Michael_Brown

Thanks for reminding me Tom. We are having a volunteers meeting on Tuesday night from 6:30-7:00pm at the Juntion restaurant (upstairs) in Peterborough. The Muskies Canada, Kawartha Lakes Chapter meeting is immediately following and any of the festival volunteers attending who may have an interest in Musky fishing are invited to stay. This meeting is not mandatory by any means, it's just for us to meet the volunteers in advance and try to arrange some of the tasks that will need done the day of the festival. Big Thank You to Jamie Prentice who took the big dive for charity and the Panfish Festival today at the Polar Plunge at Chemong Lake.

I'm not sure about sturgeon lake as I fish it occasionally during the open water season. We have been finding good perch, some sunfish and recently crappie in about 5-6 feet of water late in the day until well into the dark. Weed flats that have open spots seem to be working. Seems to me the flats around Mink islands would fit this mould but I have not tried them through the ice. (yet) Good luck and if you do find them remember to post your results but not your exact spot.

Hi Everyone: One week to go before the festival and things have really come together for this event. Some wonderful sponsors have stepped up and donated some amazing prizes for the event. This morning I picked up our "grand prize" for the United Way charity raffle. Frank at Bridgenorth Sports has gone above and beyond by providing a new Aqua-Vu Ice Pro System for this prize. Other great prizes for this Raffle draw are: Half-Day of Guiding for Bass - John McGoey Fishing Half-Day of Guiding for Panfish - Chris Giles Outdoors Free Night accommodations - Country Blessings B&B 4 x $50 Gift Certificates from our event planner - Clear View Organizing Gift Basket - Roseglen Village Gift Basket - Ferguson Electric 2 x Oil Change - Currie Tire Ontario Out of Doors subscribtion- Ontario Out of Doors Magazine Hat & Shirt - OFAH Tickets are $2 each and all proceeds will be donated to the Peterborough United Way. These tickets are available now at Bridgenorth Sports and the Sip'N'Dip restaurant at both ends of the chemong lake causeway. They will be available the day of the festival at the event tent. 1000 tickets. Also Bridgenorth Sports has also donated a HT Polar Express II portable ice hut for the main draw prize for the adults in attendance. We have a great selection of prizes available for the kids and adults who attend this free event. I just want to thank the OFAH Tackleshare program who will be providing free use of tackle for anyone who needs it. OFAH has been a big supporter of this event providing a ton of support, marketing and too many prizes to list. Chex TV has been running commercials for this event for the past couple of weeks and have been providing local coverage with their news programs. The Kids, Cops and Canadian Tire program has provided a bunch of hats, shirts and ice fishing gear for the kids. The MNR will have staff on hand and have provided funding support for our volunteer costs through the CFWIP program. Kawartha Lakes Muskies Canada chapter have been big supporters of this event and deserve a big Thanks in advance. There is so many great people involved in this event. It has been very rewarding to see the local community support and the angling community support of this festival geared towards education and involvement of new and youth anglers. Clear View Organizing deserves a ton of credit for the work organizing this event of short notice. Check out the festival webpage for more information and a list of all the sponsors and links to their websites. http://www.clearvieworganizing.com/22.html Please plan on joining us with your family next weekend Feb.13, 2010 for a fun day out on the ice of Chemong Lake. P.S Watch for our Polar Plunger tomorrow at the 30th Bel Rotary Polar Plunge. No backing out now Jamie.

I really have been enjoying Musky kabobs, lately. Take a fresh musky fillet and thread it onto a skewer with fresh veggies and cloves of garlic, brush with balsamic vinegar and cook on low heat on the BBQ. The only problem with this is you need several musky over 44 inches for a good feed and it is annoying when all the Muskies Canada guys show up and start crying at the end of your deck. You can use other species of fish, I suppose.

