Yellow perch
Fair
The ice season where the ice is safe: small spoons and tungsten jigs tipped with minnow heads, moving hole to hole to find the school.
Lake Simcoe Fishing Report
Updated Mon, Nov 9, 2026 from live weather and water data
Lake Simcoe: lake trout, whitefish and perch through the ice until mid-March, and summer bass and perch, on a big lake between Toronto and Georgian Bay.
1/5
Tough. Pick your battles.Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.
Water temp
~4 °C est.
Air / High
6 °C / 8 °C
Wind
NNW 44 km/h
Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.
Today's Fishing Report
Lake Simcoe is in its winter rhythm: slow, deep and around the brightest hours. Today brings clear skies, wind NNW around 43 km/h, rising pressure near 1010 hPa and a high of 8 °C. Water sits around 4 °C for the season (estimated). With the new moon, the solunar majors run 11:42 PM-1:42 AM and 11:18 AM-1:18 PM: the windows to build the day around.
Northern pike (jackfish)
Fair
Under the ice where it is safe: tip-ups with dead bait in the shallow bays.
Lake whitefish
Closed today
Reopens Jan 1, 2027. On Lake Simcoe lake trout, lake whitefish and cisco are open 1 January to 15 March and from the second Saturday in May to 30 September.
Lake trout
Closed today
Reopens Jan 1, 2027. On Lake Simcoe lake trout, lake whitefish and cisco are open 1 January to 15 March and from the second Saturday in May to 30 September.
Tie on: Jigging spoon through the ice · Dead-stick minnow · Tip-up with dead bait · Tungsten jig and wax worm. Prime windows: 11:42 PM-1:42 AM, 11:18 AM-1:18 PM, 7:21 AM-8:21 AM. Similar at 8 °C. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.
Before you go
Ontario requires a fishing licence for most fishing, from C$12.21. Ontario fishing licence: cost, rules and where to buy →
Chasing lake trout here? Check the size and bag limits with Ontario MNR before you keep anything; the Lake trout page has the seasons and the tactics.
Fishing times for Lake Simcoe today
Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today from sunrise (07:05), sunset (16:56), the moon and today's score. Tap a bar to see why.
Bite planner
Solunar majors 11:42 PM-1:42 AM and 11:18 AM-1:18 PM; minor 7:21 AM-8:21 AM. New Moon, 0% lit.
Water and weather
Conditions here are modelled from weather, season and the nearest stations.
No live gauge on this water
Water readings appear when a Water Survey of Canada station covers it. Until then the seasonal curve below is the estimate.
Right now
Latest readings
Air temp6 °C
High / Low8 °C / 4 °C
WindNNW 44 km/h, gusts 56 km/h
Pressure100.99 kPa, rising
Sky / Rain15% cloud, 52%
Sunrise / Sunset07:05 / 16:56
MoonNew Moon, 0%
Water temp (seasonal)~4 °C est.
7-day fishing forecast: which day to fish Lake Simcoe
The best day on Lake Simcoe this week looks like Sunday Nov 15, at 4 out of 5, against 1 today.
Best day this week: Sunday, Nov 15 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.
Today, Nov 9 — Slow
Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.
- Solunar majors
- 11:42 PM-1:42 AM and 11:18 AM-1:18 PM
- Minor period
- 7:21 AM-8:21 AM
- Sun
- 07:05 to 16:56
- Moon
- New Moon, 0% lit
- Sky and wind
- Showers, 45 km/h
- Rain chance
- 52%
Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out.
Species guide
The species that matter on Lake Simcoe: seasons written for the Canadian year, and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.
Lake trout
Ice season, and spring after ice-off
Closed now Reopens Jan 1, 2027. On Lake Simcoe lake trout, lake whitefish and cisco are open 1 January to 15 March and from the second Saturday in May to 30 September. Rule as read from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on 2026-09-27.
The big char of cold, deep lakes: Lake Simcoe, the Kootenay and Shuswap systems, the northern lakes. A winter favourite through the ice, where the season allows.
Lake whitefish
The ice season
Closed now Reopens Jan 1, 2027. On Lake Simcoe lake trout, lake whitefish and cisco are open 1 January to 15 March and from the second Saturday in May to 30 September. Rule as read from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on 2026-09-27.
A cold-water schooling fish taken mostly through the ice, notably on Lake Simcoe. Soft mouth, subtle bite.
Yellow perch
Year-round; the ice season at Lake Simcoe and Long Point
Open all year Yellow perch are open all year in Zone 16. Rule as read from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on 2026-09-27.
The ice-fishing fish of Lake Simcoe, Long Point Bay and Lake St. Clair, and a summer staple on every Great Lakes shore. Schools move constantly. The ice season where the ice is safe: small spoons and tungsten jigs tipped with minnow heads, moving hole to hole to find the school.
Smallmouth bass
Opens late June in most of Ontario; best July to October
Open now Closes Dec 1, 2026. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are open from the fourth Saturday in June to 30 November. Rule as read from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on 2026-09-27.
The rock-and-current bass of the Great Lakes shores, the Bay of Quinte, the St. Lawrence and Lake St. Clair. The Ontario bass season opens in late June in most zones, after the nesting period. Closed or out of season in most waters.
Northern pike (jackfish)
Spring, fall and the ice
Open now Closes Apr 1, 2027. Northern pike are open 1 January to 31 March and from the second Saturday in May to 31 December. Rule as read from Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources on 2026-09-27.
