Sinker

I use my bowmount similar to steve, but just turn it so its pushing against my main motor. My main motor trolls at 2.5mph, but with the bowmount down and slightly going backward I can dial that speed down to whatever I want. Works like a charm. S.

Nope. We're screwed. Im headed to rice now, hope I can get the boat in! Pray for rain boys and girls. Lots of it! S.

Scugog is actually one of the least sensitive of the lakes effected by TS, because its the end of the chain, and the water flows out, not in. At least they can hold its water back until eggs hatch.

Ever.....anywhere. Ontario needs to get their head out of the sand and run recreational fishing as a business. It would be better for everyone, and the fish too. S.

Yep, it wouldn't take much, and most landowners would love to be able to protect their shorelines. They way it is now, you can't even push back the ground the ice shoves up in the spring. Destruction of habitat they call it. Ive seen years where there is a 5 ft berm piled up along the shore from the ice. S.

Stocking is a last ditch effort to help save a fishery that is no longer sustainable. The day they start stocking the kawartha's, is the day those lakes are doomed. They are very productive lakes. Work on habitat, and environmental conditions, and the fish will sustain themselves easily. S.

They never stocked it because they are self sustaining. Scugog is a very productive lake, but its been through some environmental changes that has thrown the whole ecosystem for a whirl. Rice lake as an example has already been through the same changes, and has rebounded amazing. First the crappies got in, then the mussels, then the walleyes crashed, crappies boom. Once the crappies level out, and the changes from the mussels take hold, the walleyes bounced right back. The tri lakes and sturgeon are rebounding now, and went through the same cycle...scugog was the last lake on the chain to get hit. There were 4-5 years I gave up on rice for walleyes, then the crappie fishing sucked....now its polluted with eyes, and plenty of big crappies. Its a cycle. I bet in 3-4yrs, scugog will once again be a walleye factory, and the crappies will drop in numbers, and increase in size. I havent notice a drop in musky numbers or size on any of the kawartha lakes, especially scugog....its loaded with them. The biggest environmental factor on all these lakes is water levels. For a system that is controlled, we sure do a bad job of managing the levels during the spawn. A bad year of recruitment due to water levels takes a long time to recover from. Walleys are hit the hardest because they spawn early, when water levels are high...eggs are laid in high water, then the trent severn locks get opened for May long weekend, and levels get dropped, leaving their eggs high and dry. Bass, crappie and musky spawn later, once levels have stabilized, so no real effect. Thats my 2 cents anyways. I have an environmental background, but Im no fisheries biologist. Ive fished these lakes for 27 years now, and watched it all happen. S.

Definitly a Tom. Look at the spurs on him! He's a stud! Great photos! I guess you got your hunting license then? Good stuff bud!! You know where I'll be once season opens! S.

I wouldn't say every lake is hurting. Some are, some are rebounding, and some are fluorishing. Its all a cycle that will work itself out. First the crappies came in, then the zebra mussels, trent severn messed up a few year classes of walleye fry........they will come back in time......things need to adjust to the ever changing ecosystems. They lakes themselves are highly productive if they could manage them properly. Scugog should have been shut down about 10 years ago. Too little, too late.....typical MNRF. S.

Nice. Illegal transport of live fish. haha S.

Scugog was at normal SUMMER levels last night. I was dredging bottom with my main motor getting into myy crappie spot. I did my part on the panfish kill S.

Clearly the dams werent shut down if water levels are so low. I understand its a tough gig, but its pretty sad when we have a 400km waterway, full of dams, with no water in the middle of april. Its not hard to measure snow pack, and look at water levels, then make a decision. There is always problems with the system, what gives? S.

Mine fired up on the third pull tonight. Its usually the 5th pull after sitting all winter. She was itching to go as bad as I was My trailer lights even worked LOL S.

Went for a boat ride on scugog tonight . Shakedown went without aa hitch, so we spent a couple hours slayin crappies. Kept a dozen for dinner.....plan to hit another lake on the weekend for some bigger slabs. S.

LOTS of rain....at the very least. S.

I hear ya Jigger! (long time so see BTW!!!) I get the best of both worlds, live in the kawartha's, and cottage at the very top of the irondale river watershed. I'll have no water anywhere. Just think of all those beautiful haliburton gold sand beaches though.......(banging head) S.

How can they drain the Halliburtons when the levels there are at historic lows too?? Average water levels at the end of April are real bad news, never mind historic lows in a 400km waterway that is not navigable. S.

Well, unless you can pull water out of thin air, we're screwed. There's nothing upstream to fill these lakes. I hate to say it, but this is going to be a HUGE problem. Everything from launching boats, to people not having water, navigation, tourist dollars.....its endless. Its crazy. Someone has some serious explaining to do. S.

It takes a ton of water to raise the tri lakes. I don't see it happening. S.

Look at the charts ernie. Scugog and sturg are well below seasonal average, and everything upstream is at, or barely above historic low. NONE of the lakes have reached navigable levels yet. Someone has some explaining to do!! S.

Well, they cant pull water out of their ass, and with nothing but historic low levels all the way to the top of the watersheds, it doesnt look good at all. I can understand being a little low, or high, but my gawd, its not even close! Its not hard to measure snowpack and water levels upstream....someone is asleep at the switch. S.

We're in big trouble. The whole system, top to bottom is below historic lows. Well below navigation levels, and not enough to melt upstream to fill anything up. Check it out. http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/on/trentsevern/visit/ne-wl/trent_e.asp

We're screwed then. Rice seems ok, but I dont know where they plan to get water for the tri lakes. I hope the lakes in the north kawarthas are overflowing. Can anyone confirm or deny this? S.

See....read the regs carefully. P.S....you can still fish lake O for other species, just cant keep pike. S.

Heres your list: