Haliburton Or Kawarthas

[bigbuck]

We're kinda thinking about buying a cottage in the next 2-3 years and I'd like to make an educated decision as opposed to a knee jerk one. I like the Muskokas but the prices up there are just insane. Haliburton is gorgeous but so are the Kawarthas (having a bit of an advantage with Peterborough being within 1/2 hour or so). So here's my conumdrum, where is the fishing better?? I'm sorta familiar with the Kawartha lakes but have no clue as to what's up in the Haliburton area. I'd like a bigger lake to be able to waterski, explore, and let's face it, to fish my brains out. Being able to get onto other lakes in a chain would be a huge bonus.

 

So, what's everyone think????

[Rich]

Haliburton has lots of large lakes and a little bit less boat traffic if you're into water skiing and stuff. Also, there are so many lakes in the Haliburtons it would take you years to go fish them all. Beautiful area too. On the downside it's a hike to get to the nearest town.. and lets face it Minden & Dorset arent exactly hubs for everything you need. Closest place is Huntsville and thats a bit of a hike.

 

The other advantage to the Haliburtons is that they dont have that stupid closed season from November to May. You can ice fish, or at least fish the late fall/early spring.

[Entropy]

What City do you live in now ?

 

The Tri-Lakes might be good for you, but well populated.

 

[snoil]

Elephant lake,Batiste and i believe Benoir form a 3 lake chain in the Bancroft area.Close to Haliburton as well.Lots and lots of smaller lakes in the area.3 hours from Toronto.I love it.

[Pigeontroller]

I have a Trailer on Pigeon Lake, and my Brother lives near Minden. Any questions, don't hesitate to send me a PM/Email. The Kawarthas are busy. Haliburton can be too, but you can find quieter lakes up there. Not sure what your fishing interests are, but the Kawarthas get alot of pressure, and the fishing can be tough. There are some awesome Bass Lakes in the Haliburtons.

[fishindevil]

go to haliburton,#1..better fishin,peace & quiet,better scenery more wildlife,you can ICE FISH IN HALIBURTON....and ..are ya ready...............THE KAWARTHAS SUCK BIG TIME.....just my 2 cents

[Big Cliff]

Sue and I took 4 1/2 years looking for our place, there were a lot of factors involved in making our decision. We wanted a place where we could catch fish right off the dock, we were looking at it as an investment so there had to be potential for growth in the area. Because of Sue's health problems, we wanted a place that was close to medical facilities.

 

We are on Sturgeon Lake in the Kawarthas and love it! I can catch Muskie, Pickerel, Carp, Bass, and almost any pan fish you can think of right off the dock.

 

It was affordable, when we bought it, we knew we were going to have to do a lot of work on it so we came up with a five year plan, this is year six and most of what we wanted has been accomplished.

 

Lindsay is a vibrent and growing town, there is little that we have to travel out side of the area, taxes are reasonable compaired to similar properties elsewhere, there are new businesses opening every day and lots of job opportunities, propertie values are still reasonable but growing at a nice steady rate.

 

If you would like to come for a visit let me know and I'd be happy to spend some time showing you around our area and even talk to a few realestate people for you.

 

Oh, and fishindevil, "the Kawarthas" is a big area, why do you think they "suck"?

[ecmilley]

Really what kind of fishing do you like doing do you like socializing with your neigbours or do you like privacy, any health problems that may require a quick trip to the hospital .

Will you want winter access to your cottage and do you atv, snowmobile

[Pigeontroller]

One of the nice things about the Main Kawarthas is the ability to travel by boat through Locks to different lakes, of course the trade off is these lakes are really busy in the summer, especially long weekends.

[bigbuck]

Well, we'd definitely like winter access. As for types of fishing, pretty much anything goes. Muskies, wallys, big fat basss-turds, panfish, I like catching'em all. We live in Oakville and I figure the max travelling time has to be inside of 3 hours (we're about that far to Haliburton village).

Thanks for the replies, BigCliff and Pigeontroller, I'll probably be taking you fellas up on your offers in the next few months.

 

Cheers,

 

B

[ecmilley]

muskies and buckets and wallys makes the kawarthas a great place to start , i live on sturgeon and do alright for these species the whole year, as welll as an ofsc and ofatv trail stright across the lake keeps me amused in the winter, they do tend to get busy on weekends but i live 8 doors down from the marins and it never really gets nuts other than right in the channel, also i am a short 30 min to 1.5 hr trip by trailer to some great bass and trout lakes in haliburton country which make for good day trips

[wuchikubo]

Remember to keep the fishing regs in mind as some of the new changes suggest closing down the trout season through the ice!

 

Although I don't have a cottage (yet), I feel the Kawarthas have slightly more variety of fish, this is due to my thinking that there are more colder water lakes in the Haliburtons, great for trout though.

 

Kinda wishing i had your dilemma.

 

HF

[turtle]

I have a place in the north end of Haliburton and have been up there for many years with temporarily living there, a family cottage and now my own cottage. So my bias is Haliburton. The north end is hilly, rocky, mostly coinferous with some mixed forests and deep lake trout lakes. Pretty good deer population with the odd moose. Even a few wild turkey have made it up that far north. Going south it flattens out with more mixed forest and better bass lakes. The north end would be a long haul from Oakville. Fairly good drive up if you are starting north or east of Toronto. Dont know about the trip from Oakville. Real estate prices are high in the area I am in-Redstone-Kennisis if you want to be on a big lake. You may want to check out the Bancroft area, I am not familiar with it but real estate prices seem lower in comparison.