Balsam Lake report..

The wife and I headed up to the lake Friday morning to try our luck.
Boy it was very windy both days which kinda limited the locations we could or would boat to.
Friday afternoon we were nestled into a spot out of the wind. We were there for about an hour and within this time two other boats came into the same area and fished, one guy was looking and fishing for bass and we and the other boat were both jigging this area..
Now a ski boat comes flying directly at us full speed..stops within 20 feet of us and asked me and the other two boats if we all would mind moving because they wanted to water ski this area..
My wife gets up and says no problem to the guy but the whole time the guys wife was giving him crap for asking everyone one to move, she even said if he falls in the water to leave him there..No doubt.lol..
One boat moved away right away and we and the other boat were like WTF, there are no designated water skiing areas on the lake that we were aware of..
Five minutes passed and and as we were packing up the boat when the water skier comes blasting by us within 30 yards then turns sharply whipping the water skier even closer to our boat..we could her the wife yelling at him that he was to close..I was super p##### but having the wife saying to forget it and lets go somewhere else calmed the situation and we moved..
As leaving the area one of the other boats came up to us and asked if we knew the loser as he's been fishing on balsam for twenty years and never has he been asked to move nor would he be moving again. He had a young girl on the boat with them so that's why he moved and didn't put up much fuss.
We fished Friday for 10 hours only to catch 2 perch and called it a day and headed to the hotel where we booked for the night.
Saturday was even more windy so the wife insisted that we don't travel to far and just fish the area's we did yesterday..
So headed to one of the islands to get out of the wind..We were there fishing for about 2 hours jigging minnows when a jet skier with a passenger came over to us in a panic saying could we please come help there was a canoe tipped over with 2 people in the water and one wasn't doing very well..
So wet packed up as fast as we could and followed the jet ski about 200 yards away. They were out in the chop and the canoe was below the water line and the 2 guys heads were just out of the water, lucky they both had life jackets on..
The jet skier had attached a rope to the canoe and was pulling them and the canoe into shore and they asked us just to stay close..The guy at the back of the canoe was really in bad shape, shivering and saying he couldn't hold on for much longer. He had one hand on the canoe and the other one was holding the 2 paddles..My wife was telling him to let the paddles go and we would get them so he could hold on with both hands.
The guy in the back who we believe was starting to suffer from hypothermia didn't understand what my wife was saying and he let go of everything.
We managed to get him to the side of the boat where he grabbed on..at this point we are twenty yards from shore and I could tell he was having trouble hanging on so I reached down and held on to the guys arm so he wasn't going anywhere, man he was ice cold and I wanted to try to pull him into our boat but be just wanted to hang on..The guy in the front was just the opposite a he was swimming and pulling on canoe where the guy on the back was just being pulled thru the water..
We managed to get to someone's dock and get them out of the water..
After about half an hour of sitting on this dock the one guy was much better..
We got their canoe emptied and the guys said they were ready to paddle back, we were like no way are you guys paddling back.
We towed the canoe back and took the guys back to the place on the other side of the lake they were staying at..
They said they were yelling at lots of boats but nobody could hear them..
I know we were one of the boats that were close to where they were and honestly we heard nothing or even seen them..
Just lucky that the jet ski folks seen them..
We fished Saturday for about 9 hours and packed it in...
We caught one bass, one 6 inch walleye and 2 more perch both about 6 inches.
It was a eventful trip for sure and we and the dogs had a great time even if the fishing sucked..
This pic was later Friday afternoon when the wind died down..

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The two very thankful fellows.

I got out for the first time this year on Saturday with my seven and five year olds, and their Grandma and Grandpa. My daughter landed a 5" perch, only fish of the day. It was REALLY rough out there. We were coming back to the west bay from the north part of the lake at around 1:30 in the afternoon and the waves were crashing over the bow of the boat.

Given those conditions, the canoers are really lucky guys to have made it out of there. Really awesome that you and the jetskier were able to come to their rescue and make sure the outcome was a good one.

Nice job on helping the two guys in distress. I was also fishing on Balsam Friday and Saturday (only until about noon both days though). Lots of boats, not too many jet skis, and even less fish. I caught a lot of perch both days, from 3 " to about 10", probably 30 each day, but I didn't keep any. Had a couple bass looking at my lures, but no takers. Awfully slow.

The water is getting a bit too cold for most canoes and kayaks, unless you have a suit on to stay dry and warm. It doesn't take much to go over, and with much less boat traffic, there'd be no one to provide any assistance if you need it. The wind makes it even more dangerous. I won't even take my boat out when the wind picks up. Maybe overly cautious, but at least I'm dryish and can go another day.

The only different sounds I heard was someone shooting at the cormorants both days. Pretty noisy on Saturday, but with the guns blazing I stayed away from the area.

I know the pics don't show how choppy it was but it was..Yes they are very lucky,I was surprised that the guy in the water at the front of the canoe wasn't nearly as bad as the one guy. I guess because he was doing all the work swimming and muscling the canoe around in the water which kept his blood pumping as the other guy was just being pulled through three water..
When we got back to their dock we told there friends how lucky they were.
They wanted us to stay for a food and drinks but we were just happy it was a happy ending..
Fishing was really tuff, we asked lots of people and they all said the fishing was very slow..

The surface water temp was 64 which wouldn't be to bad in and out but Rio spend any time in that would be bad..
Saturday we found a lot more boat traffic and thought there wasn't much boating etiquette going on as some boats where ripping by as close to 50ft in some instances and not slowing down at all..
The jet skier that first seen them almost didn't stop as the driver never seen them, it was the passenger that said to the driver I think there where two people in the water floating, they never even seen the canoe..
Very lucky they went back to look..
Never a fan of fishing the kawartha lakes due to being very busy and it takes a long time to find good spots that hold fish so if your a local you have a heads up where to fish..
I have some spots on the lake but of course they are at the other end of the lake and with the 2 dogs and the wife in the boat there was no way she was letting head to those spots..

Balsam can turn into a simcoe real quick with a north or south wind. We were duck hunting saturday morning on balsam but got off water by about noon. Glad everyone was safe good job!

Saturday definitely was worse weather for sure.
Everyone was hiding out of the wind. We heard lots of shots on Saturday and only a few on Friday.

Those two guys are so lucky you came to their rescue. Water kills, you do not have to be afraid of it but you better know what you are doing. They could have been hit by a boat, many other things could have gone wrong. I end some of my posts with be safe or something like that. Its great to see good people doing good things. You may just have saved those to men from being a headline in the news. So like I said, stay safe everyone, water is cold now.

Although we helped the credit goes to the passenger on the sea doo who was the only one to spot them..Even as we approached we could barely see them in the water with three waves..
Lucky guys for sure..

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