Canadian Sportfishing Icefishing for Whitefish & Lake Trout, Lake Simcoe ON Csf 23 05 01

[OXFORD9929]

@ItaloLabignan This is a question from a complete amatuer. But how do you get the jig down to 80 odd feet? what kind of weights are you using if any? I usually only catch whitefish in 20 feet of water but i know of some good spots where they are deeper....just wondering how i get to them.

Cheers for the help!

[ItaloLabignan]

@OXFORD9929 No extra weight is used, just the jig or spoon. If you use a braided line in 10 lb, test (4 lb. monofilament diameter), the jig drops quickly since braid does not have any "memory" (no coils), and because it has no stretch, you feel the sligtest take. My favorite braided line is the Sufix 832...God bless you, Italo

[33McGhie]

@ItaloLabignan Would you recommend using 10lb braid for this type of fishing? If so, is there a certain type for cold water, I know there are for mono/flouro. Would you recommend a few feet of flouro leader as well?

Thanks Italo

[ItaloLabignan]

@33McGhie Yes, I would recommend the Sufix 832 Ice Braid in 10 lb. tst line, and yes, I would suggest you use at least an 8 lb. test, 20" long Sufix fluorocarbon leader....God bless you, Italo

[siricefish]

hump back creeper works 10x better then bad boyz trust me and 2010-2011 we went out every weekend and got are limit

[ItaloLabignan]

@siricefish Thanks for the tip...God bless you, Italo

[MegaTroutFishing]

hi italo,

love the show, do you plan to do any ice fishing this season, try ice fishing for some brown trout they fight amazingly!

have a good one

Chris

[ItaloLabignan]

@MegaTroutFishing Thank you for your kind words and tip. I don't know of any brown trout lakes in southern Ontario, but I am planning on doing a TV show ice fishing for inland rainbows in the 2-4 lb. range....God bless you, Italo

[ItaloLabignan]

@rejeanisyodaddy Glad you enjoyed the show. I was down at the Niagara Whirlpool getting wet and only hooked one Chinook on a Rapala J13, water was pretty turbid from the strong winds and rain. Good time to watch TV shows!......God bless you, Italo

[bmwnfishingrox]

I've never done fishing for White fish & Lake trout in Summer time! Any advise on how/where to locate them ? (in lake Simcoe) I normally catch them on medium size minnow in winter! What would be the best bait/ lure in order to catch them in summer? God bless

[ItaloLabignan]

@bmwnfishingrox You can catch them very effectively in the summer time by vertical jigging in deep water (70-110'), with similar lures as you jig in the winter time (4" tubes/jighead, vertical jigging spoons, the Blue Fox Foxee Minnow, etc.). The key is to have a calm enough day so that you can vertical jig and having a sonar that will mark baitfish schools and individual fish on the bottom. Best area to fish is the main-lake-basin...God bless you, Italo

[bmwnfishingrox]

@ItaloLabignan Thanks for being such a down to earth teacher Italo!

[ItaloLabignan]

@bmwnfishingrox As my Dad would say, "You Vulcan"!...God bless you, Italo

[tristancooper1997]

@ItaloLabignan can i be one your show! come to maine and we can fish moose head or something i just want to meet you

[ItaloLabignan]

@tristancooper1997 Thanks for your offer, but I normally fish with my wife, guides and lodge owners where I do my TV shows. Who knows, maybe we'll meet on the water in the future...God bless you, Italo

[ItaloLabignan]

@theotherguy621 I love to fish for pike...God bless you, Italo

[lunkerboy16]

hey i was just wondering how you customized your lil foxee ?

ive had a few problems loosing them due to the one prong hook any feedback would be appreciated

thanks

[ItaloLabignan]

@lunkerboy16 Sometimes I use them the way they are and with others I have added a small treble hook where the single hook is. To do this you have to twist the single hook in such a way that you can add a small treble, than I use stainless steel wire and wrap it around both to make sure the treble is strong enough to hold even big fish...God bless you, Italo

[1100sportsguy]

hey Italo, i was just wondering how much fish u cought/ cept that day?

[ItaloLabignan]

@1100sportsguy We did not catch too many. My wife Barb caught three and I think I caught one. Not sure how many we kept, maybe one...God bless you, italo

[giiwed]

i thought whitefish come shallow in the winter?.....i know i always catch them suspended in about 10 feet of water in the spring....but how deep will they be in this time of winter

[Cratylos]

Never vent or burp a barotraumatized (fish pulled from deep water) fish with a knife. Sorry Italo, burping and venting do irreparable damage to the internal organs. The best thing to do is to just let them go as fast as possible.

[ItaloLabignan]

@Cratylos Thanks for you input. What about if the fishes air bladder is full and it cannot dive back to the bottom? I have been taught that if the air bladder is full, a person can safely make a small incision through the side of the fish (below the rib-cage and just behind the pectoral fin), just making a small incision into the air bladder enabling the air to escape and the fish to dive back down. If done properly, no organs should be touched & healing fast...God bless you, Italo

[Cratylos]

@ItaloLabignan I've always felt it's a bit like pneumothorax in humans, if pleural membrane is perforate the lung won't inflate. If you vent the fish, it can't always inflate it later, leaving the fish without a functioning swim bladder. A balloon won't inflate if there's no pressure filling it out. If you get them down fast, the bladder pops back in on its own. I've seen saltwater rockfish anglers use a weighted milk crate on a rope to force badly barotraumatized fish down successfully.

