Archive for March, 2012

Check out the Power Sports Depot booth located in Hall 4, Aisle 2900, booth number 2919. To see the build quality of the RiverHawk welded boat line  up and or online at http://www.riverhawkboats.ca/

 

 

The Spring Cottage Life Show (20120
Info: http://cottagelife.com/shows/show-info

Admission:

Adults (18+):

$17

Youth (13-17):

$10

Weekend Pass:

$24

Kids 12 and under:

free

Cash only for onsite ticket sales. See the April issue of Cottage Life magazine for a discount coupon, or buy your tickets online to save.

Show Dates/Hours:

Friday, March 30: 11am-8pm
Saturday, March 31: 9am-6pm
Sunday, April 1: 10am-5pm

Exhibitor List

Click here to review the list of more than 475 quality cottage exhibitors.

Features & Special Events

The Features & Special Events schedules are posted – click here to plan your visit.

Show Map

View the show map.

Dogs

We love cottage dogs, but kindly ask that you leave your dog at home. This includes purse-sized pooches. Service animals welcome.

Accessibility

A limited number of wheelchairs are available on a first-come, first-served basis at any entrance upon request. See the ticket takers for assistance. The International Centre is wheelchair accessible at all entrances.

Child Care

Enjoy up to two hours of free child care for ages 2+. Located in Hall 1 in the Family Activity Centre. Open on Saturday, March 31, and Sunday, April 2.

Enter our Cottage Life Shopping Spree contest!

Ready to go shopping? You could win $1,000 to spend with selected exhibitors at the Spring Cottage Life Show. Enter now!
Show Hours/Day :

Friday, March 30: 11am-8pm
Saturday, March 31: 9am-6pm
Sunday, April 1: 10am-5pm

Venue Information :
International Centre, Toronto
Free parking for 5,000 cars
6900 Airport Road at Derry Road
Get directions
Enter at Halls 1, 3/4, and 3A

Discover the beauty of glorious South India, Indian Himalayas, Golden Triangle, Indian Jungle Tours and much more!

Wayne Sheridan reports: The weather in southern Ontario has been amazingly warm this past 10 days. Almost all the snow and ice have left the rivers, We went up to the trailer this past weekend and we all had a great time roasting marshmallows, and wieners on the campfire. We were amazed at all the wildlife activity. We had a great timeJ. River levels are fairly normal in the southern part, but near flood levels on the upper rivers like the Saugeen River. Fishing at these river mouths will be a challenge for a few days. Be careful around river banks.

 

River Flow Rates: Very High, dangerous. Visibility mud coloured, visibility 2ft.

 

River Levels: Saugeen River (above Durham) dropping at 1.544M, Saugeen River (Walkerton) at 11.5M, Saugeen at Port Elgin down at 8.531M, Sauble River (Sauble Falls) dropping at 1.369M, Sydenham River (Owen Sound) down at 5.219M, Maitland River (above Wingham) dropping at 10.317M, French River at Woseley Bay at 187.437M, Bronte Creek near Zimmerman down 6.0M, Credit River at Streetsville down at 4.686M, Credit River at Orangeville down at 11.255M, Grand River (Doon), dropping at 4.22M (below Shand dam) up at 1.813M, Rideau River at Ottawa down at 3.98M, Ottawa River at Britannia at 58.955M

 

Prime Fishing Times: Saturday March 24th, 2012: 1:15 pm to 4:15 pm (moon overhead) and 1:03 am to 3:49 am (moon underneath). Moon rise 7:58 am, moon set 9:40 pm

 

Flyfishing: We saw lots of insect activity this past weekend, mosquitoes, bees, fireflies, houseflies, almost everything. Use roe for rainbow and steelhead, single eggs seem to get the best results.

 

Great Lakes Fishing: Ice on the Great Lakes and other lakes are not stable. Best bet for spring fishing is small lures. Also, Rudy Hachey won the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular using his trusted white ladder-back Lyman lure with a 21.16-lb (9.53 kilogram) Chinook salmon. Nice fish!

 

Always Fish Safely

 

Wayne Sheridan

 

Don’t forget to check the lunar times and check out our new articles on Flying Squirrels, Cod Stocks, White Nose Syndrome in Bats, and the Asian Carp Debate at www.canadianangling.com .

Gerald Fisher and Donald Bartolacci report that their recent trip to Tarpon Springs and Gulf Harbor Florida was one of their most rewarding fishing trips in many years. According to Gerald, “We spent most most of our time drift fishing shallow water grass flats for spotted sea trout. Using Berkeley salt water ‘gulp’ shrimp we landed dozens of trout every day, including many in the 3 – 5 lb range. In addition to the trout we also caught large numbers of sea bass, flounder, lady fish, grunt, porgie and snapper. As tides rose and fell, the action was really non stop.”

 

Donald added that “the special treats of this trip were the day we spent fishing Lemon Bay with Barb and Italo (which was previously reported) and the half day charter we did out of Tarpon Springs with Captain Richard Knox of Absolute Flats Charters (www.captrichknox.com )

 

Slow trolling live ‘white baits’ in 20 feet of water produced dozens of hard slashing hits from Spanish Mackerel and 20 fish in the boat including 8 that were over 5 pounds. This was truly heart pounding action that was interrupted only by the arrival of a slack tide.  It will be a day I will always remember.

