Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 7/20 to 7/27 2019

Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 7/20 to 7/27 2019
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This week weather wise could only be described as unsettled summer weather. We had very nice temperatures but it seemed like the conditions would change two to three times daily. Most were in the form of rain showers or disruptive thunderstorms. As for the fishing most did very well dealing with what Mother Nature handed them.
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Father Tom McGlade & sons Jim and Jeff from Palatine, IL and Indianapolis, IN returned for their 5th time with excitement and enthusiasm to chase toothy critters. 1st day they were on a mission for Northern Pike and Muskie catching some nice Northern Pike. This father and sons trio have taken on the slogan “Big Fish or go Home” and become attics of using bigger lures.
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2nd day was a Terrific day Muskie fishing for this trio. They came here with the intent of focusing on Muskie, planning all year long, and it pad off today as they had well over 20 Musky follows, hooked up with five and landed three, with each one catching a Muskie. This could not have been scripted better with the first fish coming within the first 20 minutes, the second was caught mid day, and with time running out, and Jeff and Jim already catching their Muskie for the day, the last cast was called and Tom hooked one. Tom had a great fight with this Muskie as it jumped several times, and just as Jeff was about to net Tom’s fish it took one final jump and landed directing in the boat. With all the excitement and wanted to tend to the fish, Jeff dropped their Musky net in the water and without hesitation dove it right after it and retrieved the net. All were very excited as they told their stories of the day in the dinning room.
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3rd and final day they did very well catching Northern Pike up to 36-inches, caught by Jim, and Jeff came up with the fish of their trip landing a BIG 39.5-inch brute of a Muskie. What a great catch and a way to finish another fabulous father and sons Canadian Wilderness Fishing Adventure. Total Muskie for the trip was 8 hooked and 6 landed. Memories made during this trip will be talked about for years to come, and they were already discussing their return next year.
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Ray Deangelis from Cranston, Rhode Island and good friend and best fishing buddy Jim Rainone from Lake Lure, NC were fishing at Fireside Lodge for their first time. 1st two days these two did exactly what you should do fishing a new lake, picking apart sections one at a time. They did well catching mostly Northern Pike. 3rd day this paid off as they got into number of Northern Pike having a ball catching at least a dozen each.
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4th day Ray seemed to have the hot had getting into a run on Smallmouth Bass. These two did great for their first visit catching between 18-20+ fish daily and on the final day Ray caught the Smallmouth Bass of his life hooking and landing a very large 19-inch Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass. When checking out both said they had a fabulous time fishing, meeting other guests in the dinning room, and were surprised that one of our guests Bob Waldeck from Cotter, AR (below) grew up in Rhode Island in the town right next to Ray and Jim, who have been life long friends since they were 10-years old. What a truly small world it is, and thank you for traveling 1700 miles to visit us at Fireside Lodge.