[giiwed]

@ItaloLabignan how deep will the whitefish be in inland lakes this time of year????...i live around the north shore of lake superior so it is a typical cold northern winter here....i always thought shallow in the winter.....and is it productive to chum the hole with salted smelts or anything?

[ItaloLabignan]

@giiwed As you probably know, whitefish feed along the bottom. Early in the winter they can be pretty shallow (20-40'), since they spawn in late fall. As we get deeper into winter, they will move to various parts of a lake where there is lot's of baitfish. How deep they will be feeding really varies from lake to lake depending on what type of baitfish they are feeding on. If it's smelt, they will feed pretty deep (70-120'). If it's various shiners, as shallow as 40'....God bless you, Italo

[Fuel1979]

he was bleeding through its gills. That should have been kept.

[ItaloLabignan]

@Fuel1979 You know, that whitefish was just lightly hooked in the roof of the mouth. We never handled it around the gills, or even squeezed it hard, but it did start bleeding. I like to think that the bleeding stopped shortly after it was released, but you never know. Releasing it at least gave it a chance to recover....God bless you, Italo

[chinglengvang]

they stock whitefish?

i thought they were only native like some fishes were i live

[ItaloLabignan]

@chinglengvang There were healthy Whitefish populations in Lake Simcoe, ON at one time, but unfortunately due to too many nutrients being dumped into the lake, their spawning grounds were pretty-well destroyed. Most of the Whitefish caugth there today are stocked fish. You can tell because they clip certain fins so that they can keep track of the year-classes. Today, the lake has been cleaned-up somewhat and there is some natural reproduction...God bless you, Italo

[CanadianCatastrophes]

nice fish, i live right on cooks bay

[ItaloLabignan]

@CanadianCatastrophes Thanks. You live close to some of the best fishing in southern Ontario (winter & summer)...God bless you, Italo

[jiangson]

I love fishing whitefish, but i hate eating them. they taste nasty no matter how i cook them. I try pan fry, BBQ, soup, oven bake and make them into fishing chips...they always have that muddy taste. I much more prefer walleye, perch or trouts then whitefish.

[ItaloLabignan]

@jiangson Whitefish from Lake Simcoe, ON don't really have a muddy taste, but they are very mild so you can't cook them with too strong of spices or you cover-up the natural light flavor. I usually barbacue the fillets with the skin on (scaled), and all I add is some chopped garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and rosemary. They taste good. Maybe the barbacue process lets the fat drip off and they loose an y muddy flavor...God bless you, Italo

[jiangson]

@ItaloLabignan I live in SK and I fish at the Diefenbaker Laker, where the top two world record rainbow trout was caught. I usually fish in that lake for rainbow trout and walleye. Occasionally whitefish, the whitefish there i caught are usually around 6-10 pounds and it's really easy to catch by the fish farm. I never really take the whitefish cuz i don't like them. But just recently i found a new way to cook, you grind the meat up, then make them into fish balls, then deep fry. it taste good.

[ItaloLabignan]

@jiangson Sounds like you have excellent fishing there. The Lake Simcoe whitefish only average about 2-4 lb., most of them are stocked (you can tell by the fin clips). Your recepie sounds great. It reminds me of a fish called a Large Scale Barbel that we ate while we were fishing/filming on the Sea of Galilee in Israel, which was also fillet, and made into seasoned fish-patties,and than fried. They were excellent....Gob bless you, Italo

[BuddyWackIt369]

I love ice fishing whitefish. I dont fish them in 80 fow though more like 2 to 15 fow. In michigan and wisconsin they have been coming in shallow eating perch and gobys.

[ItaloLabignan]

@BuddyWackIt369 I've caught them shallow, but not that shallow. I guess that when the water is cold, they can swim in any depth water to feed. I'm sure the same lures we fish in 80+' of water, should also work in your area....God bless you, Italo

[BuddyWackIt369]

@ItaloLabignan All I use for them is a genz worm jig tip with some wax worms



[GunSlimger]

thats awesome by the way where can i find a chair like that one seen in the video that thing is awesome!! But the fish that thing is HUGE!!!

[ItaloLabignan]

I use a couple of chairs when I'm ice fishing, one is made by HT Enterprises, the other by Rapala (chair/pack-pack combo)...God bless you, Italo

[nimsboy]

Hey Italo can you please tell me were on simcoe you were fishing.

[ItaloLabignan]

Hi Nimsboy...We were fishing an area referred to by the locals as the "compound". Out about 6 miles from Jackson's Point right in the middle of Lake Simcoe...God bless you, Italo

[chaoticfisherman]

Great Video. Always an education when you fish!! Italo, you have to love Lake Simcoe for the variety of fish it holds.

[ItaloLabignan]

Hi Chaotic Fisherman...Definitely!! It has the best Jumbo Perch fishing in Canada, awesome whitefish through the ice and even in open water, big walleye, nice lakers and so close to the GTA...God bless you, Italo

[lh141]

i like this show italo actually knows wut he is talking about and cares for his fish unlike those retard bass fisherman that rip their friggin heads off on the hookset then say they are 10 pounds wen they are 3

[kbird9051]

italo was also charged for poaching but no big rite?

[lh141]

@kbird9051 Italo was charged for catching bass and trout out of season. not poaching fish like u said.