Nicest day of the season so far on Monday. Lots of sunshine, light southerly winds, and the temperature managed to just touch the 80F mark in the mid-afternoon. Last time I saw 80F was November in Knoxville. Clouds and rain are approaching, but this far east Tuesday should remain mostly dry with a high temperature in the 70F range. The sky was red around 5:45AM. We know what that means. There is about a 50/50 chance of rain tomorrow through Saturday.
Put away the hammer and saw, as well as the fishing pole, and played a round of golf on Monday. First time for that since back around 2009. Fortunately, it was not crowded, and our slow rate of play was not a problem for others. On the positive side, between two of us we only lost one ball into the water. Enjoyed lunch at Alex and Cheryls "Nineteenth Hole" restaurant at the course afterwards.
Took a late day ride to Mephisto Lake last Wednesday and a sample from the spring was submitted to the health unit the next morning. Usually have results within a week.
Blackflies were awake at the dump Saturday but have not had them too bad around here on the north shore yet. What is odd is that more than the usual number of mosquitoes are already out. They were talking about the mosquitoes on the morning news today saying they expect them to be worse than usual this year.
Continue to avoid downtown Madoc. They are doing infrastructure replacement up the main street and easterly on St. Lawrence Street. If you are north bound, turn left at the skate park and then right on Rollins. If you are south bound, when you reach the stop sign on Russel St. where you normally turn left, turn right. Turn left on Rollins. Turn left on Seymour back to Hwy 62 south of town. If you get stuck in the official detour you might be awhile. From the distribution of construction materials it looks like the project will continue southerly along 62 out of the downtown core in the near future.
A very nice newer water access cottage will be going on the market this spring. About 150 feet of shoreline. 3/4 acre. Gray water septic. Composting toilet. Shoreline boathouse for easy storage of water toys. In the north-west corner of the lake. Cottage has been lovingly cared for through the years. The rules preclude me from posting a price, but I can tell you they are motivated and are thinking in a very fair range. I can put you in touch with the seller directly.
A second cottager has asked me to mention their cottage for sale also. It is by the islands. Water access. 106 feet of clean shoreline. It is also newer (relatively) and has been extremely well maintained. Sits on about 2/3 acre. The owner for the last generation is a capable do-it-yourself guy. Has a very nice bunkie and a newer 20 X 20 floating dock. Once again it is not permissible for me to quote a price, but I know that it is very competitive with similar sales over the past few years.
I have had a number of inquiries on both of them. Hopefully the owners can get them sold quickly this spring and we have a couple of new neighbors this summer.
The municipality will have a public information session on Invasive Species at the May 21st council meeting. 12:30 at the Community Center on Hwy 620.
The municipality will also be holding a public input session on "public boat launch ramps." Not sure of what form that session will be yet.
The Rogers 5G tower on Sutton Rd. is operational. The Rogers / FOCA special pricing plan is $60 per month this year. (unless you have a Rogers phone in which case it remains $50 per month) Even at the $60 price it is the best internet service for us on the lake. Once you are an LWRA member, we can provide you with a link to the "Rogers Preferred Program" webpage. It appears they throttle the 5G connection to 50MBps down, and 15MBps up. That is plenty of bandwidth for any single-family use. I have tested the connection and can stream three videos simultaneously on three separate devices with no buffering on any of them.
The municipality is on summer burning rules. Daytime burning is no longer allowed until November 1. No permits were issued last year. Campfires less than 3 feet by 3 feet are allowed from 7PM to 7AM. There have been exceptions for campfires in organized campgrounds in the past. I will check with the fire chief and see what the plans for permits and campgrounds are this year.
The dump is on summer hours. It is open Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and holiday Mondays from 11AM to 6:00PM. It changes back to winter hours on September 1.
The 2025 fishing regulations are available on the Ontario.ca website. The Limerick chain of lakes remains at the very south end of fisheries zone 15. Pages 104 to 114 of the regulations book. Bass season opens June 28, 2025, and closes November 30. Lake trout season opened January 1 and closes September 30. The Limerick chain of lakes has a "slot size" for lake trout that MUST be returned to the lake if caught. It is roughly 16 to 22 inches. It is also a "one line" lake when ice fishing.