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Bob & Ollie Waldeck from Cotter, AR returned for their 8th consecutive year and were very glad to be back. 1st day had them catching 16 Smallmouth Bass and several Northern Pike. 2nd day was even better than the first catching well over 20 Smallmouth Bass along with some Pike. Day 3, 4, and 5 they had fun catching Some Smallmouth Bass along with a few Pike.
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6th day was very good catching 34 Northern Pike with a lot of action. 7th day Bob said he feels like he is getting his adventure training that we normally get in Boy Scouts because over the last three days the weather changes at the drop of a hat alternating between sunshine or pouring rain with thunder and lightning. 8th day had these two doing well on Smallmouth Bass and enjoying a beautiful 74-degree day with no humidity.
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9th and 10th day were spent catching some nice Smallmouth Bass with a few Northern Pike mixed among the bass. 11th and 12 day they caught lot of Northern Pike searching for the Smallmouth Bass of a lifetime. Ollie and Bob love catching any species of fish but Smallmouth Bass is always their main target.
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13th and final day they enjoyed to the fullest fishing until 3:00PM, only driven in by possible heavy rain and thunderstorms. Bob and Ollie, even after spending two full weeks at Fireside Lodge, were sad to leave. For the past two weeks they were the socialites of the dinning room getting to know and visiting with almost all our guests. Before departing they made reservations for two weeks next year so the countdown to their 2020 arrival date began before leaving the Fireside Lodge property.
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Richard Santos, Pasco, WA returning for his 6th consecutive year with Dennis Collins for his 3rd from Kennewick, WA Ted Poston from Richland, WA for his 2nd time and Ken Gano for his 1st from Kennewick, WA. 1st day all had fun fly-fishing for Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike and a fishing feat was accomplished as Ken caught his first ever Northern Pike while Fly-Fishing.
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2nd day was a slow morning but while Rich was experimenting with lures he started to throw a top water lure and had instant success catching Smallmouth. Well the three fly-fishers, Ted, Dennis, and Ken tied on some poppers and did things get active, with them catching Smallmouth Bass all afternoon and Ted had a Trophy bass measuring 18.5-inches. 3rd day was a day catching some fish but not like day two.
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4th day was full of action and catching fish for all. They all caught countless Northern Pike Fly-Fishing and Ken had the catch of the day hooking and landing a HUGE Trophy Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass measuring 19-inches. I quickly gave him his awards patch so the new-timer could taunt the veterans a bit. 5th day they had a good day of it, but the fish were more finicky then day four. 6th and final day was not as active as hoped but all had fun catching fishing in our terrific Wilderness atmosphere. Before departing all were discussing their possible return dates for 2020.
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Long time guest since 1995, Kevin Marks from Hebron, KY brought his wife Eileen for her first ever experience fishing in Canada. 1st night out there was excitement as Kevin hooked a big Muskie and had it boat side, but got off during the netting process. 1st full day fishing was unreal for Eileen as she caught 22 Northern Pike and three HUGE Trophy Smallmouth Bass, two measuring at 18-inches and one very special fish measuring 21.5-inches. Wow that is a fish of a lifetime. Kevin also caught 29 Northern Pike. 2nd day was a great day portaging to Booger Lake. They really enjoyed the walk in seeing Moose and Bear tracks and Eileen said as they approached the lake the beauty was astounding. Fishing was also great catching many Northern Pike sometimes one right after the other. Kevin had one streak where he caught 5 Northern Pike on 5 casts.
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3rd and final day was GREAT as they visited Twin Falls, which was Eileen’s 1st time, and she was amazed at this natural wonder. The fishing was great finishing very strong catching 59 Northern Pike. Eileen, never doing a trip like this before, when asked if she would like to do it again, said without hesitation without a doubt, Yes. She not only enjoyed the fishing but also the wildlife and the natural wilderness, which surrounds you when fishing. She also said that hardly ever seeing another boat was something she never imagined and really loved the whole experience. Both left as they came smiling and full of excitement.
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Duke Osborne from Osborne Ridge, VA returning to Fireside Lodge once again to chase BIG Smallmouth Bass, which we are well known for at Fireside Lodge. 1st day he had such great fishing he was in by 2:30 catching over 40 Smallmouth Bass. Great first day in anybody’s fishing book. 2nd day was a good day of 12 Smallmouth Bass and a BIG Walleye that broke off right at boat side. It is tough to land a fish while fishing by yourself. 3rd and final day of Duke’s abbreviated trip was another good half day Smallmouth Bass Fishing however he left in early afternoon to help a very good friend in need. Before Duke left he said he wanted to make a reservation for two in 2020, and we hope all goes well for Duke’s good friend.
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The Apt Brothers Doug (Better known as handsome Doug) and Chris from Crete, IL were making their 2nd consecutive year visit with us at Fireside Lodge. After the first day being on the slower side the 2nd day was much better catching a good number of both Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass and Chris caught a Master Anglers Award Trophy 18.5-inch Smallmouth Bass. Also, Doug caught some Smallmouth Bass while fly-fishing.
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OK it is time to set the record straight from my 2018 Fishing Report during the week of 6/30 to 7/7. The two statements needing correction are 1) Chris caught a HUGE 43-inch Muskie. This was incorrect as Doug caught the 43-inch Muskie and 2) Chris, fairly new to fly-fishing, caught his largest fish ever while fly-fishing landing not one but two Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass both measuring 18-inches. Doug was the one who accomplished this fly-fishing feat not Chris.
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3rd day they were shooting for Muskie all the way and did they ever do great having over 20 follows and catching four Muskie in one day, largest being 36-37-inches, two in the low 30-inch range and one under 30-inches. That is an amazing day Muskie fishing. 4th day they caught about 20 Smallmouth Bass but the bigger fish evaded them. 5th and final day was cut short finishing about noon because of expected heavy rain showers but they did OK for short day catching some nice Smallmouth Bass.
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Returning for their second time were Billy Douglas, and West Newman from Memphis, TN Joel Fulmer from Nashville,TN and Mark Whitaker from Cordova, TN. 1st day Joel and Billy fished together having a good day catching Smallmouth Bass in a mixed bag of sizes, and Billy had the fish of the day, a nice 18-inch Master Anglers Award Trophy. Billy’s go to lure today was a #10 X-Rap. West and Mark also had a good day, although Mark said that the Smallmouth were tentative and not very agreeable, but the use of finesse techniques made their day productive.
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2nd day at breakfast I was talking to Billy and Mark about using slow presentations for Smallmouth Bass and how productive it can be almost doing nothing with your plastic bait. Well these two went out and applied the do nothing technique and had great success doing so catching 57 Smallmouth Bass before suppertime. West and Joel also had a very good day catching about 20 Northern Pike, 10 Smallmouth Bass and Joel hooked into a very large Muskie on his lite weight Smallmouth Bass rod with 6lb test line. Well the fight was on and after some time Joel managed to land the Musky estimated at 38-40 - inches. 3rd day Billy and West teamed up for 20 plus Smallmouth plus Billy caught a dandy 4 pound Trophy Smallmouth Bass. Mark and Joel caught 18 Smallmouth Bass. The fishing event of the day was when using a jig technique Mark hooked into and landed a HUGE very heavy 39.5-inch Northern Pike on 6lb test line and no leader. 4th and final day for West and Mark was good catching 20+ fish, mostly Smallmouth Bass, while Joel and Billy finished very strong catching upwards of 50 Smallmouth Bass and 3 Northern Pike. All said they had a great stay and I found Mark and Billy studying the lodge map of Little Vermilion Lake saying there are so many places to fish and so little time, wishing they had at least one more day. West said there are already talks of a return trip in 2020.
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Make sure to go to our website below to see some GREAT Fish Photos. For Fabulous Fishing Video, Wildlife Events, and Current Happenings go to our Social Sites Below.

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Hot Lures: X-Rap, Yo-Zuri, TRD Finesse Worm, Sinking Worm, In-Line Spinner, Surface Poppers,

Catches of The Week: 21.5-inch Smallmouth Bass, 40-inch Muskie, 39.5-inch Northern Pike
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Well, that's it for this weeks Fireside Lodge Fishing News Report, Please stay tuned for next weeks report. Until then "Keep On Fish'n" Alan
www.firesidelodge.com
800-545-0815
Email at:fireside@xplornet.com