Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 8/24 to 8/31 2019

Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 8/24 to 8/31 2019
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Weather was variable this week with some major changes taking place moving from a summer pattern into fall. That’s correct Fall at the end of August does happen sometimes and this is one of those years. We had several cold fronts move in and out and high winds for 5 days, causing a drop in water temperatures by almost 10 degrees. The fishing totally changed turning on the Muskie and Northern Pike, and Big fish made their presence known.
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Bill Browne from Minneapolis, MN and Matt Bachinski from Ninety Six, SC arrived for their second experience fishing at Fireside Lodge. DOA they got started by catching two Smallmouth Bass and 6 Northern Pike before supper. 1st day was a super fishing day catching 30 fish, 28 Northern Pike being all bigger fish toping out with Matt’s 34-incher, Plus Matt caught a very thick 36-inch Muskie and Bill a HUGE 19-inch Trophy Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass. They said every Northern Pike they caught had shoulders, meaning they were very heavy thick fish.
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2nd day was severe cold front conditions, with heavy winds and on again off again rain all day long so they decided to target Muskie since bad weather usually gets them moving, according to the magazines. Well it proved correct today with Matt catching his second 36-inch Muskie for the trip and a 33 inch fat Pike, plus they had well over 30 Follows and 5 or six strike their lures and come off after a quick confrontation. Also some were right behind their lures bumping and surging towards them. Bill also caught a Muskie on what he called a figure 16 as that’s the number of figure eight rotations he did before the fish hit his lure. All and all it was a very productive day Muskie fishing, full of excitement and fun. 3rd day similar conditions prevailed but started to show signs of relief with the sun peaking out at about 3PM, however the winds were persistently strong and temps were colder. Matt and Bill fished all day long and into the evening catching 20 Northern Pike up to 34 inches and had several Muskie follows.
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4th day they had to face another very windy rainy day, but even colder than the day before with the high of only 58 F, but they did well catching over 20 Northern Pike with a lot over 30-inches, and Bill caught the fish of the day, probably the week landing a GIANT 43-inch Muskie. 5th and final day was an unbelievable day of Musky fishing catching 7 in one day and Bill had a Muskie get off that both him and Matt thought was bigger than his 43-inch Muskie he caught the day before. Bill landed a 30, 33, 36 and 39-inch Muskie while Matt caught a 27, 35, and 36-inch Muskie. Fantastic way for these two best friends to conclude another memory filled fishing trip.
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Wade Keiss and David Goacher from Mount Prospect and Libertyville, IL returned for their 4th time to chase Toothy Critters. Day of arrival they caught some northern pike before supper. 1st full day they did well on this very windy day catching 16 northern pike, some in the 30 to 34 inch range with the biggest measuring 35-inches. 2nd day was another good day catching 17 Northern Pike and Wade caught an 18.5-inch Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass. This happened after a slow period and Wade decided to use a lure he never used before which was an elongated double prop bait. According to David it was very ugly and said it was not qualified to be a lure. But on Wades first cast with this lure a huge 18.5-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass attacked it leaping clear out of the water. Great Story and Great catch by Wade. 3rd day was severe cold front conditions with high winds and rain all day long, however despite difficulty positioning their boat and unable to fish certain areas they still caught 20 nice Northern Pike.
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4th and final day the winds would not quit, but neither did they fishing well into the late afternoon. It was one of those days they had to keep moving to catch fish, but did have a Northern Pike double which is always exciting causing a bit of a fire drill in the boat. Both left having great fun and meeting some Fireside Friends from the past and making some new friends. Their departing words were “until next year”.
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First time guests Jim and Jan Loud from Creede, Colorado were here to apply their fly-fishing skills to catch Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass. Never fishing lakes in Canada they were very excited to get started. 1st day they caught some nice Northern Pike on Streamers while learning the lower half of Little Vermilion Lake.
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2nd day they had a great morning catching some nice Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike plus Jim said he lost some flies that Northern Pike stole from him. It was also a gorgeous late summer day that they enjoyed to the fullest. 3rd day was very windy however Jan and Jim managed to find productive water for fly fishing despite the winds and caught fish throughout most of the day.
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4th day was threating rain all day but it held off until suppertime so Jim and Jan had lots of fun catching some fish fly-fishing, and found plenty of entertainment watching Eagles, Loons with their young, and various wildlife activity that surrounds you while fishing at Fireside Lodge. 5th and final day they had to face a severe cold front with very windy conditions making it tough for fly-fishing. Being the skilled fly-casters they are they fished right up to suppertime catching fish making the best of there last day. Both said they thoroughly enjoyed their stay fishing in our pristine wilderness, and making new Fireside Lodge friends.
