March 22, 2010 UPDATE
Ten year old Astrid from Toronto, and her best friend Carianne are lucky that Astrid’s grandmother Gloria had the week off work, and also that she likes to travel, especially if she can introduce the kids to some new experiences.
Luckily for the girls, Winterdance was on their last day of tours, and although the trails were starting to show some bare spots, the 3 of them had a very memorable once-in-a-lifetime half-day of dogsled adventure. Not only that, but the girls got real close to the wolves at the Haliburton Forest while the wolves were not-so-delicately feeding on their weekly meal of roadkill deer.
It’s also fortunate that Gloria booked their getaway at Haliburton’s “Cottage Resort with a Difference.” The fun didn’t necessarily end when they came back to their cottage. Bella, the resident lab puppy was adopted for the week by the girls, and it’s not clear who enjoyed the relationship more, the dog, the girls, or the innkeeper (who got a break from looking after an overly energetic doggie.)
Although there wasn’t enough snow left on the property for the usual March Break snowmobile rides, the kids got the next best thing, an ATV trail ride conducted by Haliburton's own semi-famous Snowcross racer, Jaymie McPhail.
Perhaps the most fortunate beneficiary of Gloria’s visit to Kashaga Lodge was the innkeeper himself. As it turns out, she brought baking materials with her with intentions of imparting some of her baking knowledge to the girls. The innkeeper was well fed with angel food cake, cookies, and cupcakes. And Bella also benefited from prime, organic steaks with bones that Gloria brought to the lodge.
Meanwhile, Bella keeps going to their cottage looking for the girls all the time. Come back soon girls. She really misses you!

March 15, 2010 UPDATE
The last weekend of the walleye season on Lake Kashagawigamog was “memorable” by most Kashaga Lodge guests, but not necessarily for all the right reasons.
Typically, last ice on Lake Kashagawigamog triggers a significant pick-up in the walleye bite. However, as it turned out, the weekend of Mar 12, 2010, produced not a single walleye on the ice. And ironically, (and unfortunately) every lodge guest was in town to capitalize on the last ice walleye feeding frenzy. Perhaps the innkeeper should not have suspended the hut operator the previous weekend. Some of the regular guests have been complaining that it’s the innkeeper who should have been suspended, not the hut operator.
Regardless, the weather was unpleasant as hell, and although some of Ontario’s most experienced hardwater walleye addicts including the perennial Sean Cassidy crew, braved the wind and rain, the only fish to be iced were about 45 pathetic little perch, one smallmouth bass, and this 39” muskie, the latter two which of course are out of season and released for the enjoyment of our summer anglers. If Mike Weiss, the guy with the muskie, looks familiar, check this photo borrowed from the top of the “Ice Fishing” page of this website. That's Mike in the middle from March 2006 with a walleye that weighed in at just over 14 lbs, the biggest non-muskie ever caught by a Kashaga Lodge guest, either hard or soft water.

Mark Luey and his semi-obnoxious crew from Port Colborne returned for the eleventh time in 7 years. Armed with his new Vexilar FL-8 flasher, the pickerel didn't stand a chance this year. Here’s Mark’s own summary of their weekend:

Hi Ken, Just wanted to say thanks again for another unforgettable weekend. Here are some of the highlights:
Steve Montgomery broke off a very large muskie on Thursday (36"+ and at least 10 lbs) (second year in a row he broke a large fish off at the hole but at least we got a good look at this one). Too bad there isn't a pin for the most break offs.
Michael Patrick spent the weekend persuing the ellusive walleye, up before dawn and on the ice until after dark, but only 5 perch for his efforts. His shoulders were so sore from jigging that he couldn't do much on the foozeball table back at the cottage.
Kevin "guitar hero" Roszell got out to an early lead for the perch pin and managed to stave of a late charge by Mark Luey to retain his bragging rights for another year. More importantly, "Rosey" was able to pass off the skunk award that he has held for 3 years to Dwain Babin, the only one not to get fish. Dwain won a number of prizes for his lack of success, too bad one of the prizes wasn't a sense of humour.
Corey "rock band" Labatt proudly retained the walleye pin, by default, even though he only managed to catch a handful of undersized perch. The highlight for Corey was the "pride" that came with photographing a spectacular rainbow above the lodge.
Mark Luey, put a lot of miles on his boots and spent the most time on the ice, in all types of weather. All he had to show for it was 10 perch, including the weekend's biggest, the 10 inch "jumbo" on the left.
The highlight for Mike and Mark was definitely the annual chicken wing fry on the ice Saturday afternoon, 8 lbs of crispy hot chicken wings in the hut while waiting for the evening walleye bite that never came.

