Just when you think old man winter has given up, the lawn and dock are covered with frost and the puddle on my boat canvas is frozen solid this morning. While it did not rain on Thursday, the first 2/3 of the day were not very nice. There was a thick layer of clouds and a chilly, brisk northerly wind. The clouds finally cleared around 4PM and the evening was a lot nicer. A planned round of golf in Belleville was postponed until early next week. The forecast today is for several days of gorgeous springtime weather right through next Wednesday. Hopefully this time they have it right.
Took a late day ride to Mephisto Lake on Wednesday and a sample from the spring was submitted to the health unit Thursday morning. Usually have results within a week.
Blackflies were awake at the dump last Sunday but have not had any of them around here on the north shore yet. This sunny, warm spell will probably wake them up.
This is starting to sound like an annual broken record. Definitely avoid downtown Madoc for now. 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 suggest taking Hwy 7 west to Atkinson Rd. south. Take St. Lawrence street back toward Madoc, then turn right on Rollins. Turn left on Seymour back to Hwy 62 south of town. If you get too close to downtown and get stuck in the official detour you might be awhile. (and I would not want to try towing a boat through it.)
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. Note this is rescheduled from April 23.
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.
