bit by bit, using the same 'reeling down' method learned from the salmon charter. After a few more runs, I had the chonker in the net. Wow! what an upgrade from the little dinkos from Lake Joe! This guy came out at 11.2lbs! Compared to last week's pike, this fight was on a whole new level. With a single beeline from 40ft down to 100ft, this guy put my zillion to work! After releasing him and catching my breath, I moved on to a dropoff nearby. Here I saw a menagerie of life cruising the waters. I couldn't tell you what most of these were but I can tell you the lakers had a buffet down there. I switched over to my beloved kastking medium rod in powder blue. With another zillion I threw down a 5/8oz jighead with an Easy shiner. This time as I was playing around with a school of bait nipping the paddletail, a big mark came in HOT from offscreen, target locked and determined to kill, it chased my shiner up, missed a hit, drifted down a few feet, turned around and shot up again, slamming into my shiner! Again the same experience; ripping line out as my reel sang, the thin rod bent over the side of the yak and a fish that refused any attempt at raising it from the deep. Very slowly I got the fish to the surface again. This fish was even longer! As I realized the line was wrapped around his body and tried to pull it free, the laker gained a second wind and shot down toward the deep again. POP, the hook came out as I watched the fish swim away on screen. Although I didn't get to net the fish, I had him on the surface for long enough that I'm going to count it. As I moved along the dropoff I realized a dark cloud was starting to drop rain nearby. I raced away toward the launch and thought I avoided the rain, only for a second cloud to sneak up and soak me lol. Near the launch, I found a handful of smallies to round out the day, and a nice double rainbow to send me off. What a difference it was from launching at Minets. Less boats zipping past and finally big lakers. I cannot wait to come back again!

First large mouth very happy

First Rock Bass