March 8, 2010 UPDATE
Other than for a few snowmobilers, ice fishing was the main item on the agenda of most of the lodge guests of the weekend of March 6. The afternoon bite was very good to Tony Resendes and his good fishing buddies Scott, Ron, and Rob. Friday evening's results are on the left, all caught before sundown. The bite came a little later on Saturday, but the results were equally gratifying. First came this 7 1/2 pounder, followed by 3 more beauties. Does it get any better than this for two days of sitting out on the ice in lawn chairs on a warm sunny March afternoon!!

The weather was spectacular throughout the weekend, but the HCSA snowmobile trails had been taking a beating over the previous week of sunny mild days. The four sledders in Jack McEwen's crew of 11 guys who came all the way from Sarnia, would have preferred better trails. But at least the lakes were good running, and their six fishing colleagues welcomed them out on the ice, and taught them how to fish, in return for them using their sleds to shuttle full and empty bottles between their huts and their 6-bedroom cottage. (Also, special thanks to the official cook in the crew for preparing the awesome dinner for the innkeeper on Saturday night.)

Matt Ross, his wife, and their respective father’s were the hard-luck fishing crew of the weekend. They put in more hours on the ice than anybody, yet never iced the elusive walleye. The innkeeper has put the useless hut operator on suspension for not putting this group on fish.

Dave Renaud organizes an annual ice fishing trip for his two brothers, his father, and 2 close friends every winter. These guys don’t have the opportunity to get together as a group as often as they would like. Fortunately the highlight of these re-unions is always the camaraderie, because these guys never seem to catch fish no matter where they go, although at least this weekend, they actually managed to ice a nice 18 inch walleye, along with a dozen or so perch. And more importantly, they got to spend a weekend in the Canadian Shield on Lake Kashagawigamog in the incomparable Haliburton Highlands, as opposed to their regular outings on Port Perry's Lake Scumbog. (The innkeeper’s lab would like to thank these pleasant fellows for the leftover T-bones, but the innkeeper has asked if they wouldn’t mind leaving a little more meat on the bones next year.)

Then there’s Chester, that intrepid farmer dude from Orillia. If anybody wants to know how to catch walleye, send an e-mail to info@KashagaLodge.com and we’ll send you his e-mail address. But before you ask, see if you can put in about 25 years of trial and error, and remembering all those multitudinous factors that make the walleye the most frustratingly unpredictable gamefish in Ontario. NO Kashaga Lodge guest (not even Sean Cassidy's crew) has ever mastered the art of outsmarting the elusive winter walleye the way Chester did this weekend!!!!! And the good news is that he released them all back into the lake, so that Sean has a chance at them again next weekend.

March 2, 2010 UPDATE

Haliburton Ontario provided the venue for round 5 in the prestigious Ontario Cup Cross-Country Ski Race series, and it was Kashaga Lodge’s pleasure to provide lodging for the Georgian Bay Nordic Ski Club from Owen Sound. With above zero temperatures and a light mist in the air, extra strength and endurance, was required, and the Georgian Bay Club members were well-prepared.
The team had competitors in most teen age categories and garnered more than their share of podium finishes. Here are Logan Hong and Catherine Beisel, proudly wearing their gold and bronze medals won on Saturday for the 12/13 age class. Other Geogian Bay Nordic medalists on the weekend include Alawna, Karissa and Rebekah Lawrence, Mike Smith, Bella Waterton, and David Askwith. Congratulations to all!

The ice fishermen on the property this weekend, also came prepared; most brought at least a two-four or a 40 pounder. Many had insulated backpacks, and some of the more experienced hardwater sportsmen read the weather perfectly, and brought folding lawn chairs with little round pockets in the arms.
Despite all their meticulous preparation, only the 6-man Scott Noble group from Uxbridge managed to ice the coveted walleye. Here’s Scott’s own summary of the weekend, along with a photo of his “4-canner” aside the redneck measuring tape.
“Hello Ken, Just wanted to send a picture of the fish I caught on Saturday night around 6pm at the far two huts. It was caught on a Buckshot Rattlin' Spoon with a minnow head on one of the hooks, jigging right off the bottom. It was the biggest and only walleye we caught amongst several perch both days. Unfortunately we had a couple guys in our party that were more interested in the Olympics than the fish, but we all had a good time none the less. Just wanted to thank you again for drilling the holes and clearing the rink. The cottage was great and most importantly the price was excellent. Hope we were good guests and looking forward to the opportunity to return next year.”

