Shallow water ditches for early season Crappie. The window is small for Crappie in these areas and can be light’s out when the timing is right. Key once again is remembering the small time frame you have for these prime time goldmines. Time spent checking out the spots is crucial for success.

   When talking about the window, it means the time is limited to catching these critters and in could be from a few hrs to the 2 to 3 days max. The payoff is unbelievably rewarding as these areas are hard to find so keep these spots sacred. Fishing pressure is usually none. If spotted by the wrong people they will be destroyed so keep a low profile when fishing these honey holes.

   Giants patrol these areas and are not shy to take a great presentation down their throat and sometimes your not even casting just dropping your line in the water, Incredible. Many of these spots we have you cannot access with a boat which is fantastic for the offshore fisherman. The key to these areas are bait fish and with there presents bring in the big boys & girls if you get my drift. I almost regret writing this article and typing this was difficult to say the least. These fish are in these spots to eat and gain strength for the next stage which is the spawn. Meaning is that as Arnold use to say, I’LL BE BACK!

    But most of the credit goes out to a good friend of mine Roy Leuzzi who we have nicknamed the CRAPPY RELIC, well suited I might add. He loves to think outside the box and is willing to take chance and that’s what brings in great rewards. It doesn’t always pan out but when it does the satisfaction is a fantastic feeling. I love picking Roy’s brain and sponge up all his thoughts in hunting these evasive critters. Definitely one of the hardest fish to track down but when you get on them you will feel like a kid again as the action is usually fast and furious. Lights out and you can’t get your line back in the water soon enough. The potential of the giant of all giants is what we all hope for so keep on SMASHING, and think outside the box.

It is late April / early May now and the absolute perfect time to get out onto Lake Simcoe for numbers of jumbo perch.  This is the time of year when yellow perch make their move into the shallower warming water where they will eventually spawn.  If you want a shot of catching the biggest perch of your life, this is the right time of year to do that.

Frank and I were out on Lake Simcoe Friday, April 29^th scouting out the lake in preparation for the Georgina Fishing Series Spring Perch Attack on Saturday, April 30th.  This is a team event that is held every year by Rocky Madsen of the Georgina Fishing Series.  Teams fish for the 15 biggest perch.  At the end of the tournament day, your fish are brought to the scale and the team with the most weight is named the Perch Champions.  This was our first year participating in the event and our goal was to try to dethrone the reigning defending champion James Beaupre.  He is a multi-tournament winning perch champion and we knew we were going to have our work cut out for us in entering this tournament. 

The weather on Friday had been brutal to say the least.  We both launched our boats and got out onto the lake early. We had to battle the wind and waves from start to finish.  Strong northwest winds blowing 20-30 km/h made it difficult to fish the way we wanted to fish and most of the spots we were targeting were getting wind blown.  Frank and I covered many spots on Friday eliminating a lot of non productive water.  Many of our spots had gin clear water that made the fish very skittish and tough to get to bite. I found a few other areas that had a little tinge to them and noticed more fish to be congregating in them.  The fish in these areas were also very aggressive.  Frank and I came off the lake early due to worsening lake conditions and discussed our findings for the day.  We made the decision to fish some of the dingier water areas for the tournament day since that is where we found aggressive, decent sized fish.

Saturday arrived and Frank, I, and the rest of the 12 competing teams were faced with a marvellous day.  15 Celsius high, light winds and all the sun we could handle.  We went from the roughest day on Simcoe to the absolute calmest in under 24 hours.  This was definitely a nice change but I was concerned.  I did not know how this radical change in weather was going to affect the fish in the area we chose to fish on this particular day.  Blast off at 8am came and we were at the spot by 8:10.  We fished hard all day and did not have to move too much.  Frank and I focused our efforts on 2 main areas close to each other where I had fish going the previous day.  The fish were still in the area and we had to work through the schools of fish to pluck out the bigger hens.  Our efforts were focused in 3-12 feet of water for the most part.  We got a bunch of fish in all depth ranges with a few of the bigger perch coming in shallow.  By the end of the day, we were culling perch in the 15ounce range so we knew we had respectable weight going into the weigh in station back at the boat ramp. 

