Hooked on Fishing with Wil Wegman

1. Seek out steeper sloping shorelines. Fish like close access to deep water.

2. Avoid really shallow, beach-like shores with sand bottoms.

3. Look for irregularities in bottom composition. Hard, light-colored bottoms meeting up with soft, dark ones can be like a fish-holding magnet.

4. Multiple depth changes, however slight, within a relatively short section of shore can attract fish.

5. Try wading — whether with waders or shorts/shoes (to avoid zebra mussel cuts) — to be able to cast out to deeper water.

6. When fishing from docks or piers, don’t ever step onto the dock before fishing each side thoroughly from shore. Bass and panfish often hide alongside, and you’ll spook them by walking overhead.

7. When deciding what lures to cast from the dock or shore, think of the entire water column. Think top-water under low light, mid-depth with moderate light and deep for mid-day under sunny conditions. Use lures that you can cast far, are shaped to travel swiftly through the air and have some weight to them.

8. Fan-cast the entire area systematically within all the different depth presentations to really cover the water thoroughly.

9. Learning all the fish-holding structures within casting distance of your dock can be a real advantage for the Lake Simcoe cottager. Snorkel around your casting area to learn and memorize exactly where all the big rocks, logs, branches, weed patches, waterlines and any other submerged objects are located; bass and other fish will be holding next to these objects.

10.  Dawn, dusk and even the pitch black of night can be prime times to fish shorelines and docks, because many fish move into shallow water during these periods.

  Bonus Tip: Have fun and relax! The beauty of shoreline fishing around Lake Simcoe is that you can kick back and wait for the fish to come to you, regardless of your age or skill level. To achieve this, many shore-bound anglers utilize live bait presentations such as worms or minnows. Others have gravitated to “do-nothing” techniques with artificial baits such as a five-in. Trigger X Flutter Worm rigged “wacky style” (i.e., through the middle) onto a 1/0 Octopus style Gamakatsu Hook.  

  Finally shore-bound anglers may want to revisit the drop-shotting technique we covered in depth in the 2010 Summer issue of LSL — still available on our website and tailor-made for shore fishing.

Take the Lake Simcoe Ice Fishing Pledge!

Oct. 23, 2010 — Orillia — The most incredible victory in the history of Canadian Bass Tournament Fishing is beginning to sink in for Mark Moran and Joe Muszynski. The tournament team won Canada’s most prestigious one day bass tournament and did it with a new all time Canadian record weight for the five heaviest bass ever weighed on Canadian soil. Their weight for the 2010 Bass Pro Shops Lake Simcoe Open of 31.50 pounds of smallmouth bass topped the previous record of 30.35 lbs.

For their record win, the duo took home the guaranteed $25,000 for first place, an additional $20,000 for the Toyota Truck Record Payout, $5,500 for the Shimano Pay to Play bonus and $2,500 for using a Minn Kota electric motor and running Humminbird electronics. Their $53,000 total cash payout is one of the highest in the history of tournament fishing in the country.

The BPS Lake Simcoe Open hosted by the Aurora Bassmasters began as the “Crackle Cup” in 2001 as a late fall tournament that would capitalize on the incredible smallmouth bass fishing opportunities that Lake Simcoe offers at this time of year. Total weights over 28 pounds soon became the norm as the tournament grew in popularity. In 2007, Bass Pro Shops Canada became the title sponsor and have since attracted other sponsors that help provide payouts seldom seen anywhere else in Canada.

MNR biologist Brad Allan weighs one of more than 200 big bass brought in at sampling station behind the weigh-in stage.  Volunteer Melanie Quinn of Fleming College helps out.

How the Winners Did It:

Mark Moran, 43 from Port Perry and Joe Muszynski, 32 from Barrie caught their oversized bass in 30-40 feet of water.  “We caught around 20 fish during the day; I was using a green pumpkin tube jig on a 3/16 oz weight and drop shotting a custom hand poured black and white minnow bait. We moved fast looking for fish on our Humminbird electronics and then dropped the baits down on them”, Moran revealed.

