Rizzo

Bizarre. I have never heard of such a thing. I suppose they are trying to protect the residents from being preyed upon. Tell them they can monitor the call, stay right in the room while you speak to your brother. After a couple minutes of listening in they will see its a legit call and bugger off. I hope you have this figured out already.

wow after all the horror stories you hear about river fishing its nice to hear something positive. Personally, I don't bother with it...the bad reviews have got me convinced

I am aware there are a remnant of musky left in Dalrymple, but it sounds like they are few and far between. Having said that, you guys are starting to persuade me because as far as cottage/lot go, Dalrymple gets you more for your money. Guess its only a short jaunt to some of the other lakes for a quick evening or morning of musky fishing. Head Lake is the one that has me scratching my head...not a big lake, very dangerous with shoals, most of the waterfronts I saw aren't great, further from Toronto...but cottages are far more $$$ than Dalrymple

mine had the loose bolt the day I picked up. The dealer hooked it up to my car, i drove it home and noticed the loose bolt there. The light fell off maybe 15 trips later

wow those are some awesome photos. If thats a bad season I'd like to see what a good season looks like!

balsam you couldn't get an empty lot for my budget (300k)! Hence the choosing of "lesser" lakes like Mitchell, Head, Dalrymple, Rush or even the small one on the Monck Rd called Young's lake.

Hi Dutch. The benefit of Mitchell is how it is connected to Balsam. When it's dad's turn to fish thats where I would be headed. Not too concerned about the Mitchell fishing other can the kids get sunfish and bass off the dock. Having said that, once the ice is off, I will have a look at some of the places on dalrymple.

ok...convinced. Insurance was the big factor, hadn't thought about that. Also, when I looked at the long-term forecast there were still quite a few subzero nights coming up....that could mean snow on the morning drive into work. Gonna hold off, do it in a couple weeks. Plus it means I can procrastinate today, have a beer, and not lug the tires out. Gonna go grab that beverage

Thanks Garnet. Wasn't sure if we talking about same spot but now I see we are. I have wavered on putting Dalrymple on the list. I have looked at places on line but not been in person. It meets most of my requirements (decent waterfront for swimming and fishing, under 300k, west side of kawarthas) but lacks a couple requirements (decent musky fishing, small sheltered area where you don't worry about the kids out on a paddle boat). The Mitchell one (one of those 8-10) really interested me because of the sheltered nature of that bay, looks like minimal boating would happen in there so you wouldn't worry about the kids floating around in a paddleboat or canoe.

thanks Big Guy. The one time I fished there we did find that deep hole and spent most of our time there (we wanted to troll rather than cast). When I looked at that cottage the water in that area looked surprisingly good (3 to 4 feet deep at end of dock, sandy, and dropping away). Of course 10 feet out for all I know it came back up to 3 feet and was super weedy. We had a look at it in early fall, so weeds may have started to die down and made the waterfront look more appealing than what it really is.

man some really good artists out there

I never did a charter out of miami but about an hour north I used to go on the party boats out of Lantana all the time. The guys drifting sardines would get kingfish, dolphin fish (mahi mahi), barracuda, bonita, barracuda, and the odd shark, wahoo or sailfish. The guys bottom fishing were getting grouper, snapper, triggerfish and other goofy looking bottom dwellers (squirrelfish I think was one of them). If you are doing a private charter i imagine they mainly troll for the first species I listed...kingfish etc

Sorry Garnet, are you talking about the same bay I am talking about? Not sure what you mean by "on the right" or on the left and that the dam is at the balsam end of channel. The bay I am talking about is at the very northern part of Mitchell, and the dam is at the most northern part of that bay (so nowhere near the channel from Mitchell to Balsam). Looks pretty permanent from what I could see and it separates Mitchell from some little creek/river. From what I saw, in that bay there are only cottages on what I would call the south shore (or maybe its more like the east shore?...gotta go look at a map to get my bearings!)

I currently have an easy loader. Noticed a bolt was loose when I first got it. Then one of the lights fell off going down the highway. Should have checked all the bolts I guess when I noticed the first one! Thought it was an isolated thing until I clicked on that link provided earlier...sounds like there have been others with issues as well

Last summer we started to look at possibly buying a cottage and mainly considered Head L or Rush L. When nothing on those 2 lakes met our criteria, we expanded the search to include Mitchell Lake. We did go out and look at one and were happy with it, but it ended up going off the market before we could take a closer look. One of my criteria is that the water is deep enough off the dock for the kids to fish, but also clean enough for swimming. That cottage seemed to actually have that....which shocked me because the one time I fished Mitchell it was like a 3 foot deep bog. The cottage is located in a bay way at the far end of Mitchell, there is a dam down there. I think you have to go through a small channel to access that bay, and the time I fished there we never went that far. Were my eyes deceiving me? (is that bay weed infested like the rest of the lake?) or is there actually some decent water down there for the kids to enjoy. I know this is a pretty specific question but if anyone has knowledge of that area please respond either here or pm!

ya there is no crowd in my garage! timing is my problem. If I dont getter done this week not sure when I will.

you'd certainly hope it wasn't intentional....but because of the 2nd incident sure sounds like it was

its just that last fall I finally got a proper jack, and yesterday I finally bought an impact gun,,,no more stomping on the tire iron and using the crappy jack in the trunk for me. I am actually looking forward to changing them. Gonna be a breeze this time. Used to take me an hour per car, now I bet both are done in an hour.

never thought about the insurance! They would use any loophole not to have to pay.

I have a couple days off work....strongly considering swapping out the tires on both vehicles in the next day or two. Anyone else thinking of making the change early or am I alone in considering doing this? The 2 week forecast was all above zero (and many days above 7)

nicely done. Keep telling myself I will try that some spring but it never happens....maybe next year

You know its March 11 right? Sheesh musky doesn't open for 3 months, you would just be wasting your time on lesser fish. Grab your boat in April, warm up on some pike in May, and then really slime it in June. Bam problem solved.

That was great...your son is a natural in the water!

I did not view the original post as legitimate. It is so blatantly against the rules I view it as someone asking to be "piled on". "Trolling" I believe they call it. How many times have we not seen posts that are clearly meant to rile people up? When guys ask what the best recipe is for 50 inch musky is that supposed to be answered seriously? If that was not your actual intent (to post a question that would obviously get a reaction) then I am stunned. Having said that, don't discount my advice, it may still be a good carp spot.

that is my prime carp spot. Try pulling one of those lippy buggers thru the ice. If you succeed, that's some good eating right there. Use an 8 or ten inch auger, fire some corn down the hole and hang on. Have a heated frying pan nearby with butter, pepper and salt. Don't even bother filleting it....just right into the pan. You can deal with the guts and bones later.