I found the post below from my buddy Barry Pringle on their website and thought I would transfer it over here for anyone who may be interested in Rice lake action. I have also been catching some giant perch on Rice lately. If your only getting small fish move. The jumbos are in there and active. Mike B "Okay, after reading Aarons report on jumbos, I have to get this one out. I have had the opportunity to fish one of Doddseys huts the last few nights. Yes I said the last few nights, tough job but someone has to do it. Jimmy moved his hut over 22 feet of water and the jumbos are on!! Guys and girls, these perch rival simcoe and erie jumbos! Lots of fun, I even kept a few the other night, hm hm good. Thanks Tess for the seafood platter, fresh rice lake perch with scalops and shrimp in a tomato sauce, I will have to have this again next week for sure. Thanks to Jim for the use of his hut and heater, man did I get spoiled. If anyone gets a chance, call Jim for the rental, I promise you it will be well worth it. Call Jim at 905-797-2132 He will put you on fish and the fishing pressure is next to nothing, very relaxing, but hold onto your rod, these tastey buggers fight!! Did I mention that Jim's prices are very very reasonable, and he will supply everything? Had a good time with Jarhead and Jim a few nights ago as well, nice to fish with friends, we all caught fish, but.. by the way guys, you both owe me 5 bucks each for biggest fish, thought I would forget? Lets make it double or nothing next week!" Barry Pringle

I have Maui Jim's and by far the best lens I have ever used. I routinuely spot fish farther away then the people I fish with regardless of the brand they are wearing. I am in no way sponsored by them. I had an eye injury years ago and the eye doctor recommended them for the quality of the lens. Regardless of the brand you choose. Look for a glass lenses as they offer better quality, durablity and resist scratches better than the plastic/polycarbonate lenses. Granted the styles for plastic lenses are far more varied. I have amber coloured lenses and with .5 magnification. The warrenty is unbeatable. I cracked the frame a couple of years ago when I checked them with my baggage at the airport. The company sent me a new pair. Free. Good luck.

Hi Mr. Blizzard; It has been a while since I have fished up there but I would start with the local bait shops. Second to that I know a lot of good anglers in that area are members of the local bassmaster club. They ice fish in the winter and can be a excellent resource for local info. http://www.muskokabassmasters.com/ One popular spot is in front of Windemere house. You could check there you should find people fishing if the ice is good. If your not sure walk and check the ice thickness often. Be safe. I hope this helps. Muskoka River Bait & Tackle 180 Beaumont Drive, Bracebridge, ON P1L 1X2 (705) 645-3465‎ Minnow Man 157A Manitoba Street, Bracebridge, ON P1L 2B7 (705) 645-4385‎ Purk's PlaceAddress:‎ 1038 Bala Falls Road Bala, ON P0C 1A0 (705) 762-5311

So where do I start? Rice Lake cottage association did have a stakeholder representative on the FMZ 17 council. The 500 limt of sunfish was proposed by the Rice Lake Cottage Association stakeholder but it included no fish over 7 inches and was certainly discussed and truth be known the sunfish regulation was one of the most throughly reviewed issues. Some wanted no limits, some wanted far more restrictive limits. My main issue all along was youth anglers. If no sunfish over 7 inches is allowed to be kept, than kids fishing off their docks might break the law by catching a big sunfish. That would be unacceptable. I actually like the maximum 30 over 7 inch limit. The part I'm at issue with is that some members of the Rice Lake cottage association would like to have you think that if left unharvested that the sunfish will continue to grow in numbers until they have pushed all other fish out of the lake. This will not happen. You could ban fishing for sunfish and have a 0 limit and guess what, they will maintain a population balance in the lake. From what I have heard is that most non-residents are reporting not liking the 7 inch limit, which suggest that they volunteer program to release the larger fish was just that volunteer and not all agree to take part. Like Jer suggested there is nothing stopping that volunteer program from continuing. The other thing I'm not pleased with is that after sitting through 3 years of meetings and being provided loads of information about the sunfish resource, is that now after the regulation has been brought into law and the cottage association didn't get exactly what they wanted they are going to public meetings and other media and criticizing the MNR and FMZ council for not listening or ignoring them. I agree with Rice Laker in that the Rice lake cottage association did support the winter fishery during the fishery advisory council review but you would not know that by the comments in the media lately. If the anglers take the same position then we should be all over the media asking for a sunfish limit reduction to 30 or lower. The cottage association is a small group of people, the anglers who fish Rice lake number in the tens of thousands. It would be in the best interest of all to give this a few years to see what happens. Fear mongering about walleye poaching or possible drownings does nothing but hurt the image of the great fishery Rice Lake represents.

