Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 6/30 to 7/7 2018

Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 6/30 to 7/7 2018
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This week was full of some weather variables like we might expect with some days having high winds, others flat calm but the temperatures stayed on the warmer side. The fishing our guests experienced was amazing catching numbers and some very large trophy fish.
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Long time Guest Gary Johnson from Midlothian, IL returned with his 2 sons Josh & Pete and Steve Trafacanta. 1st day Gary & Josh caught 20 Northern Pike having a lot of follows seeing several trophy size fish, while Pete & Steve had fabulous action on BIG Smallmouth Bass. The mayflies were hatching so they went right into the area they were hatching and with surface lures had excellent action catching many large Smallmouth Bass landing over 20 with each catching a trophy over 18-inches.
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2nd day was amazing catching a lot of Pike and the HUGE fish were on the move as Gary started the day with a 40-inch Trophy Northern Pike. Then son Pete hooked and landed a Monster Trophy 52-inch Muskie plus son Josh caught a GIGANTIC Trophy 50-inch Northern Pike. This was an amazing BIG Fish day & their personal best. 3rd day they caught fish but it was a slower day compared to the first two days. 4th day they were up early fishing before breakfast Steve & Pete catching nine big Smallmouth Bass surface fishing with poppers while the rest of the day they caught Northern Pike up to 30-inches. 5th and final day, fishing up to 3PM, they caught a lot of Smaller to medium size Pike and saw a few more very large fish. All went home with Big Smiles on the faces and Gary was already looking forward to his return trip in August later this summer.
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Guests since 1990 Kevin & Brenda Kubiak from Willoughby, OH were back to enjoy the Wilderness Fishing we have to offer at Fireside Lodge. 1st day was spent fishing Little Vermilion Lake catching smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike 2nd day was tough as T-Storms limited their fishing. 3rd day they did well catching a lot of Northern Pike while searching for Smallmouth Bass, which were not as agreeable. 4th day and 5th day they did well catching Smallmouth Bass Brenda using her favorite top water lures and Kevin testing many of his lures out finding a Smaller spinner working the best. They caught bass in all size ranges including some nice 15 to17-inchers. They also had a few beautiful days, that were threatening rain, which never happened, giving them cloudy skies, warm temps, and calmer conditions.
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6th and final day was a terrific finish as they caught a lot of Smallmouth Bass and Brenda, using her favorite presentation on the surface, & catching all hers using a popper landing two Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass measuring 18 and 19-inches giving her 3 for the week with Kevin having one at 18-inches. At check out both expressed how much fun they had making some wonderful memories at the place the call their Canadian home. Before departing they reserved their dates for 2019 already counting down the days before their next arrival.
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Dave Eckert returned for his 3rd time with Steve Weber 2nd both from Haubstadt, IN bringing Jim Tolliver from Evansville, IN for his first time fishing at Fireside Lodge and ever fishing in Canada. 1st day they had to fish between the rain catching Northern Pike, with Jim landing the largest at 37-inches. This was Jim’s first time ever fishing for Northern Pike so this was a great catch, but unfortunately because it was a rainy day they left their cameras back in the cabin. 2nd day they started out hot in the morning, had a long cool down until mid afternoon when the Pike started feeding again getting some good action and seeing a few big boys. 3rd day was very good day catching a good number of sizable Pike and Dave had a huge Smallmouth Bass up to the boat but it jumped and got off. 4th and final day they had great day having fun catching more Northern Pike and Dave lost a larger one at the boat. This was Jim’s first experience fishing in Canada, never having caught a Pike before, saying he had an absolute blast fishing and experiencing the wilderness atmosphere.
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1st time guests, father and son Kevin & Spencer Bodner from Chambersburg, PA, were very excited to arrive. DOA they caught fish right away before supper, Spencer doing very well. The next morning Spencer purchased a Mepps Muskie Killer from my tackle shop that produce great as they had a good day catching Northern Pike, however Spencer lost his lure on a fish that wrapped itself around a sunken tree, so he replaced it after supper. 2nd day was absolutely amazing catching well over 100 Northern Pike, having fast action all day long. Spencer was beside himself saying he never thought he would have a day of fishing like he just experienced. The Pike were so active all their spinner baits got busted up so they re-supplied at my tackle shop for day three.
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3rd day wind was torrent causing them grief wherever the fished but they still managed to catch over 20 Northern Pike. 4th and final day they had another great Northern Pike day catching well over 30, loosing some fish and having a lot of short strikes giving them action all day long. Both left having a wonderful father and son fishing experience, leaving with many life long memories, and hope to return next year.

