grt1

A few years ago the province said they assessed ALL the properties in the unorganized areas, but that was a farce because they sent letters out to places they couldn't drive to. This would allow the owners of the unreachable properties to measure the buildings they had and send in the information. We all know that many people lied, yes lied, is the only way to put it on their responses. What lodge owner in his/her right mind would send in a letter stating they had several cabins when they could get away with a small diagram of 1 cabin? There were also many who refused to submit their responses. When the assessors went to the accessible areas for appraisal they found literally hundreds of homes that were not being assessed. Many of these were on farms or large tracts of family held lands that thanks to government refusal to subdivide were built anyway. When the process was done, any property that was outside a school board's jurisdiction had the NEW assessment locked away in the asssessment office's cabinets since the provincial land tax reform hadn't taken place or for that fact had even been written and introduced into the legislature, so they couldn't tax them. At least in 2009 the playing field will be level for everyone and we will be paying our fair share,nothing more, nothing less.

I got this one at a community corn roast at our subdivision. Walleye Pizza Take walley fillets and lay them on a pizza pan to form the pizza bottom Top the fillets with your pizza sauce and add your favourite toppings then spread mozza cheese over them and bake until the cheese is melted and browned to your liking. It may not sound too good but it was the one dish at this corn roast the crowd couldn't get enough of, you had to be quick to get any.

Don't let a previous post lure you into thinking that if you buy in an unorganized area your taxes will be low forever. I have been dealing with this issue for the past several years as I am president of the unincorporated area ratepayers association for the Kenora District. Our area is huge and has over 2 billion, yes billion, dollars of assessed properties in the unorganized areas. The province realized that time for a look at the tax structure for the unorganized areas was needed and they introduced and passed legislation that created the Provincial Land Tax Reform Act. In essence in 2007 and 2008 each and every property in the unorganized area of the province will be reassessed and the values will be based on the current market value. (in some areas, the province is currently using an assessment value based on 1941 values). So for the fellow who paid 79K for his cabin, he should expect to see his assessment around that amount. depending on what the market price is now for the region he bought in. The province will then in 2009 send out the Provincial Land Tax bill that will have a new tax rate and in some cases a new assessment value. The increase in taxes is supposed to be used for "locally delivered provincial services". In the north, we have District Social Service Administration Boards that provide the services of Child Care, Social Housing, Ontario Works and in some areas land ambulance services. These taxes help pay for those items . the province also stated that the money raised in the unorganized areas was to be used in the north, but you can bet your bottom dollar, they'll go into the general coffers and the north won't see much of the new money raised. I guess I just wouldn't want to see you purchase something and think the taxes will be low forever, they won't. They should however, be reasonable.

Here on the south bay of gullrock lake, the bay is 1/2 open so hopefully in the next 3 days we'll be ice free

I'll be at the west arm of Eagle Lake with the members of our Eagle Lake Hookers Club, now entering it's 20th year of fun and fishing.

What size of a Lund is this?

On Gullrock, just south of Red Lake, the shoreline has water between the ice and the shore and Bug River is open to the entrance to the Lake. Red Lake is usually a week behind Gullrock in opening and if we keep getting the warm temperatures I think Gullrock will be open within the next 2 weeks.

Each year I take 1/2 dozen down to our fish camp to use for lake trout bait later in the year when the trout are deep. a little piece on a hook seems to work well. Also a lot of the folks up this way can the suckers and add a little food coloring to make it look like salmon.

Here in the northwest, the walleye & pike limits are already at 4 for a regular licence and 2 for conservation. Many of the tourist operators claimed this lowering from 6 affected their bookings, I can imagine the outcry up here if it is lowered any further.

I agree, the Mustad hooks are amazingly sharp. they have the ULTRA POINT on them and I use a long shank version of them on the spinners that I make.

when I jig for walleye, I want a hook that is at least a 2/0 size so the minnow I tip it with can be completely skewered by the hook, not just a tiny hook through the lip.

There is still 3 feet of ice and no water on top of it. with the warm temps expected, next week I hope to see some water in the creeks flowing into the lake and starting the melting process.