Called jackfish on the prairies. Found in almost every lake and slow river from Ontario to Alberta; big fish in the cold, deep lakes. Under the ice where it is safe: tip-ups with dead bait in the shallow bays.
When to come: the Lake Simcoe calendar
Activity by species and month for the Canadian year, and how the water warms and cools. Tap any cell.
Species activity by month
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted. January is midsummer here.
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Lake trout
Lake whitefish
Yellow perch
Smallmouth bass
Northern pike (jackfish)
SlowPeak
Water temperature through the year
Typical surface temperature for this water type in degrees Celsius; today is around 4 °C (estimated, not a reading).
Angler reports
Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. Nothing here is copied from a shop or a charter. The water log below tracks each day automatically.
No angler reports yetBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Simcoe today.
Water log, last days
Auto-logged from live dataSun, Nov 8
2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 40 km/h gusts make boat control the real battle. Yellow perch led the card at good. High of 9 °C, wind to 40 km/h.
Sat, Nov 7
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Yellow perch led the card at good. High of 8 °C, wind to 31 km/h.
Fri, Nov 6
3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Yellow perch led the card at good. High of 11 °C, wind to 26 km/h.
Before you go
Licence
Outdoors Card and Ontario fishing licence, from C$12.21 for a resident adult, with higher prices for other Canadians and visitors. Details and where to buy → Except on a one-day licence you also need the Outdoors Card.
Regulations
Size and bag limits, closed seasons and protected areas are set by Ontario MNR and, in salt water and for salmon, by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and change: confirm the current rules on the agency page linked from the Ontario licence page before you keep anything. The zone-by-zone seasons and limits are on Ontario fishing seasons.
Access
An Outdoors Card and an Ontario sport or conservation fishing licence are needed from age 18 to 64 for Ontario and Canadian residents, and for all non-Canadians.
About this water
Lake Simcoe is a lake in Ontario, Canada, covered from the Ontario reports and listed in all Canada waters.
Fishing Lake Simcoe: the full guide
Lake Simcoe
Lake Simcoe is the big lake between Toronto and Georgian Bay, with Barrie at the head of Kempenfelt Bay, Orillia at the north end where it drains into Lake Couchiching, and Beaverton, Keswick and Innisfil on its other shores. It is fished in two seasons: through the ice for lake trout, lake whitefish and yellow perch, and in open water for bass and perch. There is no live public level gauge for the lake, so the report on this page is built from the weather and the season.
Species and seasons
Lake Simcoe is in Fisheries Management Zone 16, with its own exceptions in the Ontario summary. Lake trout, lake whitefish and lake herring are open from 1 January to 15 March and again from the second Saturday in May to 30 September, which ends the trout and whitefish ice season in mid-March. Muskellunge are closed all year on the lake, and in Ontario it is illegal to fish for a closed species even to release it. Bass open on the fourth Saturday in June, and yellow perch are open all year.
Where to fish it
Cook Bay at the south end is shallow perch water, Kempenfelt Bay off Barrie drops into deep water where lake trout and whitefish are jigged, and the open main basin is fished by those equipped to travel on it. In summer, look for smallmouth on rocky shoals and for perch and largemouth along the weed edges. Two tributaries, the Beaver River at Beaverton and the Pefferlaw River, are sanctuaries from 1 March to the Friday before the second Saturday in May.
Stocking
Ontario’s stocking record lists more than 100,000 lake whitefish fingerlings released in Lake Simcoe every year from 2016 to 2025. The record shows the year and life stage of each release, not the day, and fingerlings take years to reach a size anglers keep.
Ice and huts
No agency measures or certifies the ice on Lake Simcoe. Pressure ridges open and close, and people go through it most winters, so check the ice yourself or go with an operator who does. In Zone 16, ice huts must be registered online and removed before 16 March; a small fabric tent of 7 square metres or less does not need registering, and a hut left on after break-up is an offence under the Public Lands Act.
Reading this report here
Without a live level, the page shows a seasonal water temperature estimate, labelled as one: near freezing under the ice and warming quickly after ice-out. Barometric pressure and cloud cover drive the score; perch anglers often watch for a falling barometer ahead of a winter front.
Licence, access and rules
An Outdoors Card and an Ontario sport or conservation fishing licence are needed from age 18 to 64 for Ontario and Canadian residents, and for all non-Canadians. The Lake Simcoe exceptions in the Zone 16 summary, linked below, list the limits for trout, whitefish, cisco and perch; our Ontario licence page has the fees.
Common questions
When is the ice fishing season on Lake Simcoe?
When the ice allows. Lake trout and whitefish close on 15 March, huts must be off before 16 March, and perch stay open all year; no agency certifies the ice.
Can I fish for muskie on Lake Simcoe?
No. The Ontario summary closes muskellunge on Lake Simcoe all year, and fishing for a closed species is illegal even if you release it.
Is Lake Simcoe stocked?
Yes, with lake whitefish: Ontario’s record shows more than 100,000 fingerlings a year from 2016 to 2025.
Is fishing good at Lake Simcoe right now?
Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Tough. Pick your battles. Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.
Nearby waters
Where this page's numbers come from
- Open-Meteo forecast model
- https://open-meteo.com/
- Fish stocking
- Ontario fish stocking report
- Moon and solunar windows
- Calculated on this site
- Pages checked
- The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on How our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.