Tackle

Jack spoons. These thin metal spoons are popular for perch. You can pick them up at Fish-in-Ontario on Hwy400, Petro-Canada exit, King city. Give them a try, but you'll need a very microlite ice fishing rod with 2-6 lb. line.

Commercial Huts

An excellent hut is the Frabill Ice Explorer - 2 person portable ice fishing hut. It weighs about 45 lbs. When folded, it's about 4 X 2 X 1ft.   It's like the 'clam' with a hard bottom. You should be able to set up and be ready to use it in about 5 minutes.

Home-made Huts

• The lightest and probably warmest hut we have developed   is a 6x5' hut made with a plywood floor and four sides and a roof that are removeable. The sides are made of 5x5 panels of styrofoam strapped with 1x2's for support. The styrofoam is then covered with lightweight aluminum sheeting you can purchase from a local newspaper or printing shop. This helps to protect the styrofoam and reflects the heat back into the hut.
• For the base use 3" ABS pipe (plumbing drain pipe). Don't use PVC, as it gets  brittle in the cold. Make the base any size you want, one end squared and tied together with 90 elbows. On the other end tie together with 3" tees with 45 elbows in the end to accomadate pulling so the ends dont stick in the snow. At the corners on the inside of the 90, and tees, glue in 3x3x2" tees facing up. These will form the base attachment point for the wall risers. Also glue two in the centre of the short ends. Cut the 2" ABS to your preffered height where you want the roof slope to begin. On the short end pieces, cut them to total roof height, these will be the finished roof height. On these ends put a 2" 90 on each one facing toward each other, the length beetween them will form your ridge pole. The roof will have a slope of 6/12 (that's a 6" drop for every 12" horizontal run), due to the fact the long end walls will have 45 degree elbows on them, angled to the ridge pole, an important factor to keep in mind when cutting the wall poles to length. On the ridgepole install two 2x2x2x2" ABS tees in line with the wall posts. Coming out of the sides of the tees with 2" 45's pointed to the 45's on the wall posts. Measure between this distance and cut the pipe to fit. You now have a complete frame with 4 wall posts, 2 end posts and a roof peak. My idea is to only glue the base together and leave the rest for takedown, to place on the base for towing it. The actual sheeting material is a tarp cut to fit the size of the hut, so it just slips over and fastens to the base with velcro straps. If you are not handy with sewing cut the tarp to fit and use an epoxy cement to fasten the pieces together to form a tight shell over the frame. That's the basic idea. Try to draw it out first to get a better idea of what it looks like. The material for the frame can be purchased at a plumbing wholesale, but they will have to order the 2" double tees as this is not a stocked item. If you do build one, dont leave it (the frame) exposed to the sun when storing as it will warp. Use a dark colour for the tarp to take advantage of the sun's warmth.
• If portability is your main concern, try this design. The floor is constructed of 3/4" 4x8 plywood, re-enforced with 2x4 runners. An eight inch lip around the perimiter of 3/4" completes the base. The walls are  5/8" dimensional plywood, hinged to the base and are collapsible for ease of transport. The roof is canvas, supported by 1/2" EMT conduit. It's quick to set up. The only drawback is you'll need a snowmobile to get it out onto the ice. Also, it has limited headroom.

Some Places to Go

Bay of Quinte

You'll have good luck with Swedish Pimples (Orange Back), followed by Mr. Champs (Double green). Tip with a minnow  and use a stinger if you can.

Orangeville Area

• Belwood has larger but fewer pike and smaller but more perch. Orangeville has smaller but more pike and larger (13+inches!) but fewer perch. Both lakes have their good and bad days. Stay away from bright blue sunny days and go fishing when it's warmer, cloudy and before a change in weather.
• Use a small Swedish Pimple and replace the hook with a little larger treble and hook about a four or five inch shiner through the back just ahead of the dorsal fin. Jig it very slowly about three times with long sweeps every minute or so. This technique seems to work everywhere and it's also great for walleye through the ice or browns and lakers from a boat.
• Island lake. Just before a snowstorm is a great time to catch the numbers and size. 4 inch emerald shiners are a favourite; lots of flash and shine especially under snow covered ice. Use a single treble and hook your minnow lightly through the back. The minnow should be horizontal. Use one bb split shot to get it close to the bottom. Try not to move the minnow up and down but rather lightly jiggle it with long pauses.

Lake Scugog

• Try fishing the West Shore marina area, particularly north of the marina in 4-5 ft. of water. Look for weeds; the thicker the better. Another very productive spot  is Pine Point.
• 3-5 ft. weed flats surrounded by 7-8 ft. of water are very consistent. There are flats such as these mainly on the east side of the lake. These areas generally hold above average sized Scugog walleyes, 2-3 lb. In general, 3-6 foot mud flats hold more fish and bigger fish.  South of Pine Point there are the remnants of an old river bed in 7-8 ft. of water. Weeds and 3-4 ft. of water are everywhere in that area.
• Peak times for fishing this lake are Sunrise and 1-2 hrs. after, and Sunset and 1-2 hrs. after. This lake is shallow. Average depth of 6ft. No real bottom structure. Favourite baits are 1/4 oz. jigs tipped with a minnow and a set line with just minnows. Good places to fish are Spring Blvd. off Island road; Goreskis Off Island Rd; Pine pt. Northern tip of Island; Ceserea; Washburn Island; West Shore Marina North and South; Stephensons pt.
• Don't waste your time fishing during daylight hours. Fish from 4 PM all night through to 8 AM. This is when the walleye action occurs on Scugog.
• From Lindsay take road #4 to Little Britian; go south 5 miles? until you hit a stop sign where you must go left or right; turn left. Then take your first right. Go south until you see signs for Washburn Island and Ball Point. There is lake access off  Oakdene Crescent on Ball Point. Or you can go around to Washburn Island where there are a couple of points to get on the ice. Most guys fish the mouth of the bay.
• Your best bet for opening of hard water fishing is either off Goreski's Marina on the island or out from West Shore Marina which is just north of Port Perry off Simcoe Street. You could also go into town and ask at the fishing/bait store on the waterfront. I forget the name of it but it is on the west side of the road across from the lake.