Cold weather is coming.

[glen]

Cold weather is coming. It will be making ice.  I was looking at hut rentals on cooks bay and they want $80 per person.  Ouch.  

[Big Cliff]

Which operator was that with?

[CrowMan]

$70 to $80 is the going rate on Simcoe..

 

[Spiel]

15 hours ago, glen said:

Cold weather is coming. It will be making ice.  I was looking at hut rentals on cooks bay and they want $80 per person.  Ouch.  

I remember paying $22.00 per person what still seems like only yesterday in my rapidly aging mind. 

[smitty55]

1 hour ago, Spiel said:

I remember paying $22.00 per person what still seems like only yesterday in my rapidly aging mind. 

Most of my life ice fishing was spent out in the open, for some trout lakes for brookies we were close enough to shore to have a fire but that was the exception. We just dressed for the conditions with down parkas, long johns and lined pants, Sorel pac boots, down mitts and those solid fuel stick hand warmers. If you got chilled you went for a walk to warm up. It wasn't until we went to Sunny Hill Resort on Bark lake for a weekend back in the 90's that we ever got the luxury of a shack. Areas like Shirley's Bay on the Ottawa used to have up to 100 permanent shacks each year, now there might be a dozen as most people now use portable pop ups or flip overs.

[Spiel]

44 minutes ago, smitty55 said:

Most of my life ice fishing was spent out in the open, for some trout lakes for brookies we were close enough to shore to have a fire but that was the exception. We just dressed for the conditions with down parkas, long johns and lined pants, Sorel pac boots, down mitts and those solid fuel stick hand warmers. If you got chilled you went for a walk to warm up. It wasn't until we went to Sunny Hill Resort on Bark lake for a weekend back in the 90's that we ever got the luxury of a shack. Areas like Shirley's Bay on the Ottawa used to have up to 100 permanent shacks each year, now there might be a dozen as most people now use portable pop ups or flip overs.

I did 95% of my ice fishing then and now on my own, it's the way to go.

However back in the late 70's my Dad's best friend and our neighbour, whose kids I actually used to baby sit moved up to Pefferlaw and had one of the biggest operations on Lake Simcoe at the time. It was easy to accept the offers he gave me including any hut I wanted and the transportation I needed to get me there. 

 

[CrowMan]

8 minutes ago, Spiel said:

I did 95% of my ice fishing then and now on my own, it's the way to go.

However back in the late 70's my Dad's best friend and our neighbour, whose kids I actually used to baby sit moved up to Pefferlaw and had one of the biggest operations on Lake Simcoe at the time. It was easy to accept the offers he gave me including any hut I wanted and the transportation I needed to get me there. 

 

That hat...and what's underneath it !

Nevermind the "rapidly aging mind"...it's the rapidly aging everything else on our bodies that "seems like only yesterday" 😆

Here's one from the same era...no hut, at night, homemade ice picks around the neck...

 

[Spiel]

9 minutes ago, CrowMan said:

Nevermind the "rapidly aging mind"...it's the rapidly aging everything else on our bodies that "seems like only yesterday" 😆

 Right!  lol

[Big Cliff]

Last year we were paying $70.00 per person. I managed to get out about 6 times so $420.00. I got free parking, transportation to and from the hut, all bait supplied  a warm comfortable hut. Didn't have to worry about moving the hut, storing the hut, maintaining a sled, finding bait, cleaning the hut, ice conditions, hauling propane.....As far as I am concerned it's good value for the money spent.

 

[CrowMan]

1 hour ago, Big Cliff said:

Last year we were paying $70.00 per person. I managed to get out about 6 times so $420.00. I got free parking, transportation to and from the hut, all bait supplied  a warm comfortable hut. Didn't have to worry about moving the hut, storing the hut, maintaining a sled, finding bait, cleaning the hut, ice conditions, hauling propane.....As far as I am concerned it's good value for the money spent.

