Lot of trails showing "green" on the trails map. There have been winters when the conditions never got better than yellow the entire winter. The 950 Limerick Lake trail is open. Check the OFSC ITG for the latest status after the warmer weather this week. It is great to see lots of snowmobile traffic in the webcams each day. Finally, a winter to get plenty of use out of the machine and the trail permit.
Great to hear from one of my regular former Lodge guests (JV) over the weekend. He was part of a group of guys that came every year around Halloween. They were a hardy lot, braving freezing temperatures, blowing snow, wind and rain to catch some really big, late season bass. Several of the guys knew the nuances of baseball and were fun to watch the World Series with in the evenings.
Limerick Council meeting was short and efficient on Wednesday. The Roads Department received a letter of thanks from the local school bus company on the great winter maintenance. Council passed an update to the use of shipping containers by-law aligning it with the comprehensive zoning by-law. It is 2026-04 and should be posted on the municipal website soon. Sounds like Nordspace had some sort of activity on site last week. Council asked the Clerk to arrange for them to be a delegation to Council soon so that everyone is aware of what they have planned. Next Council meeting is Tuesday, March 24. A budget meeting is in the morning at 10AM followed by Council at 12:30.
Received what I feel is unfortunate news in local government. The economic development officer for Hastings County, Andrew Redden and Hastings County parted ways on February 13th. He held the position for some 18 years and I thought he was doing a good job with what resources he was provided. He was a champion of the "Lone Eagle" creative economy concept for rural area growth. Totally unsubstantiated scuttlebutt is that the entire Economic Development Department as it has existed is being restructured. I hope they do not turn to "chasing smokestacks" as that never works in rural areas. Remember GP Flakeboard?
Transport Canada is digging into our pocketbooks as of January 6, 2026. Most of us will now have to renew the registration of our boats every 5 years. Pretty much applies to every boat that has an engine of 10hp or more regardless of age. More information here:
https://tc.canada.ca/en/marine-transportation/vessel-licensing-registration/licensing-pleasure-craft/apply-manage-pleasure-craft-licence-pcl/apply-manage-pleasure-craft-licence-pcl
There is a $250 fine if you get pulled over for a safety inspection this coming summer and your registration is not up to date.
On a related subject, I received notification from both OFAH and FOCA that 3rd party boat registration services have popped up. Some have misleading names that lead you to believe you are dealing with Transport Canada but are not. I do not mean to imply that these 3rd party services do not provide the service promised, but instead of your registration costing $24, they charge between $50 and $150 for their assistance.
The Spring Cottage Life Show is March 26–29 at the International Centre, Mississauga. The code for discount tickets for this week is: LIVE
The Rogers / FOCA special pricing plan for internet service remains $60 per month. (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 many of us on the lake. It appears they throttle the 5G connection to 40MBps down, and 10MBps up. That is plenty of bandwidth for any single-family use. I have used the service for two full seasons and grade it an A-. If the service keeps working through power outages in the future I will up their grade to A+.
We are now on winter burn rules. Fires are permitted 24/7.
The dump is on winter hours. It is open Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and holiday Mondays from 11AM to 4:30PM.
The 2026 fishing regulations are on-line. Copy and paste this URL into your browser to navigate to them:
https://lwra.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-fishing-regulations-summary-en-2025-12-08.pdf
The seasons and regulations for this area (zone 15) remain the same as 2025. They are on pages 104-114 of the regulations book. Bass starts June 27 and ends November 30. Trout starts January 1 and ends September 30 with the slot size of 16 to 21 inches to be returned to the lake. It is a one-line lake for ice fishing.
