Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 8/11 to 8/18 2018

Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 8/11 to 8/18 2018
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This week started out with some of our warmest temperatures of the year reaching 88.5F on Saturday and on almost 90f on Sunday. We had heat and smoke warnings from fires burning all the way out in British Columbia and Alberta. Towards the middle of the week we did get a cool down but not a bad cold front.
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Long time guest of Fireside Lodge Mark Reese from Coldwater, MS returned with his brother Todd from Arlington, TN and their nephew Aaron from Coral Springs, FL. They were uniting at Fireside Lodge to celebrate Mark & Todd’s father, Tom’s life, who frequented Fireside Lodge for many consecutive years with Mark making priceless fishing memories together at Fireside Lodge. 1st day had these three catching both Smallmouth Bass and Aaron within the first few casts caught a Big Trophy 18+inch Smallmouth Bass and Todd had the Northern Pike of the day with a hefty 30 incher.
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2nd day was terrific catching many fish, a combination of Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike and Aaron proved that the Yo-Zuri Sinking Shrimp Lure works on Little Vermilion Lake. 3rd day was a flat calm beautiful day and these three mixed it up portaging into Closs lake for a few hours getting some nice Muskie follows, then came back into Little Vermilion Lake to catch Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike. 4th and final day was a great day fishing catching a lot of fish and Mark was the hot hand as he caught 3 trophy Smallmouth Bass measuring 19, 19.25, and 19.5-inches and Aaron finished their day with a 30-inch Northern Pike. All left having a fantastic trip making wonderful memories fishing together while commemorating their father Tom.
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Wayne Busdiecker, son Todd from Centerville and Dayton, OH returned for their 12th time with Son-in-Law Chris Diatte and his two sons Jonathan & Josh from West Chester, OH for their 6th time. This group had a phenomenal day of arrival catching at least 50 Northern Pike, Todd catching 25+ by himself with his secret spoon technique, and Wayne had a Big Muskie up to the boat the threw his lure before they had a chance to net the fish. 1st full day of fishing Wayne and Todd had 44 on their counter; all Pike, by suppertime and Chris with his boys caught a mix of 10 fish.
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When I went to their dinner table on the 2nd day they all gave me a thumbs up for their fishing as some caught Northern Pike and other did very well catching Smallmouth Bass all enjoying the day despite strong winds. 3rd and final day was great as each boat caught over 40 fish meaning over 80 for the group mostly being Northern Pike. This finished the traditional family fishing trip on a very high note and all left making many memories. Thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge to spend your special family vacation time.
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Jim Stark from Mission Viejo, CA met up with good friend Dave Powell from Springfield, IL for their 5th visit with us at Fireside Lodge. DOA Jim said they broke the ice and got the pressure off of being skunked for the whole trip. In character Jim said this jokingly and with a great big smile he always carries around with him. 1st day the ticket for Jim a was a double bladed Mepps catching 4 fish in a row after having to straighten his lure time and time again because the Northern Pike were beating it up. 2nd day was another very good day of fishing as Jim phrased it, they caught a bunch of Northern Pike, and Dave also caught Smallmouth bass and while doing so Dave said he hooked into the biggest fish he had ever seen taking his surface lure with lite line and no leader. Well it was a win-win situation as the big fish jumped clear out of the water throwing Dave’s lure right back at him. Win for the fish that it got away and win for Dave that he got his lure back and his equipment survived.
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3rd day they portaged to Closs for a half day but came out a noon to fish Little Vermilion Lake with Dave getting the hot hand pitching a Blue Fox Spinner, and at one point caught 3 consecutive Northern Pike. 4th day and final they had loads of fun catching fish. These guys will tell you that the fun is automatic, catching fish or not. Both said they had a great stay and hope to return to do it all over again.
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Don & Audrey Holesinger from Fulton, IL with Son Matt from Roscoe, IL made their 12th consecutive appearance at Fireside Lodge to enjoy our Exceptional Smallmouth Bass Fishery on Little Vermilion Lake. 1st outing on day of arrival they caught 17 BIG Smallmouth Bass right across from the lodge before supper, with a final total of 23. 1st day was a super day catching all quality big fish, Matt having 3 trophy Smallmouth Bass at 18-inches, Audrey caught a Trophy measuring 18.5-inches, and Don got the largest at 19.5-inches landing a total of 33 Smallmouth Bass. Matt while fishing with a 4-inch fluke and no leader managed to hook and land a huge 38-inch Tiger Muskie, and was it ever a fight as it jumped clear out of the water near the boat. 2nd day was very windy which made things difficult but Audrey was the top fisher today as she caught an 18-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass and the total for the day was 19 Smallmouth Bass. 3rd day was a 21 Smallmouth Bass, which was a good day under post cold front conditions.
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4th day they had what would have been a very good day 11 years ago but Matt said it was a slower day catching 32 big Smallmouth Bass including 3 trophy size, Don & Matt both landing 19-inch Trophies and Audrey caught an 18.5-inch trophy Smallmouth Bass. That’s a good day fishing anywhere but the expectations tend to go up over time when you regularly catch 40-60 fish per day. 5th and final day Audrey decided to stay back and enjoy her day resting and relaxing. Don & Matt caught 15 Smallmouth Bass 6 Northern Pike and a 30-inch Muskie to top off their trip. In all they caught a total of 14 Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth Bass between 18-19.5-inches. They left having another wonderful fishing trip full of family memories. Thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge to spend your special family time together.
