Almost 20F cooler on Monday than it had been on Sunday. The humidity was still very high, and unlike the weekend, the wind stayed mostly calm. A good day to run the AC on dehumidifier setting. Lots of clouds around Tuesday morning, along with some fog rising off the warmer lake water. They say there is a chance of light rain this morning. The afternoon should be nicer. The rest of the week is one of those toss a coin forecasts with 30 to 40 percent chance of rain each day. Thursday looks to be the nicest.
Free Family Fishing Week is OVER. Fishing licenses for Ontario residents between 17 and 65 years old are once again required.
Been visiting Limerick Lake for some 69 years now and had a first on Tuesday morning. While watching a flock of 6 loons, I spotted what looked like a pelican. Pelican? They hang out in Florida and along the Gulf Coast. Had the opportunity to watch it for a while through my spotting scope and was pretty sure of what I was seeing. A little research afterwards confirmed that I saw a North American brown pelican. They usually stay along the coast or on the Great Lakes, but this one was swimming around Limerick Lake this morning. They had been endangered but are making a good comeback. It was definitely not an American white pelican.
The construction along Hwy 62 south of Madoc is underway. On the 4th they were working on the section near Moira Lake. I have been taking the 14 to Stirling and Marmora then across the 7 this summer. If you are coming from the east, I recommend the 41 to the 7.
The LWRA will be having their traditional activities on the August holiday weekend. The paddle sports (canoe, kayak, etc.) competition will be Saturday morning August 2. The AGM and social event will be that afternoon (being held at the Aaron Huizinga cottage near the dam on St. Ola lake) and the sailboat regatta will be Sunday afternoon August 3. More info will be posted closer to the event dates.
The Rogers 5G tower on Sutton Rd. is operational. The Rogers / FOCA special pricing plan for internet service 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 not allowed until November 1. (see exceptions below) No permits were issued last year. Campfires less than 3 feet by 3 feet are allowed from 7PM to 7AM.
Now, to answer some more technical questions about daytime fires. I am fairly adept at reading Ontario "O.reg" legalese but will insert the disclaimer here that this is MY interpretation of what was provided by the "Fire Prevention Officer" for the municipality. O.Reg. 207/96 sections 8.1 through 8.4 say that during the day:
You can use a commercially sold camp stove during the day that uses a liquid or gas fuel as long as that stove can be turned off by a control valve.
You can have a charcoal fire in a BBQ designed for charcoal while using only commercially available charcoal, AND, you are within 100 meters of your permanent dwelling.
You can have a charcoal fire in a BBQ designed for charcoal while using only commercially available charcoal, AND, you are in a commercially operated campground with permission from the campground owner/operator.
You can have a wood fire in a commercially available wood burning stove or oven as long as the stove is 5 meters from any combustible material, the area under the stove is bare rock, the stove encloses the fire on all 4 sides, and the stove is within 100 meters of your dwelling.
You can have a campfire in a commercial campground in an above ground grate that is permanently affixed to the ground and cannot be moved and is clear of any combustible material by 3 meters in all directions including vertically (no overhanging branches) and you have permission from the campground owner/operator.
You can have a daytime campfire that is less than 1 meter in diameter and 1 meter high as long as it is on bare rock and at least one meter from all flammable material.
This last section (taken from O.Reg. 207/96 Section 8.5 paragraphs 1 through 4) seems to say that as long as you build a small fire on bare rock, you can have a daytime campfire at a wilderness campsite. Remember, all of these exceptions are for daytime burning when a total "fire ban" is NOT in effect.
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 opened June 28 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.