Maybe the Rice Lake Cottage association would like an apology from the MNR for extending their business oppourtunities by five months. It's always annoying when people use bits and pieces of material/research from over a long period of time to justify their agenda. I would be willing to claim that if the Canadian dollar drops in value, the price of gas declines, they loosen security at the borders and we have no more outbreaks of significant disease. That the tourism around Rice lake and other local lakes will increase dramatically. Unfortunatley we will not hear about the good times. The quality angling oppourtunities and good friendly Canadian hospitality, will be here waiting for them when they arrive.

Hi GregF2: Don't read this the wrong way, we are not against americans coming to fish here, buying a license, spending time with your family. That's what we love as well. This is about looking after our resource and offering increased angling oppourtunities when possible to encourage more people to get out and enjoy the quality time that you and I both enjoy. Ice fishing is not harder to enforce than open water seasons and actually may be easier. We have the same number of CO's here in the winter as we do in the summer and in fact anglers have been reporting being checked fairly often. Many out of season fish are caught and released in the open water months, if done properly it is not an issue. Like anywhere else, a few cause problems for the many. The above posted poll has now closed so the link doesn't work anymore. Glad to see I'm not the only one annoyed by this.

I was reading the Peterborough Examiner tonight and found two articles about ice fishing in the Kawartha's. The first was very negative from a member of the Rice Lake cottage association, (approx 35 members). Several inaccurate facts were quoted about the numbers of panfish, fishory advisory council recommendations and ice safety. They also attended a local county council meeting. The second article was positive and correct in it's information. In typical style the negative article is on Page 2 and the positive article is on page 18. However the did post an online poll looking for feedback. http://www.peterboroughexaminer.com/ (poll info about halfway down main page) So if you are enjoying the angling oppourtunities in zone 17 or just like seeing anglers getting out and enjoying their time with family and friends please take a minute and complete the poll. I personally will be responding to the negative article and to the county council which I think has been feed some incorrect information. I'm not a big fan of a small interest group speaking like they represent an entire lake community.

Just offer sexual favours. If that doesn't work, bend over because Bell is going to reach out and touch you for everything possible. Never will I deal with them again for anything. Worst customer servise ever plus all the telemarketing from them sucks. My Koodoo phones work better, are far cheaper and no contracts. Another person learning the hard way.

I will take not around Mike B's ice hut for $500 Pat. I personally think everyone is holding out on me. You people are just nailing huge crappies everywhere in the Kawartha's and nobody is saying anything. I mean these lakes are polluted with panfish. Especially with the water down two feet, they should just squirt up the hole when you drill a new one. Somebody is going to slip up and when they do, I'll be all over them like white on rice (or chemong). I'm suppose to film two upcoming TV segments for the new angling oppourtunities and the Bridgenorth Winter Panfish Festival and as of right now I'm going to try getting them to film on shore, maybe at Tim Hortons in Bridgenorth. The panfish festival is shaping up nicely, a good idea has turned into a full-time volunteer job for my lovely wife ( ). She has done a great job and we are looking forward to a great day on the ice with lots of new and seasoned anglers with their families. Please join us on Feb. 13, 2010, it is a free event with proceeds being donated to the Peterborough United Way. Thank You to the members of this board who have offered to volunteer. We will be sending out update information in the next week or so. http://www.clearvieworganizing.com/22.html