Jeremy Lord, landed Sunday March 18th, 2012 a personal best 14.5 lb. Channel Catfish! The fish hit a pre-tied rig with a barrel lead weght and circle hook with a chunk of sucker meat. The fish strike was violent to say the least and the fish fight was memorable indeed given the terrific fight the fish put up in the cold water. This fish was caught below the dam in Dunnville, ON thanks to our old reliable Lucky Strike landing net the fish was released unharmed in preparation for spawning. Special thanks go out to Ben Patterson for doing an excellent job with the landing net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicely done Jeremy!

 

Wayne Sheridan reports: A heat wave has settled over southern Ontario, just in time for March Break. We will be heading up to our trailer Thursday for some much needed r and r. The warm temperatures have finished ice fishing for this season. I love to fish, but not worth my life. River levels have increased due to snow melt and are at high levels. Be very careful with children, pets and yourself. Have a great St. Patrick’s Day

River Flow Rates: medium. Visibility tea coloured, visibility 5ft.

River Levels: Saugeen River (above Durham) rising at 2.032M, Saugeen River (Walkerton) at 11.572M, Saugeen at Port Elgin up at 9.364M, Sauble River (Sauble Falls) dropping at 1.542M, Sydenham River (Owen Sound) rising at 5.386M, Maitland River (above Wingham) rising at 10.825M, French River at Woseley Bay at 187.325M, Bronte Creek near Zimmerman down 6.078M, Credit River at Streetsville down at 4.862M, Credit River at Orangeville down at 11.279M, Grand River (Doon), dropping at 4.559M (below Shand dam) up at 2.426M, Rideau River at Ottawa not available, Ottawa River at Britannia at 58.579M

Prime Fishing Times: Saturday March 17th, 2012: 8:53 am to 10:09 am (moon overhead) and 9:18 pm to 10:34 pm (moon underneath). Moon rise 4:11 am, moon set 2:56 pm

Flyfishing: crayfish, bloodworms, worms and minnows for larger trout. Use roe for rainbow and steelhead, single eggs seem to get the best results. Minnows for perch.

Great Lakes Fishing: Ice on the Great Lakes and other lakes are not stable. Best bet for spring fishing is small lures. Also, Rudy Hachey won the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular using his trusted white ladder-back Lyman lure with a 21.16-lb (9.53 kilogram) Chinook salmon. Nice fish!

Always Fish Safely

Wayne Sheridan

Don’t forget to check the lunar times and check out our new articles on Flying Squirrels, Cod Stocks, White Nose Syndrome in Bats, and the Asian Carp Debate at www.canadianangling.com

Yesterday my wife Barbara, our dog Mulligan and our friend Gordon ventured out about 3-miles into the Gulf of Mexico to try for some bottom fish and than to troll for mackerel.  Winds were gusting and we picked-up a lot of spray off the top of the waves and still fished on bottom for about 1-hr.  Fishing was slow and we just caught smaller species of sand perch, pin fish, jacks and grunts.  As the winds picked-up we decided to troll back with some cut-bait.  My wife Barbara landed the only mackerel of the trip just as we went through Stump Pass.

 

Today I had a chance to cast-net fish for some mullet and was blessed to catch 15-mullet with one throw.  Mullet have been scarce, but persistencey pays off.

Strong north-easterly winds kept us from going out on the Gulf of Mexico today, but we still went out on Lemon Bay, Fl to target some spotted sea trout.  Windy conditions even in Lemon Bay kept many boaters from going out.  We where blessed to fish with our good friend Gerald Fisher and his brother-in-law, Donald along the grass flats.  Our strategy was to fish chartreuse 4 1/2″ minnow grubs with 1/8 & 1/4 oz. jigheads right on the break where the grass line met the deeper channels.  Casting was tough with the wind but we managed to land about a dozen spotted sea trout and a variety of other fish including; silver perch, lizard fish, sand perch, ladyfish and jacks.

My wife Barb & I continued to use the Rapala Shift & R-Type series of rods & reels loaded with Sufix 832 braided line/ Sufixfluorocarbon leader.  Even though these are fresh water outfits, they perform excellent in saltwater.  We keep them in great operating order by rinsing them thoroughly after each saltwater outing with fresh water.

If the winds subside tomorrow we will be out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Winter still has a lockdown on us northern folks with a fresh 25cm of snow and temps in the -20C range. Although conditions were not ideal this didn’t prevent myself, my brother Aron and our good friend Burns from getting out on the ice in a secluded bay of the St. Mary’s river for a few hours of perch fishing.  We started fishing in 18′ to 21′ of water with minimal success.  A decision was made to move and try to find the schools of perch that we knew were there.  It wasn’t until we hit the 12′ mark that the action really started to pick up.  In 2.5 hours we managed to catch over 50 perch and kept 10 in the 10″-12″ range for a nice meal.  The hot bait was a small jigging rapala in the perch pattern and a small gold swedish pimple tipped with a minnow head.  Set lines with 3″ emerald shiners also performed well and seemed to catch the majority of the larger perch.  As winter comes to a close expect to find more perch migrating to bays to spawn in the early spring.

Matt Yukich

Ontario North Fishing Adventures

www.ontarionorthfishing.com

My wife Barbara, our dog Mulligan and I had a chance to visit with our good friends Debbie and Mike Scarlet who have a winter home in Port Charlotte, Fl.  Mike has become an avid angler and we had a chance to fish with him near the mouth of the Mayaka River, Fl from his fishing boat.  We ended up fishing a 3-4′ deep channel in the middle of a large flat where we cast 1/8 & 1/4 oz. jighead rigged with 4″ plastic minnow grubs along the sea-grass beds.  My wife Barbara ended up catching the most Spotted Sea Trout while Mike landed most of the Ladyfish.  We had a great time and caught lot’s of fish in just a couple of hours.