Figuring Out Lake Simcoe Whitefish

Lake Simcoe. You either love her or hate her - there's no in between. It's a deep clear water lake with monster whitefish who feed on herring and Gobies to get so big.
I'm not going to make a big long video here. I've honestly been having a hard time. While everyone else is telling me how the bite is so hot - I'm just marking fish and watching them pass me by.
Finally, I decided something had to change. I had been ignoring my - quote "rules" that I try and follow when fishing... and that's what needed to change. Let me explain.
what I HAD been doing was getting up early to put a full day on the lake. I gave myself a 1 hour rule. If the fish weren't biting in that hour, I'd move. And boy did I make moves! I moved around and tried different baits, bouncing bottom all over the lake. I'm surprised there's ice left with all the holes I drilled.
Rule 1. Never leave fish to find fish.
We moved around too much. There were fish in the spots that we were at and we had not exhausted our options for these fish before moving. Today, I am setting up the hut and not moving from this spot.
Rule 2. Fish the entire water column.
Don't limit yourself to one single presentation. The other times, we had only bounced bottom. We had locked ourselfs in a closed minded scenario that these fish are ONLY eating gobies and those gobies are on bottom so that's where we should be. This time - I'm going to work the entire column.
Rule 3. Fish can sense any change in their environment.
This rule was actually stolen from Gord Pyzer from a recent seminar he gave at the Winter Ice Expo. Instead of hooting and hollering with baits -smashing them on bottom, ripping blades - I decided to go a bit more subtle and stick with soft plastics.
Learning to fish, one cast in the trees at a time.
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Orillia Fishing is a documented journey of how Jason DeValadares, with some help from friends, makes his way from a know nothing fisherman to an experienced angler. Orillia Fishing will travel to different lakes and fish different species while showing you what's working that day. Orillia Fishing is a community of like minded people, please join the conversation on every video!

[@averageontarioanglers]

Awesome white fish man!

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks!!! I had to work way too hard to get her LOL

[@justinklassen122]

Another good vid! 👊🏻

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks man!

[@willmartin4477]

great stuff thanks

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks for watching!

[@ActuallyAndrewFishing]

Just fished the lake today - no whitefish but got a few jumbos and a hering. Great video with some awesome tips... left you a big thumbs up, and decided to subscribe too. 👍

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks man! Glad to hear ya got on fish too!! 🤜💥🤛

[@KZtheFisherOutdoors]

Awesome video buddy!!!👍Nice catch 😉👊🎣🎣🎣

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks man! She was a fighter!

[@Paddleheads]

Right on! Nice catch, and great video.

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks man!!

[@tubbyguyoutdoors]

Beauty Whitefish bud ! Great rules thanks for sharing

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks for watching!!

[@NellysfishingAdventures]

Good way to break it down, you worked hard for that one, congrats !

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks man, I sure did! 🤣 it hasn't gotten any easier though, these February blues are rough!

[@MatthewMazFishing]

Really liked this video man. Awesome job! Great to see you figuring them out.

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks man! Here's hoping I get out some more soon! You smashing em?

[@MatthewMazFishing]

Orillia Fishing i was out mon-fri this week, probably got 25 or so whitefish, 4 burbot, no laker🙄😂

[@OrilliaFishing]

That's a hell of a week!!! I gotta get a sled!!! Lol did ya find you were on fish more after being more mobile?

[@Rattletrap2]

Very nice! That is one more than I have caught this year! Lol

[@OrilliaFishing]

Dude, it's been a grind for me too. Keep getting at em, you'll get one. Try that dead stick idea off bottom. Let me know if it works for ya!

[@jam1324]

Finally! Asked you on the 39 hours stream and it didnt take you long for the next vid, just gotta GO HARD ALL WINTER ! I am at 0 and all I see is people catching em too! Rule number 7 when all else fails minners are whats for white fish dinners.

[@OrilliaFishing]

Hey nothing wrong with minners! My buddy Ed caught the biggest whitefish I've ever seen on a tip down with em at Bear Point. I'm so happy to have captured that on video for him.

[@Joey.T]

good job bud, they can be tricky sometimes!! keep on grinding, it happens to the best of us man!! Tightlines

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks man! Hope you're out smackin em today! 🤜💥🤛

[@Joey.T]

Orillia Fishing no problem bud!! And unfortunately I won’t be out this weekend, feeling under the weather but next week I will be 🤙

[@OrilliaFishing]

Ah man, feel better man. Hope I meet ya out there one day. Tight lines!

[@Joey.T]

Orillia Fishing thank you 🙏🤒Ya man I’m sure we will run into each other one day😎👊

[@sooleyoutdoors2728]

good job. you have really improved over the last year. what i have seen and heard the Lakers are down and the Whites are up.

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks man! I see an awful lot Akers online this year vs last at least. Hopefully they're on the up rise for us for next year!

[@laughingloonfishing4838]

Amazing video. I was clued for every second. I even saw myself with that long a$$ smitty sled rope. Lol. Congrats on figuring them out and during the FEB BLAHS to boot. Now tell me when we can find some lakers together ;)

[@OrilliaFishing]

I'm so down man. That one fish has be scratching my head on this lake!!

[@chester717171]

Good vid thanks. Looks like you were in K bay. I've fished there in the summer but don't know of anywhere to park and walk out on ice. Any chance you could help out would be appreciated. Thanks.

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thanks for watching! KBay can be walked off there at the launch too!

[@gr8tfishgr8tfish99]

Nice video, good rules to go by. Never caught a whitefish. What type of structure, cover and depth do you find them on?

[@OrilliaFishing]

Thx man. Honestly I've marked em on all kinds of stuff. Rocky shoals are kinda the go to around here. This one was caught on a rocky point with a super quick drop off. The other fish from last year came from the same type of structure. I tend to look for those features running from super shallow to deep (25-40ft).

[@BassGeek]

Hey man sometimes it happens. We do everything we shouldn't.

[@OrilliaFishing]

Fishing memories or what we HOPE they want I guess. I was worried I was gonna skunk all winter!! Lol

[@PathToEntrepreneurship]

2 questions for you since I’m 4 days skunked now. What oz weight is the jig and where do you get that soft plastic?

[@OrilliaFishing]

Stay with it, its February and the fish get funky this time of year. The jig is an 1/8th oz. Berkley half-head I carry on the link in the video description. The plastic can be bought from this guy on instagram: instagram.com/handmade_fishing?igshid=1qksguf4xe25t but you can use drifters too.

[@PathToEntrepreneurship]

Also what depth were you fishing?

[@OrilliaFishing]

If I remeber correctly this was in 25ft of water, on a quick drop off from shore. Lots of scattered rocks.