On Sunday morning, Kashaga Lodge had 2 special guests. Elana from Maple Grove Minnesota, has been staying in Haliburton since the New Year, while enrolled in the 4-month Painting and Drawing Certificate Program at the Haliburton School of the Arts. This weekend, her boyfriend Ken came to visit. Being from Minnesota, he knows a thing or two about how to catch walleye through the ice, and he was happy to have the opportunity to take Elana fishing while he was in Canada. It’s a good thing he didn’t come all this way just for the fish. Although they had a couple of serious hits, a few perch were all they got into the hut. At least he was out on the ice on Sunday afternoon, and didn’t have to watch his team crying while Sidney paraded the Canadian flag around the Vancouver Olympic Arena.

John Smid and his 14 U of T fraternity brothers have been ice fishing as a group now for 7 years since graduating. This year these 15 highly educated and ambitious professionals chose the semi-famous Kashaga Lodge from which to launch their cleverly laid out assault on Lake Kashagawigamog’s unsuspecting walleye population. However, this weekend, the walleye had the advantage of being sober, and had no problem outsmarting even the PhDs in the group. Al, the only Pakistani, never fishes except once a year with his frat brothers, and as usual, scooped the annual biggest fish trophy. Altogether a handful of small perch were brought back to the cottage (as well as a trailer load of empties.)
Many thanks to these guys for leaving the huts and cottage spotless, for conserving minnows (which are becoming scarce in Central Ontario,) and for entertaining the innkeeper’s lab out on the ice for much of the weekend.

Feb 22, 2010 UPDATE
Finally...some walleye on the ice! It looks like "last ice" fishing conditions may be kicking in to replace the usual mid-February slowdown!
Nate Bender’s crew made the most of their extended weekend away from the wives in Brantford. Before icing this 22” walleye during the evening bite on Thursday, they spent part of the afternoon on a nearby smaller lake, and brought 5 rainbows onto the ice. Later in the weekend, Kiley led the way by landing this splake on another nearby lake, and then brought this 19 incher into a Kashaga hut around 6:30 that evening to round out the day.
Meanwhile, Doug Morrison and his hardwater bud had a decent pickerel almost out of the hole when it spit the hook and said “see ya.” Nonetheless, they had an awesome Saturday dinner after tediously filleting about 15 small perch from that morning's outing.
Meanwhile, Chris Lavigne had to drag the Buchanan brothers and their old man out of bed two mornings in a row in order to have a line in the water before 6 am. His dedication to the hardwater sport payed off (for him anyway.) Although the group of 4 only caught 2 pickerel amongst them, Chris got them both on a minnow-tipped red jighead, including this rather smallish, but nonetheless tasty, Lake Kashagawigamog treat.

Feb 16, 2010 UPDATE
“Family Weekend,” Feb 14, 2010 provided many pleasant memories for all of the Lodge guests.
Most were ever-active members of the “Toronto Outdoor Adventurers Club.” And amongst them, they must have participated in every outdoor activity possible within a half-hour’s drive of Haliburton. (The lazy ice fishermen on the property got tired just watching them.) Unlike the last time they visited Haliburton, no injuries were sustained, so I guess their Haliburton adventure could be considered a total “success.”
Kashaga Lodge was, for the fifth year in a row, proud to accommodate and sponsor Bob and Jinette Sabourin, from Gatineau Quebec who had some of the fastest 4-dog, 6-dog and 8-dog teams in the annual Haliburton Dog Sled Derby....only one podium finish this year, but won enough of the $12,000 total purse to keep their ever-hungry open-class racedogs fed at least until next weekend's race.
As for the walleye hunters, the score this weekend was Fishermen - 9: Walleye - 0. Other than the usual 20 or so perch, Bill from the Bykeman group, managed to get this season’s third muskie into a hut long enough for a quick photo, before sliding him back down the hole to complete his daily ration of perch (and anything else that moves.)

Feb 9, 2010 UPDATE The weekend of Feb. 6 was very pleasant out on the ice, as the sun was shining and the temperatures were quite seasonable, with no wind. The bad news is that the walleye bite was lousy.
The “Four Season Fishing Club” representing the Molsons brewery beside the Toronto Airport had an awesome weekend, and although only Steve managed to ice a keeper, Ken Durno’s group of hardcore anglers know well why “fishing” is called “fishing” and not “catching.”
Meanwhile, Wayne Farrell’s group of drunken ass-holes had their own definition of “ice-fishing” which included: using more than 2 lines per person, leaving unattended lines out overnight, having a bonfire out on the ice, trying to party out on the ice after mid-night, and generally pissing off not only the other fishermen on the property, but neighbours as well. Fortunately the ministry’s Conservation Officer lives on Lake Kashagawigamog and is only a phone call away 24/7. These idiots won’t be back to Haliburton!
It would be great if all ice fishing groups were like the Khena Rate, (including Chris and friends) group who are hoping to make a career out of outdoors management. This group of 5 students from the ‘Fisheries and Wildlife’ program at Fleming College in Lindsay were out on the ice by 5:30 am two mornings in a row. Although they only had this 10 inch walleye (but lots more emties) to show for their dedication, Kashaga Lodge was privileged to have hosted their Haliburton experience.

