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MUSKOKA LAKES CONDITIONS FEB 2012...BAD!


Mcthumper

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I can't stress this enough folks!

Unless you know EXACTLY....and I do mean EXACTLY....where you are going...STAY OFF LAKES JOE ,

ROSSEAU, AND MUSKOKA!!!

Ice this year is VERY UNPREDICTABLE.

Large sections of Lake Joe are wide open.

Parts of Rosseau and Muskoka are covered by only and inch...but they have been covered for weeks.

ANY narrow areas between islands etc are NOT SAFE!!!

Dock bubblers are joining up...creeks are running...spring holes are everywhere.

If you have teenagers....keep them on the golf courses and in the sand pits...that way they will only break their necks.

You will see some tracks out there.DO NOT TRUST THE MORON WHO WENT FIRST!!!

Most ice surfaces are very slick from the melt this week...covered by a dusting of snow...we only got a wind-blown inch of 2 today....under that is about an inch of ice,then water,then if yer lucky, some solid ice.BUt you will have little control on this surface.

For all you city folks who may be thinking our weather up in the north has been even remotely normal...it has not!

STAY OFF THESE LAKES!!!!!!

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I know someone who has been running from Campbells landing to indian head for 2 weeks

The Small lakes are OK.

Sparrow Lake has 18 inches were we drilled and Kahshe had 16 inches last weekend

Other then that- Don`t go if ya don`t no...

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It's wide sweeping comments like "The small lakes are OK" that get folks into trouble.

It's not true...not in the real sense.Mr Snowcrest....not everybody rides 3500km like you do...most get a quarter of that and ,not to offend,but don't have a clue what they are doing out there...certainly not when it comes to exceptional conditions such as we have now.

There are places on the smaller lakes ,where folks are used to riding, that are FAR from OK!

Spring holes have popped open,bubblers have joined up...there is water running everywhere.

Parts of lakes where one would think are safe are not....Long Lake is a perfect example....only the middle is ok...the sides are bad to open in long stretches from bubblers and wind.

One of my kids has his hut out on Indianhead....yes,lots of ice under it....but 200 yards away there is no ice where there is a popular,in other years,spot to access the lake.

Understand this.....people arrive here friday nights,look out their cottage windows to see nice winter across their lakes.They hop on the sled with "Oh ya...it's february,it's -15.....lots of ice!"...and away they go.

I live on Lake Joe,south end.Last night,about 9pm,a single sled shot up the lake,real fast, towards the north.In front of my house there is 8"....about 2 miles up the lake it is wide open...wide open for miles.

Does the guy on that sled know that in the space of about 90 seconds his ice is gonna run out...in the dark...alone????

This is how sledders die.

STAY OFF THE BIG LAKES!!!!

EMS/S+R has pulled more people outa the water in tha last 3 weeks than any other year...3 in one day last week.

Little guy went thru a springhole across from our jobsite on wednesday this week on Lake Joe...8 inches of ice,one spring hole...one very cold wet kid,lucky,,,very lucky... to be alive today.

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HOW IS LAKE BERNARD,IM STAYING AT CASWELL RESORT IN SUNDRIDGE ON FEB 19TH...AND WE HAVE TO CROSS THE STAKED TRAIL ACROSS IT TO GET TO THE D TRAIL.....LET ME KNOW,IF ANYONE DOES...IS IT A SHALLOW LAKE,OR MOVING WATER?

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HOW IS LAKE BERNARD,IM STAYING AT CASWELL RESORT IN SUNDRIDGE ON FEB 19TH...AND WE HAVE TO CROSS THE STAKED TRAIL ACROSS IT TO GET TO THE D TRAIL.....LET ME KNOW,IF ANYONE DOES...IS IT A SHALLOW LAKE,OR MOVING WATER?

Lake Bernard was slushy a few weeks ago but I understand that it has been staked now and is marked as OPEN on the IAFTG. The north end of the lake is shallow according to what I have been told.

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Lake Bernard was slushy a few weeks ago but I understand that it has been staked now and is marked as OPEN on the IAFTG. The north end of the lake is shallow according to what I have been told.

Polarisracing - check at the caswell and call northridge inn at the south end. I spoke to Mike the owner of the northridge last week and he said they had decided not to stake the lake this year. If that is the case, I can't believe the IAFTG. On the other hand, perhaps the club changed their minds and went ahead with the staking. Call Mike to be sure - he's a club member and the guy that does the north/south lake staking. (705) 384-2252

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Culled from The Moose...our local radio news>>>

Ice Conditions on Lake Muskoka Questionable

Friday, 10 February 2012 07:54 CFBG Editor A heads up for the public about the ice situation on Lake Muskoka. The Moose has been contacted by a concerned contractor who says there's been a dramatic turn for the worse in terms of ice stability on the lake over the last couple of days. Fissures and wide-open areas of water have developed where there was solid ice only days ago. Two days ago, the contractor says ice near Baxter Island was in a somewhat solid condition, but he says now there's at least 40 feet of open water around it.