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Dave Henry and Son Jacob from St Charles and Bloomington IL, Bob Mezo from Dixon and Tim Traveny from Palmyra, PA were returning for their 8th trip to Fireside Lodge. DOA they caught fish quickly Bob setting the bar on Smallmouth Bass landing a Trophy 19+inch Smallmouth Bass within a few hours of arriving. 1st was great fishing and as a group they caught 58 Northern Pike. They also enjoyed a great shore lunch plus Dave and Bob had a wildlife experience sighting a Cow Moose with her Calf. Very Large Day for this group. 2nd day was very hot, high of 93F, which seemed to either slow the fish or the fishers. All caught enough fish to keep interest throughout the day. 3rd and final day was good trying to hunt down Muskie getting a lot of follows and were able to land one. All had a great time, which went by all too quickly.
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Long time return guest of 20 consecutive years Walt LaCasse from Minnetonka, MN returned with his 16-year-old grandson Keeghan for his 9th time at Fireside Lodge. Day of Arrival Keeghan got off to a great start by catching 35-inch Muskie and an 18-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass before supper in just a few hours of fishing. Magic lure for Keeghan was an orange Blue Fox Spinner. 1st day they were facing post cold front conditions and did well landing 14 nice Northern Pike with Keegahn doing most of the catching.
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2nd day they caught both Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass. 3rd day was great catching 16 Northern Pike with 10 being over 30-inches and several nice Smallmouth Bass. 4th and final day the morning was slow but it really picked up after the noon hour catching mostly nice size Northern Pike and Keeghan hit on another Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth Bass measuring 18-inches. Walt also accomplished catching a Pike on his new lure “The Bat” which was exciting. Both left making a 9th set of memories between Grandfather and Grandson fishing together at Fireside Lodge. Thanks for choosing us to spend this special time together.
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Returning guest since 1992 Bill Hochstetter from Rockford, IL with good friend Jim Trier from Byron, IL. were very glad to be back. 1st day was very good catching a lot of Smallmouth Bass, several Northern Pike and hooked 3 Muskie with Jim landing two, and Bill losing a 36-37-inches during the netting process.
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2nd day was GREAT as they caught a 25+ good size Smallmouth bass, a 35-inch Muskie, and a 33-inch Northern Pike plus had some other Muskie follows. 3rd day was a very good day catching Northern Pike and Bill landed another nice Muskie. 4th and final day they had a blast fishing for Northern Pike and Muskie not catching the Monster they were looking for but sure did have fun trying. They both had a fabulous trip and can’t wait till next time.
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Shawn Moore from Salem, MA and good friend Aaron Little from Canterbury, NH were fishing at Fireside Lodge inspired by the Xtreme Bass Angler TV show hosted by Karl Klalonka, which was filmed in August of 2017 and aired in January on 2018. For those of you interested in viewing the show go to www.fishxtreme.com .
DOA they spent a few hours getting familiar catching fish and Aaron lost a big Smallmouth Bass. 1st day fishing at supper they said was great day catching 11 nice size Northern Pike, Shawn caught a Muskie, his 1st ever, and they caught some Monster Smallmouth Bass with both Shawn and Aaron landing Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth bass measuring 18.5-inches. The same evening they fished catching more Northern Pike with Aaron missing a very large fish.
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2nd day when I saw these two at supper Shawn said they Slammed the fish catching numerous good size Northern Pike and some quality Smallmouth Bass, Aaron landing another Trophy measuring over 18-inches. Also, Shawn caught his second Muskie, this time being a Tiger Muskie, which was another first for him. Formula today was 8 to 15 feet of water over weeds using in-line-spinner fished very slow. 3rd day after a very slow morning the fishing turned on catching many 28 to 32-inch Northern Pike, Aaron caught his 1st Muskie, and on a lure I sold Aaron hooked into a MONSTER Muskie that had him all over the place for 10 minutes. After thinking his rod or line would break, neither happened, in the netting process the lure got caught up in the netting before the fish was fully in the net and as it flopped all that was left in the net was Aaron’s lure. After all was said and done they were both very excited and were thankful they had the opportunity to have an encounter with such a BIG fish.
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4th and final day they had another good day, being spotty at times but caught some great size Northern Pike 30 to 33-inches. Both left having the fishing of their lives and could not say enough about the great time they had fishing with us at Fireside Lodge.
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Father and Son Richard and Brian Jicha from Avon Lake, OH and Madison, WI returned for their traditional fishing trip with us at Fireside Lodge. 1st day of arrival they had a good start catching 12 Northern Pike and missed 3. 1st day these two did terrific having great Northern Pike fishing landing 43 with a lot of other action. 2nd day they were in search of bigger fish seeing a few, catching 10 Pike and having several Muskie follows.
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3rd day was another Northern Pike day catching 15 plus, and both caught some bigger fish 35 to 37-inches. 4th and final day was great chasing Muskie with Brian getting a lot of follows, including the Gran Daddy, saying it was so large he could not believe what he was seeing. Both caught some nice Northern Pike and Rick caught two Muskie largest being 34-inches, and he caught a 36-inch Northern Pike. After supper they caught a few more Pike and Brian came up with an 18-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass. This finished their trip off their trip strong, while making another set of father and son memoires at Fireside Lodge.
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Hot Lures: Blue Fox Spinner, Mepps Spinner, Fluke, Sinking Worm, Spoons,
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Catches of The Week: 19.5-inch Smallmouth Bass, 38.5-inch Tiger Muskie, 37-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
http://www.firesidelodgefishing.com
http://www.firesidelodge.com
800-545-0815
Email at:fireside@xplornet.com
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