Feb 3, 2010 UPDATE
After a relatively productive walleye and perch weekend for Kashaga Lodge guests on Jan 23, the super-cold front moved in on Friday Jan 29 and slowed down the bite considerably. Only the experienced walleye fishermen who knew enough to have their lines in the water by no later than 6:30 am, and then to be out there again between 4 and 6:00 pm, had any success to speak of. Other than a handful of smallish walleye, a few serious break-offs, and the usual bunch of small perch, this rather goodly-sized musky caught on a ¼ oz pimple, tipped with a pinhead shiner generated the most excitement of the day before being eased back down the hole.
After the barometer had stabilized a bit, just before sundown on Tuesday Feb 2, this 19 incher was tricked (with some very patient jigging) to go for a shiner-tipped jigging Rap. ALthough other than one puny perch, it was all that Justin and his dad had to show for putting in at least 15 hours on the ice. But apparently that unsurpassed pickerel fillet taste was more than worth it, according to Justin's mother (who was just glad to have a couple of days to herself, away from her husband.)

WINTER at KASHAGA LODGE Check out this short video for a brief insight into why Kashaga Lodge is clearly"Haliburton's Cottage Resort with a Difference."   ICE FISHING Haliburton County’s ONLY hardwater Walleye operation! ONLY $10 pp hut fee! Huts ONLY 100 to 500 yards fom cottages! Cottages ONLY 4 km from town! See more info below!   SLEDDING Ride from your cottage! The closest cottage resort to the village of Haliburton! Park your trucks, trailers, and sleds right at your cottage! Free use of helmet cam and/or radar gun! See more info below!   ATVING Access to WINTER ATV trails! No trailpasses required! Fully-equipped garage on site for repairs! Ride from your cottage! See more info below!   OTHER WINTER TRAILS Cross Country Ski Trails Horsedrawn Sleigh Rides Dogsled Tours Snowshoeing See WINTER page for more!   The Haliburton County Snowmobile Association snowmobile trail system< is second to none in the province, and Kashaga Lodge is right on the L. Kashagawigamog Trail, a 5 minute sled ride from the village of Haliburton. Haliburton is not only the hub of the HCSA trail system, but also the heart of the County's commerce. Click on any of the attached photos for a better view of winter at Kashaga Lodge. And for specific info on their sledding package, click on the link at the bottom of the page. Lake Kashagawigamog is one of the most popular and productive lakes for hardwater walleye within 2 1/2 hours of the GTA, and Kashaga Lodge offers a somewhat unique ice fishing package. Some of the huts are within 200 yds of the cottages, and all are within a 10 minute walk on a plowed trail. Click the Ice Fishing link below for details.   The spectacular scenery of the Highlands affords X-country skiing that's as good as it gets anywhere. And Kashaga Lodge is literally surrounded by the groomed trails of the Haliburton Nordic Trail Association. Sir Sam's Ski Resort is only 20 minutes away for the downhillers and snowboarders,and vouchers are available for 25% off daily lift passes for guests of Kashaga Lodge. See the LINKS page of this website for links to both the Cross-Country Association as well as to Sir Sam's Downhill Resort.  Another popular winter activity for which guests of Kashaga Lodge receive discounted rates is a horsedrawn sleigh ride pulled by a prize-winning team of magnificent Belgians through Haliburton's unique Canadian Shield countryside. These tours provide wonderful winter memories for young and old alike, and the starting point is only a five minute drive from Kashaga Lodge. Sleighrides can be arranged for couples, or for groups of up to about 15. Dress warmly and don't forget your cameras and an apple or two for the horses !! Haliburton is also one of the few destinations in Ontario where visitors not only have all of the above recreational activities at their doorstep, but also Ontario's newest and most unique winter experience. Dogsled tours along silent trails in a remote part of Haliburton County just a 15 minute drive from Kashaga Lodge can be arranged through the lodge. Yes, after being introduced to your team of purebred Siberian huskies, and participating in a brief course in "mushing," you drive your own team. Tours are available lasting for one hour, half-day, full-day, moonlight, and even overnight. Be sure to book your adventure in advance. Visit the Dogsled Tours link on the Links page of this website for more info on this unique activity provided by Hank DeBruin, owner of Winterdance Dogsled Tours, as well as a participating racer in the gruelling, 1100 km, Iditarod dogsled race to be held March 6, 2010, starting from Anchorage Alaska. SNOWMOBILING        ICE FISHING PACKAGE         SKIING PACKAGE