3pm came around and it was time to weigh in our 15 biggest perch for the day.  Most teams weighed before us and it looked like a lot of teams had a hard time finding the bigger spawning female perch.  Leading weight before we went to weigh our fish was 11lbs and change.  Frank and I were up and we put our fish on the scale.  Our total for the day for our limit had been 15.53lbs, a very respectable weight for this time of year.  We both knew it was great weight but by the looks of the perch James Beaupre was pulling out of his live well, we were very sceptical.  A few other teams weighed after us but all ranged in the 7-13lbs range.  Beaupre waited to the last minute to weigh in his fish.  His fish hit the scales and what we thought would happen, happened.  His best 15 perch went 16.3 lbs, 0.8lbs more than our limit.  Frank and I were pleased with our days catch and 2^nd place was a great way for us to start our tournament year.  Beaupre holds the perch title for yet another year.  Next year we are gunning for the title again.  Until then more practice and finding more areas that are productive is in order for our team.  Once again, a great start to the tournament season!

Team LIMIT OUT Patrick Larmour

The 2011 Bass season is approaching quickly and planning an attack is vital for our team. I have chosen to limit my tournaments and focus mainly on 2 Divisions. After ending the 2010 season with a much unexpected Northern Team of the Year title, there were decisions to be made.  

  I have asked a friend I met while being part of the CFT BPS Club if he was willing to fish the Northern and Western Tournament Trail. He’s a young gun with the hunger to take his game to the next level. Patrick Larmour agreed, much to my excitement. Having someone 26 years younger than I willing to accept the challenge is vital for any success because the competition is fierce. Patrick shares the same goals as I do and in order to succeed both teammates have to be on the same page.

  This is not a sprint but a marathon and bad results could be devastating. Both of us our Hungry and eager to get the season started but this could be an obstacle that could hurt us. Staying positive and having an even keel is crucial for any success.

  Having won team of the year, you don’t want any added pressure and competitors have called me out saying they want the title but we can’t be worried about them. We have to focus and control what we can and that’s the hard work and practice and execution on tournament day that will give us results.

  We both have our work cut out for us but we are both very much up to the challenges that lie ahead. So follow our blogs and see what lies in the path in front of us as we strive to reach our goals of making it to the CSFL Classic.

    Sincerely

       Team LIMIT OUT  Frank Rotundo

Boats are in storage, bass fishing gear is put away, it is -10 Celsius outside and Lake Simcoe has got anywhere from 1-2 feet of ice on it.  It has been a long, cold winter so far in 2011 and going out ice fishing has kept Frank and I occupied on weekends and has diverted our minds slightly away from the anticipation of this year’s upcoming bass tournament season. 

Lake Simcoe has been our sole destination, and Jumbo Yellow Perch has been our target.  Our main goal this season is to get a 2lbs perch through the ice.  We have gotten close before with perch ranging from 1-1.75lbs coming through our auger holes, but have never hit the elusive 2lbs mark yet!

First Ice this season started Mid December.  Frank and I along with our good friend Roy started the season over on the eastern side of Lake Simcoe, fishing near Georgina Island in water from 8-10 feet deep.  The spots we have in this area of the lake typically do not hold quantities of fish, mostly quality.  We ended up hitting that area 2 times and ended up with fair results.  We managed to catch a decent amount of fish, with 3 or 4 of the jumbo perch falling in that 1.2 – 1.4lbs range.  Definitely was a great start to the season.

For the last month or so, we have focused our efforts on the opposite side of the lake and in much deeper water.  The spots Frank and I are inhibiting now are on the west side of the lake in the Innisfil area and we are typically fishing anywhere from 40-60 feet of water.  Many big perch have been caught in this area by us and by other anglers in year’s past.  We have given this area a fair chance this year, fishing it about 6 times now and we have yet to see anything over 1 lbs come out the hole.  We know that there is not too much time left in the ice fishing season, a month or so at best, so we will be focusing our efforts elsewhere.

It is the end of February now and usually the big female jumbo perch will be starting to make their migration from the deep water to just outside the shallows where they will stage before heading to super shallow water later on in the year to spawn.  Our efforts for the rest of the season will most likely be fishing the east side of the lake once again in that 10-15 foot depth range where we will be hoping to intercept a few hungry Jumbos.

The time is ticking and we still have yet to pull a 2lbs perch out of Lake Simcoe.  Only time will tell if our decision to go back to fishing the shallow water will pay off.  The goal needs to be accomplished this year! 

We have our work cut out for us.  Stayed tuned….

Team LIMIT OUT Patrick Larmour