Muszynski explained, “It was the most incredible day a bass angler could ever ask for. In my career I have won Team of the Year titles, a Classic Championship and some other one day tournaments but winning the BPS Open is by far my greatest accomplishment.  I have a deep passion and respect for this body of water and to set the record with all the great Lake Simcoe anglers fishing this event; well it’s very special to me.  The BPS Lake Simcoe Open is a standalone event and I think everyone agrees it is the biggest tournament in our country.  The industry support and preparation are phenomenal and that along with the amazing bass fishery of Lake Simcoe is what makes this event such a huge success.

MC Dave Mercer interviews Joe Muszynski (left) and Mark Moran, winners of the tournament and holders of a new Canadian record.

The 2010 BPS Lake Simcoe Open, had a full field of 100 teams with some of Canada’s finest anglers. Orillia hosted record crowds at the free weigh-in show who watched team after team weighing in some of the biggest smallmouth bass on the planet. Facts of Fishing star, Dave Mercer MC’d the event which was broadcast live on the websites below.  He also fished the tournament with JP DeRose of the WFN’s Gettin Schooled with JP.

The Yamaha Big Fish award went to 12^th place team of James Paluch and Shaun McKay who caught a monster 8.05 smallmouth that earned them $4,000,  plus an additional $1,000 for Berkley Trilene 8lb Test prize ... the first time this has ever been awarded anywhere in Canada. This Big Fish weight is currently being explored by tournament officials as a possible record for the single heaviest bass ever weighed in during a Canadian tournament.

Behind the Weigh-In Scene:

Back stage the Lake Simcoe Bass Tagging Research crew were busy measuring, tagging, taking scales and spines (for ageing) all the bass before they were transported to the Shimano Live Release Boat for transport and release back to the lake.

This award winning research program coordinated by the Aurora Bassmasters and supported by MNR’s Community Fisheries and Wildlife Involvement Program has collected data from this and other bass tournaments for the last five years. Collectively over 1,300 bass have been tagged and released.  Anglers who catch a tagged fish ... like the one caught by Rob Hyatt during this event, are asked to report the number and details to MNR. The phone number and individual fish ID numbers are on each tag.

*Total: $55,300 in Registered Payouts to 20th Place – not counting bonus prizes below

S- Shimano Pay To Play = $5,500; YBF Yamaha Big Fish =4,000; B Berkley Over 8 lbs =$1,000

HW- Hidden Weight= $1,000; BBL Berkley Bucket Largemouth=$1,000, R= Rapala 36^th Spot award

To view more photos, the complete standings of all 100 teams, or to see a recap of the exciting weigh-in, please visit: www.simcoeopen.com.

Sponsors of the 2010 BPS Lake Simcoe Open include:

Jack Link’s Beef Jerky, BoaterExam, Ontario's Lakes Country, Toyota, Tracker Boats, Yamaha, Northstar Marine Insurance, Berkley, Humminbird, Minn Kota, Shimano, Rapala, Maple Toyota, Mustang Survival, Musky Graphics, Advanced Taxidermy, CSFL, and Bass Pro Shops. A special thank you to all the dedicated volunteers who helped make this event such a success. We appreciate all the assistance from various bass club members, Junior Bassmasters and the dedicated MNR staff who ran the sampling station.

Despite the love affair anglers have with weeds because most know how important they are to fish, they can still pose a major challenge. Hooks can easily get caught in weeds and globs of weeds at the end of your line won’t catch anything. Similarly, deep weed growth can be difficult to see, and not knowing where weed lines exist will minimize success.

Here are Lake Simcoe Living‘s top tips and products to help catch fish in weeds:

• Several weedless lures are available. A Texas rigged Trigger X worm on a Gamakatsu worm hook and BPS Tungsten worm weight can be used in the thickest weeds without becoming hung up. It’s a great rig for largemouth bass

• A Terminator Spinnerbait can be cast among the weeds and is productive for bass and northern pike.

• A Rapala DT 16 or DT 20 is the ultimate deep diving crankbait when worked next to a deep weedline. Lake Simcoe largemouth and pike especially favour the firetiger color.

• Lowrance’s new High Definition Sonar Units are your ultimate eyes below the water. They clearly identify weed growth below the boat and the remarkable new side scanning units provide images of weed lines (and other structures) far off to the side of the boat.

• Navionics Chips in the above sonar offer mapping capabilities for Lake Simcoe that identify where much of the weed growth on the lake is. Likewise, the Lowrance units have a built-in GPS that allows you to save and mark those productive weed beds for future reference.