What a concept, people enjoying themselves ice fishing in the kawartha's. Chemong lake was covered with anglers today, all parts of the lake. I saw dad's, mom's, kids and grandparents all out fishing together today. Great to see! Concerning the raping and pillaging of the walleye fishery.....not happening. Concerning the lack of enforcement......not happening. Concerning the dangerous ice conditions for anglers......not happening. Concerning Mike B. figuring out the winter crappie pattern......not happening. (yet ) Actually was a pretty decent day for me on Chemong today, myself and ice fishing Elvis, managed 3 crappie, 5 largemouth (one diesel close to 5lbs), 1 sunfish and over 60 perch with enough 10-11 inch fish for a good feed if we had wanted, instead everything went back. Good action in 8 feet of water on a weed flat but very little weed where we fished. The best bite was on small teardrops with a minnow head. Jigged right beside a live minnow all day on 2lb test and only caught three fish on the minnow. Fished until dark but most action was mid-morning. We drilled right across the lake looking for depth, fish, whatever and ended up back in 8 feet. CO's were out yesterday on Chemong from what we heard. We had to be careful of the vehicle traffic that was all over the lake. A nice day on the water 5 minutes from home. All money spent fishing today stayed in my community. http://s867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/A...pg&newest=1 http://s867.photobucket.com/albums/ab233/A...pg&newest=1

I'm heading out on Chemong this morning. I going to try north of the causeway out in the middle below skyline park. I will overcome the kawartha crappie.

Awe come on Ron. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Sorry I teased the fish your holding.

I purchased a Hyundai Sante Fe last fall. It is a fantastic vehicle. 3.3L engine and on-demand all wheel drive it towed my lund last year and the new triton this year. You don't even notice the boat back there. The fuel mileage towing the Triton from Kentucky home was 12.3L/100km. The all-wheel drive is great at slippery boat ramps and the wife calls it her tank. It has ESC which will not let the vehicle fishtail or spin out, we tried on a snow covered parking lot. (bride and I actually had a lot of fun) Great looking vehicle and amazing warrenty. After years of domestics with nothing but problems this has been a great change. So far besides oil changes I have replaced one headlight bulb $12.99, 51,000km. We bought the limited model so it has lots of toys but you don't need a gas guzzling tank to haul a boat. Just my two cents but I'm impressed with it.

Show me how to live - Audioslave (this one causes me to replace speakers - my fault) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q5i9wmlN-A Radar Love - Golden Earing Dark side of the Moon - Pink Floyd Now if I'm in the boat; Lunatic Fringe - Red Rider That would get me through the day.

Ron: This fish seems to have a hook mark near the anal vent. Nice fish but I usually prefer to hook them in the mouth region. Also judging by the lack of foliage on the trees I would say it was a nice day in May. What was used for bait, your favorite, live perch? By the way...who caught the fish?

It looks like tomorrow is going to be a great day. Thanks for the offer Matthew, I'm probably heading out at sometime during the day but I have a few kid trips to make. What part of the lake are you planning on fishing? I'm planning on fishing the north side of the causeway about halfway to Skyline park, right in the middle. Good Luck if I don't see you.

I had a good look around the other day on Chemong and everyone is fishing outside weedlines, nobody catching much of anything. I will not be spending much time in less than 15 feet of water on Chemong, for a while. If you see someone dead center in the middle of the basin, come out for a chat.

Maybe it's you.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do. Confucius

If it's the crappie making us fat. I could probably go a few more weeks getting skunked. For lakes so filled with panfish, the lack of action is somewhat amusing. Makes you realize how much local knowledge is passed along about existing fishing areas and patterns. Easy to find perch on Simcoe, just look where they have been caught for years. Considering how many people know these lakes very well, it is a fun adventure. Every person is saying the same thing...haven't found them yet but I will. The quest for the Holy Crappie Grail continues....

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