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Jim Barnes from Lawrence, KS and his son Billy from Sunnyvale, CA returned to Fireside Lodge for their 5th time. 1st day out they faced very high winds, which is not accommodating for Smallmouth Bass fishing, but they did very well for conditions catching 20+ nice size fish plus Billy had a mystery fish on that had him from the front to the back of the boat but lost the fish before they could get a look at it. 2nd day these two did great catching well over 40 Smallmouth Bass not counting what Jim calls the dinks. They caught a lot of their fish in the 16 to 17.75-inch range and Jim landed two 18-inch Trophy Master Anglers Award Smallies and Billy caught one. 3rd and final day, WOW 3 days goes by fast, was just as good and even better than day 2 catching a bunch of Smallmouth Bass14 to 18 inches and several trophies over 18-inches. Last time Billy was here he was a youngster and when talking he expressed all the fabulous memoires he has fishing with his dad at Fireside Lodge and now they made another set of memories as adults. Both left very pleased and hopeful of continuing a regular yearly visit.
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At Fireside Lodge for the first time were brothers Doug & Chris Apt from Crete, IL. 1st day on Little Vermilion Lake ever they did great locating a bunch of BIG Smallmouth Bass and Chris caught a HUGE 43-inch Muskie. 2nd day they caught 6 Smallmouth Bass trying hard to figure things out. 3rd day they did not fish because of very windy conditions. They made up for lost time on the 4th day getting started at 5:30AM and things turned around quick as they had a great day catching Smallmouth Bass on the surface. In addition, 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. After some discussion about the technique of using a Ned Rig and how this presentation can still be used in the wind they took a pack with them to try.
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5th and final day turned out to be a very windy day, which put a halt to surface fishing quickly, so they started using the Ned Rig. Using this technique they ended up having a great day catching many nice size Smallmouth Bass including a HUGE 19-Inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass landed by Doug, his personal best. Both said they had a great time and before departing said they will contact us within the next two weeks to reserve their dates for 2019.
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Avid Fly Fishers, Mike and Beth Parish from Salinas, CA were visiting us at Fireside Lodge for their first time. Mike had been reading my fishing reports for several years and they decided to give us a try. 1st day was delayed by heavy rain and T-Storms finally getting on the water about noon. They got the feel of new waters catching a few fish. 2nd day came with very high winds and being fly fishers they opted out the whole day as the winds even continued into the evening hours.
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3rd day was a charm as the weather was great along with the fly fishing, catching many nice Smallmouth Bass some up in the 18-inch category. 4th and final day we were expecting high winds near noon, which the forecast was right on, so they got out fishing quickly after breakfast. Before noon they had a lot of success catching more good size Smallmouth and a few Northern Pike. After the winds kicked up they called it a day. Both had a great time, enjoying the lodge atmosphere having many interesting conversations with several guests during their stay.
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Long time guest Tom Strachen from Akron, OH with return guest Tom Stenger from Copley, and first time guest Nick Bardall from Akron, OH. were thrilled to arrive and at supper that night informed us about a traditional competition for the biggest fish. Including an award being a special blue fishing jacket. Well Tom S has been in therapy for 8 years, never having won, so were all pulling for him in hopes of preventing him from going over the edge. 1st day they started the day in heavy rains and some T-Storms but had a good day fishing catching about 30 Northern Pike.
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2nd day we had very high winds restricting their fishing location and presentation but they still caught some pike with Nick coming up with the biggest Northern Pike measuring at 37-inches. 3rd day was off to Closs Lake portage to chase Muskie and Muskie they found. They had lots of follows but most approached the boat very lazy and uninterested just swimming away. 4th and final day they finished with a BANG catching well over 60 Northern Pike up to 33-35-inches ending their trip on a high note. Thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge for you fishing destination again.
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Family Mike, Polly, & Joe Charbonneau from Mechanicsburg, PA were very excited to arrive for their second consecutive year. 1st day was fun catching many Northern Pike and Joe landed a HUGE 19-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass. Next day had them finding loads of Northern Pike for lots of fast action and fun. 3rd day was mostly about catching Smallmouth Bass, Polly saying they all caught a lot and it was Mike’s turn to land a Master Anglers Award Smallmouth at 18-inches. 4th day they had a fabulous day catching a lot of Northern Pike, having many follows and all kind of fish action with fishing being hooked up and lost.
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5th day they had the fishing day of their lives. Never having caught a Muskie before this family was targeting Muskie today. Before getting started they carefully selected some lures from my tackle shop. Joe’s choice was a Copper Blade Mepps Musky Killer with a yellow and brown skirt, and for Polly it was 5-inch Black Tubes with blue flake. At the end of the day both Polly & Joe had caught two Muskie each, Joes at 30 and 36-inches, one being on the lure he selected, and Polly landed a 26 and 37-inch Muskie both on the 5-inch tubes she purchased. Wow, what a special day of fishing memories for the Charbonneau family. On their ride back to the lodge they had a Family 4 Muskie day celebration.
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6th and final day ended on a very high note catching 34 Northern Pike plus having a bunch of other action in hook-ups and lost fish. They departed having a great time making wonderful family memories hoping for a three-peat in 2019. Thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge for your special family vacation time.
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5th time return guest Tom Brezinski from Bourbonnais, IL was returning this time with his wife Ann for her first Canadian Wilderness Fishing experience. DOA despite very high winds they caught a dozen nice Smallmouth Bass finding the drop shot presentation most effective. 1st full day Ann and Tom had a blast venturing into a few other lakes getting into his favorite Smallmouth Lake, Hooch, catching some nice fish even though the bite was very tentative, plus they caught a lot of Northern Pike without even trying.
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2nd day was excellent finding some good Smallmouth Bass catching 20+ up to 18-inches. Menu of the day was a drop shot rig with a Zoom worm. They also spent lunchtime at Twin Falls enjoying what nature does so well in creating natural wonders. 3rd and final day was terrific despite being chased off the lake by an afternoon T-storm. They caught a bunch of large Smallmouth Bass and Tom topped his trophy 18-incher of the day before by landing a 19-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass. Three days went by fast but they left feeling very refreshed by the wilderness magic that surrounded them for the last 3.5 days.
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Hot Lures: Depth Raider, Blue Fox Spinner, Drop Shot Rig, Swim Bait, Mepps Muskie Killer, Blue Fox Spinner, Pop-R, Buck Tail, Jerk Bait, Ned Rig, Tube Jig

Catches of The Week: 52-inch Muskie, 43-inch Muskie,
50-inch Northern Pike, 40-inch Northern Pike,
32 Smallmouth Bass 18-19.5-inches
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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