2010 Newsletter

     Happy holidays to all our guests and your families. Another fishing season has come and gone and what an interesting season it was. The ice was out early in 2009, but the cool weather stuck around longer than usual, making the fishing a little more challenging. After the cool weather, the rain started. The water level at some of the lakes changed by 2 feet or more over the course of the summer. This did produce some problems, especially with the docks and boat ramps, but we were able to deal with those issues in a timely matter so as to not inconvenience anyone too greatly. We have posted some pictures on our web site in the photo album to show how dramatically the water rose, for those who were not here to see it first hand.
      After the issues we had with Ethanol gas in 2008, we switched to Premium Unleaded gas, and have not encountered the same issues we had regarding water in the gas, so we will continue to use the Premium gas.
     We were told at the beginning of 2009 that Yamaha would no longer be making 2 stroke motors after Dec 31, 2009, so we decided to put 4 stroke Yamaha motors on Thicketwood so that we could get some feedback from our guests as to the likes and dislikes of these motors. Everyone agreed that they were quieter and much more fuel efficient, but did not have the acceleration of the 2 strokes. We have now been informed that Yamaha will continue to make the 2 stroke motors, and therefore we will continue to use the 2 stroke motors on all our boats.
      Camp improvements last year included, building a permanent walkway over the rocks between the dock and Gas shed at Robert North, lifting up and leveling Mimi South, re-shingling the roof at Mimi North, rebuilding the deck at Peisk South and rebuilding the screened in porch and deck at Knox. Two of the projects that we would like to complete in 2010 are raising and leveling the cabins at Job and Robert North.
     The Ontario government will be combining our provincial (PST) and federal (GST) taxes into the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). There will be a rebate of 50% of the taxes paid on all the trips for Non-residents, so the increase to the cost of the trip due to taxes will be minimal. We will be raising our trip price to $950.24 so with the taxes and the rebate, the total cost of the trip will be $1012.00
     In 2009, Transport Canada implemented new regulations for boat operators. The Competency of Operators of Pleasure Craft Regulations require that all operators of pleasure craft fitted with a motor to have proof of competency and proof of age on board at all times. We rent you our boats and motors so you do not need to have a Canadian-issued pleasure craft operator card but we will have to provide you with a completed boat rental safety check-list unless you have an operator card or equivalent from your state. For more information, visit http://www.tc.gc.ca/marinesafety/debs/obs/quick/quick_visitor.htm  We encourage you to obtain a safety card from your state, as you will require it or a safety checklist, every time you use a rental boat in Canada.
     
    We appreciate your patronage, and will strive to make your trip as pleasant as possible.

    We look forward to seeing you in 2010