Ice fishing Collingwood harbour

[Fishingwithpiotr]

Hi All,

I live in Collingwood and keep on going to Lake Simcoe for whitefish and lake trout but have never really ice fished in my own backyard. I see several ice huts out in the harbour and saw a few people setting up on Sunday. Rather than drive all the way to Simcoe I figured I'd give the harbour a try. I don't get our that much but the harbour would only be a 5 minute drive for me so I could always pop out in the evening after work for an hour or two. I went by Rick's Happy Hookah and he has live bait ($8 a scoop for those interested) and was telling me there is pike, perch, and the odd rainbow and whitefish. I've been reading everything I can online about ice fishing in Collingwood harbour but can't really get a lot of info. If anyone one fishes here somewhat regularly or has experience I would love to hear what your opinion is and how the fishing has been of late. I will try by luck hopefully soon with some minnows and spoons. I'll report back if I get any luck.

Thanks and tight lines 

[GeorgianBay MessageBoard]

[Krawler]

Best to try it out and report back.  i have never fished it but have always wanted to. Cant go wrong with minnows and a Williams half and half.  Rick is doing a tournament down in the harbor this weekend, good chance to find out whats being caught. 

[Fishingwithpiotr]

Hi Krawler,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I read about the tournament this weekend and unfortunately I will not be around but I would enter it for sure. I took this coming Monday off so I'll try my luck then and if I get anything I'll try and report back.

[droptheanchor]

I don't have any info about the harbour (only have a tad bit of experience there, softwater) but any time I would fish Gbay, I kinda prepare myself for all angles.  You can be targeting a species all day and out of nowhere, get a lottery type fish.  Are you fishing with a sonar?

[Fishingwithpiotr]

My plan is to set up a tip up with a larger minnow and in my hut I will try jigging with spoons, rapalas, maybe some small soft plastics. Yes I do have a sonar. I recently purchased a Lowrance Hook 3x and modified it so that I can use it ice fishing. Works quite well and it worked out to be a lot cheaper than if I bought a specific ice fishing sonar or even if I just bought the ice ducer for my Hook 4.

[Fishingwithpiotr]

Went out on Monday to see what I could get. Seemed like a nice day but when I got to the harbour it blowing like crazy. I ended up getting set up and fished for about 3 hours. No luck, but I did mark some fish on the finder and a couple seemed interested in my minnow but nothing took. Since I have a one man Pak Shack I wasn't able to get my tip up going because if I wasn't sitting in it, it would have blown over. Hopefully I can get out once or twice more this year and have something better to report.

[John Whyte]

You might want to take a lipless crank with you to make some noise and get some flash. I know someone that fished pike in the harbor and that is what he used. He also fished shallow, less than 10 ft.

[Fishingwithpiotr]

Thanks for the tip John, I guess I will have to wait until next year to try it out. Never thought of doing that but it is worth a try.

[John Whyte]

Thanks for the tip John, I guess I will have to wait until next year to try it out. Never thought of doing that but it is worth a try.

Is the ice in the harbor gone? I thought it would be there until mid April