Al Knell has high hopes for the season.
The owner of A Breath of Fresh Air Outdoor Sports rented his first ice hut of the season Thursday, a week or two earlier than usual.
“We’re early for us in (Lake Couchiching). We’re frozen,” Knell said.
That doesn’t mean the entire lake is frozen.
“You wouldn’t want to get out in Couchiching Point, near the Narrows or around Horseshoe Island, where there are currents,” he said.
This is Knell’s fifth year renting ice huts. Typically, he sends the first hut onto the lake in the first week of January.
He likes to wait for seven inches of “good, black ice” before renting the first hut. That’s the case in many parts of Lake Couchiching.
Lake Simcoe, however, “is a whole different animal.”
He said an angler made the trip Thursday to Orillia from Cook’s Bay, the southernmost point on Lake Simcoe.
“It’s nowhere near ready down there,” Knell said.
That means anglers will have to settle for what Lake Couchiching has to offer until its southern sister freezes.
“They all want to catch lake trout and whitefish, but they’ll have to wait,” Knell said.
For now, they can try to reel in the perch and pike found in Lake Couchiching.
Winter can be an unpredictable season for ice fishing.
After Thursday’s temperatures of around -6 degrees Celsius, Environment Canada is calling for rain and 8 C on Friday. Temperatures are expected to dip below freezing soon after, though, so Knell isn’t concerned.
“It’s going to be a mess, but it’s only supposed to be one day, so we should be OK,” he said.
Police continue to send their message that “no ice is safe ice” — a warning they issue at pretty much any time of the season.
Knell advises anglers to check with ice hut operators to find out the safest places to fish, before venturing onto the lake.