<<<

I was not the contractor...someone else called in the warning.

These random openings are happening all over larger water.

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The conditions can change very quickly and do. What was safe last weekend with 8 inches of ice can be dramatically different the next weekend. We had 8 inches of ice based on the hole cut in the ice one weekend. The next weekend 1 inch in the same spot and small holes opening up in the area. If there is any current it can erode the ice from the bottom so quickly.

If there are open spots on the lake winds can push water in under the ice and start to break it up. Bottom line... be very very careful, make no assumptions... be sure and know before you go. A 160 lb person on a 400 lb sled doing 100 may make it across. A 220 lb person on a 600 lb sled going 60 is much more likely to not make it even though he is following the tracks.

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Doesn't seem that many were on the ice,there Rippin....Most folks are be following good advice!

Opening season on lake Joe yesterday....very few huts,and those that were out in the usual spots were,for the most part,gone by 4pm.

All but a very few huts were of the tent/portable variety...probably a very smart move.....well...smart for ice fisher folk:)

I never really 'got' the concept myself...standing out there in the middle,wind,ice,snow,rain....staring down a black hole.

They's welcome to it!

Todays forecast rain(and by the radar now, will be substantial) is really gonna play havoc with already tennuous ice conditions.

Should more slush develop(and likely will) yer speed will be cut drastically....a factor when you come upon that unexpected hole...or mile....of open water.

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  • 2 weeks later...

How are things looking up your way now Macthumper? I have heard there is still some open spots up near round island on the north end by robert's bay. What about rosseau? Pretty familiar with muskoka and all the open water around the many pressure cracks had frozen up last weekend. Appreciate an update on what you have been observing.

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Sorry for the slow reply...yer answer is probably gonna be better for ya today than tomorrow tho;)

I really only KNOW about Lake Joe...fo rthe others,well,thaty aren;t far off the same.

Top half of Lake Joe is open water...has been all season...but it wider now due to the winds last weekend.

Where there IS ice,it's not great...I have about 8" in front of my house,in the narrow section to the south end.There's 10-12" in Stills bay.

There are few tracks out there and fisher folk are taking it day by day...VERY few huts,most of them of the tent,fold-up variety

(down by the Nunnery,at Apian Way near Port Sandfield,there is one hut when normally there would be +25...just one lonely fisher guy out there yesterday)

Bubblers are huge,and all the usual weak spots are very weak.

With a couple days of rain promised,and temps now staying well above freeze,none of this will get better.Just getting to the lakes will likely be impossible in a couple days.

+10 and sun today..rains tonight thru to thursday....highs of +8 thru the weekend coming up......Damn but if there was good ice,this weekend would have been terrific!...

Always loved those late season lake runs after the trails were done.

To avoid damage to my machines and me,we packed them up last week.Heard chatter at the arena last night from the die-hard younger bunch that rocks are cropping up in strange places on the trails in the area too....

a couple destroyed suspensions.

Will try and post the pic I have from one of our local fly-boys from about 10 days ago......

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There is some bright-eye across Lake Joe from me who started dragging stone and timbers across the channel just north of Sherwood Inn about 6 days ago to

build some cribs.

The timbers are still sitting on top.....but his pile of rock went thru last nite.

Hope his customer is pleased with the new shoal in front of his docks;)

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We are trying to get over to Cameron Island , lots of open water by Chown rd , were going from Carlingford dock , it shouldnt be long now with the temps forecasted , the guy that let the rocks sink is not a experienced Dock builder to let that happen ,to be out working on that ice says something about him

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  • 10 months later...

Anyone know the ice conditions in Muskoka this year?

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Anyone know the ice conditions in Muskoka this year?

Will be awhile yet.

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Will be awhile yet.

After this past cold week, do you have any information?

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A lot of huts out now on Muskoka , Warm up coming though , probably see a few guys drag them back to the shore , They will be unpredictable all this winter for sure

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Some friends ran north and east bays on muskoka last week. Seemed pretty solid but I don't know if they measured......

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We had variations of 2 to 6 inches in our bay on Lake Joe when we drilled on the weekend before this warm up.

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I was all over Muskoka last weekend (lots of others as well) and from Bass Lake to Foots bay marina on Joe. Will be interesting how the lake will be after this warm weather and rain.

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I was all over Muskoka last weekend (lots of others as well) and from Bass Lake to Foots bay marina on Joe. Will be interesting how the lake will be after this warm weather and rain.

I would stay off this weekend. Going to be un predictable with some very thin area's and no ice near current flows. Please use common sense.

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I agree. I would give it another week of cold before I even considered venturing back out on it. There we some pretty nasty pressure cracks that had started on Sunday in spots on lake muskoka

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