Actually in my part of the Province the walleye season closes on the 15th of April, so not all areas are OOS yet.

this tax has been added to my bill in the City of Kenora also. However, when I questioned it nothing was said that it was voluntary. The hotel made it seem mandatory and I understand it is remitted to the City to promote the City. I have also paid this in Winnipeg at the Casinos.

There are 3 sites (1 American and 2 Canadian) that I check a few times a day. The way I found this site was a posting on the American site that referenced this site by saying "check out this site, those guys are almost as fanatical about fishing as us". Since I started logging on to this site, I have found it is so easy to post and add pictures when I want to and the amount of input from the members is just unbelievable. This is by far the BEST site and I really enjoy the comments and the apparent comoraderie (hope that's spelled right) that goes with the site and members here.

I got one of these rods last year and I like it. I think it is mainly a design effort to make it look like the series one rod that was out a few years ago. Whatever the reason. I dont hold mine in that area, I just hold my finger over the line for feeling the bite.

There are 2 bars that I know of in Ear Falls, one is the old Northland Hotel which is now called the 105 Bar and the other is the Royal Canadian Legion Bar. What is the UFC?

my old hunting partner from Chicago used to tell the guys at Inland Steel that Canadians don't bury the dead they just wait until rigor sets in then take an axe to the legs, make a point and drive them down like fence posts into the tundra

What kind of fire fighter? like a municipal type or forest fire fighter?

I too have had an opportunity to speak 1 on 1 to John Tory and I was pleasantly surprised by his candor and honesty in regards that the conservatives mistakes that were made when they were in power. I don't know if that would change if they form the next government but I hope not (by the way I usually vote for the person in my riding that I think will be the best for the job and the last couple of times that has been a liberal). What we need to get changes done is to have more power given to the ministers for the north, not only the MNR but Northern Development and Mines (which has been gutted) . Only when these ministries get some decent financing to run their departments will we see some benefits. Last year I had a game warden tell me they had $75 a day to work with, that would put gas in their vehicles and boats. If they used up the money on a plane trip to an outlying lake for a spot check they essentially used their budget for the month and were relegated to the office until they had more money credits. this is total crap for them to do their jobs properly.

Last year the ice went out the last week of April so it was about normal. Usually by opening weekend the ice has been gone for 2-3 weeks. However it was -20 again last night and won't warm up again until early next week so I'm just hoping the ice is gone by opening day.

Many of the posts have given you excellent advice. From my point of view, as a former town councillor and mayor, If the municipality has an official plan that has been approved by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the zoning is probably in place to allow this development. So when it comes to the local council actually listening to the current residents of the area, I wish and hope they do, but, with so much downloading on the municipal taxpayers having happened, the chances are they are looking at the increased assessment to the local tax base and what it will do for their future ability to provide services to the municipality. Good Luck and be sure to contact the lawyer that was mentioned that specialized in OMB issues.

My old neighbour owned a tourist camp on Cliff Lake for about 5 years and he tells me that it was decent fishing but if you are looking for walleye, try another lake. Cliff Lake is known for it's lake trout and bass and he tells me it is a fabulous lake for muskie. Although there is a public landing right on the highway, it can only handle a couple vehicle parked there because it is next to a swamp and there is no place to park any more than a couple vehicles with trailers.

I just got home from the foggy area of North Bay and flew over Ear Falls this morning. Snow was dumped on the area on Monday and Tuesday and the current temp is -15 with a wind chill of -30. So the answer to your questions are Lac Seul , Packwash Lake and the Winnipeg River are great fishing areas once the ice goes. and there is still 3 feet of ice on the lakes up here.

I remember years ago when I first came to NW Ontario, the camps were all changing from merc to johnson because the guests were always farting around with the gas mixture knob on the motor. The Johnsons were not as easy to play with and the camp owners all said that if they had to have one motor as their private motor, they would have stayed with the merc since they knew enough not to play with the mixture settings. But, since every guest seemed to think they knew what the settings were supposed to be they fiddled and screwed up the settings and as a result the motors ran like crap. They spent more time in the shop being retuned then on the lake. This is where they got the reputation for being "black anchors" in this neck of the woods. I got a 150 optimax and have run it for 5 seasons and have had 0 problems.