Fishing for whitefish

Tuesday, 08 May 2007

Whitefish are very popular among aficionados of winter ice fishing. On some lakes, they weigh from one up to 15 fifteen pounds. For only an hour of driving from Toronto lies Lake Simcoe, which is famous for it has bred whiteys which weighed over 12 pounds.

Since they are unproblematic to catch, whitefish are a choice of many fishermen. These fish are much fun to catch during winter. You just have to search in fairly deep waters, around 70 to 85 feet, and get ready to catch one.

If you are not ice fishing, whitefish are abundant in early spring or in fall. That’s the time that they migrate to rivers and lakes, probably because they prefer areas with strong current. Since they have small and tender mouths, most people who catch whitefish are actually Walleye fishing using small hooks and minnows or very small jigs.

During the early days of spring, whitefish move to rivers and streams to eat the spawning walleye, pike, and sucker eggs. The best method to catch whitefish during spring is in a river with a four-pound test line. You also need miniscule hooks and one salmon egg, grub, a small ball of Berkley Power Dough or the best bait, Wax Worms. Allow the bait float downstream and over the deeper pools behind the spawning beds.

When May Flies start hatching, whitefish are tempted to move out of the river and wait below the surface of the lake to feed on the flies. When the May Fly hatch is over, the whitefish return to deep waters.

Since it is in the nature of whitefish to go deep, they usually do so during summer. If you want one, use a three-way swivel system with a Zero Mepps or Blue Fox and submerge it very slowly for as deep as 60 feet.

It is during fall season that whitefish breed. They relocate to rivers and spawn in the same spawning beds as the walleyes. When it is their spawning season, whitefish eat only during the day, which is the opposite of what most fish do. When it is dark, they lose interest in eating and spend their time spawning.

During winter, most whitefish stay at shallow waters. In catching whitefish, smallness is the key. They are effortlessly lured by smaller baits. Whitefish won’t ignore lures such as a small Rapala or Thunderstick. However, the hooks on these are frequently too large for the whitefish's tiny mouth.