 

Absolutely a good value....it's a bargain as far as winter sports go..

Last winter we skied at Tremblant...single day lift tickets are $160 each. The year before I took my kids and grandkids to Whistler for a week...there are bundles that make it less expensive...but a "walk up to the counter" single day lift ticket is $250 per person..

At least those are real mountains.  Blue Mountain in Collingwood (a hill which maybe takes 7 turns of your skiis to get down) charges $140 for a walk up day pass..

And skiing in Canada is cheap. At Vail Resort in Colorado, single day lift tickets are $295 USD...that's $423 CDN per person just to ski for the day. Believe it or not, there are even more expensive resorts..

At least with ice fishing you get to bring some good eats home...as opposed to spending $30 on a cold hamburger and greasy fries at the ski lodge cafeteria..

And don't get me started on what it costs to take your kids to a Leafs game..

So yeah, I'm not really feeling the "ouch" paying Tim Hale a few bucks to take care of me for the day...

Edited Monday at 10:35 PM by CrowMan

[smitty55]

7 hours ago, Spiel said:

I did 95% of my ice fishing then and now on my own, it's the way to go.

However back in the late 70's my Dad's best friend and our neighbour, whose kids I actually used to baby sit moved up to Pefferlaw and had one of the biggest operations on Lake Simcoe at the time. It was easy to accept the offers he gave me including any hut I wanted and the transportation I needed to get me there. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very first time I ever saw and learned how to use a real actual tip up for Whitefish like that using salted minnows and a three way spreader on the bottom was that first trip to Bark lake. Now folks call any sort of pivoting balanced system a tip up when they all tip down lol. By the end of the weekend fingertips were all split from all that salt.

[glen]

If I can find a place to park I’ll walk out and drill a hole.  Fishing used to be something you could do without spending much money.  

[Big Cliff]

I'll be 79 in a few weeks, my days of walking out, drilling holes, sitting on a 5 gal. Pail all day in -20 temps are long over. 

[crappieperchhunter]

On 1/6/2025 at 4:18 PM, Big Cliff said:

Last year we were paying $70.00 per person. I managed to get out about 6 times so $420.00. I got free parking, transportation to and from the hut, all bait supplied  a warm comfortable hut. Didn't have to worry about moving the hut, storing the hut, maintaining a sled, finding bait, cleaning the hut, ice conditions, hauling propane.....As far as I am concerned it's good value for the money spent.

 

I agree with you more and more every year Cliff. 20 plus years ago I would never spend that money, now I'm happy to.

[smitty55]

All this talk got me thinking of Sunny Hill Resort again. We always went up there in March. As I recall they ended up subcontracting out their ice fishing to someone to supply the shacks, bait, transport etc. So I checked their website and the only thing mentioned is one little item for shacks available at $35 per day/person. If I recall when we rented a cottage for the long weekend the shacks were part of the price. They have lots of cottages so I'll have to look into availability for this winter. We also stayed at High Country Snoasis for a couple of years and learned of a spot on the lake called The Piers 4 miles away from Sunny Hill where we fished for Lakers and Whitefish in an old river current in clear 15ft deep sandy bottom water in mid March. Never fished for Lakers like that anywhere else. The smelt would run those current areas on the way to spawning, that's what attracted the Lakers and Whities to the shallow water. Some years late March/April people could actually access the old river shoreline across ice and "shore" fish the moving water while the main lake was still frozen over. Those were some great times with the boys.
https://sunnyhillresort.com/index/on-the-lake.html

[dave524]

On 1/6/2025 at 2:16 PM, Spiel said:

I did 95% of my ice fishing then and now on my own, it's the way to go.

However back in the late 70's my Dad's best friend and our neighbour, whose kids I actually used to baby sit moved up to Pefferlaw and had one of the biggest operations on Lake Simcoe at the time. It was easy to accept the offers he gave me including any hut I wanted and the transportation I needed to get me there. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love the hat, wore one of those more than 20 years