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The Klimes family Group returned for their 7th consecutive year headed by Brian & his boys Tyler, & Jordan, from Willow Brook, IL, Kenny with his son Kameron from St Louis, and Kansas City, MO and brother Kerry from Phoenix, AZ. First day they started their trip with the third annual Eddie Clark fishing tournament. Rules are based on a total point value attained by selecting your largest fish and if a Smallmouth Bass you can double the length, a Northern Pike is it’s length straight up, and a Muskie is it’s length plus an additions 2.5 points. So a 20-inch Smallmouth is worth 40 points, a 41-inch Northern Pike is 41 points and a 40-inch Musky would be 42.5 points. At the days end after all the fish were tallied it was Kenny who won with his 34-inch Northern Pike.
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2nd day was very good fishing for Brian and Tyler catching 20 fish including some nice Pike and Tyler landed a great looking 34-inch Tiger Muskie. Kerry and Jordan did very well Smallmouth Bass fishing and Jordan caught two Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass measuring 18 and 18.5-inches.
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Third and final day was a super day fishing with Brian, Tyler and Jordan catching many Northern Pike and some Smallmouth Bass while Kerry, Kenny and Cameron got into some very large fish. Kameron catching a 38.5-inch Muskie, Kenny caught a 39-inch Northern Pike that was a brute, and Kerry hooked and landed an Enormous 48.5-inch Tiger Muskie. These three caught about a half dozen more Northern Pike all coming on a Suick lure all within a short period of time. This was a Fantastic end to another very memorable Klimes family fishing vacation. Thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge once again to make some of your special family memories.

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Tyler Tennant from Lakeway, TX and Pete Higman from Gurnee, IL returned for their 17th trip with us at Fireside Lodge. 1st day out they had very windy conditions, limiting their presentations and locations, but stopped counting the Northern Pike they caught after the 12th biggest being 31-inches. 2nd day was all about Muskie fishing and did they had a very exciting day. Tyler said the action they had was incredible having countless follows plus Tyler had 4 Muskie on and lost. The best part was the Muskie were aggressively attacking surface lures and at times leaping totally out of the water, which was magnificent to see. Tyler did catch a 35-inch Muskie, Pete a 34-inch Northern Pike with a very large girth, and an 18-inch Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass.
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3rd day we had a classic Canadian cold front move in with cold rain and very windy conditions. They persevered all day long coming back weather beaten but not without fishing stories catching some nice Northern Pike and Pete caught his 2nd Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth Bass measuring 18-inches. 4th day stayed very windy and was a bit colder but they fished all day long Tyler saying they caught plenty of fish however not the big fish they were looking, except that Pete caught his 3rd Trophy Smallmouth Bass measuring 18-inches making it three trophies in 3 days.
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5th day was targeted towards Muskie and was it ever a rough weather day having only a high of 58F with high winds and cold rain, but they pushed through fishing all day and were rewarded for it by catching two nice Muskie with Pete’s being a large 36.5-inches and plenty of nice size Pike. 6th and final day they topped off their trip catching numbers, all Northern Pike. Both had a fabulous time and hope to return in 2020.
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Bob & Jane Babcock from Midland MI arrived for their 22nd consecutive year fishing with us at Fireside Lodge. 1st day was a very windy rainy day with classic cold front conditions but they managed to catch some Northern Pike with Bob coming up with a BIG FAT 37-inch Northern Pike. 2nd day Bob continued his success catching Northern Pike on a Blue Fox spinner with a purple pink blade and a purple bell. He has a terrific assortment of specialty lures for big Musky and Northern Pike but every time he throws this spinner he catches fish. 3rd day Bob kept his streak going catching Northern Pike 30-34.5-inches, again using his special lure. Jane also caught fish but missed a HUGE Muskie while using a favorite Spoon of hers made by Sebile. 4th day Bob had another good day catching a number of 30-inch plus Northern Pike, Largest 35-inches plus he landed a 37.5- inch Tiger Muskie.
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5th and final day Jane said Bob seemed to catch a fish on ever lure he threw catching more fish for the day, however Jane caught the largest fish, a 33-inch Pike, and exciting event happened upon its release. The fish was a little slow in swimming away when all of a sudden a very large Muskie showed up and appeared to be sizing up Jane’s catch for its next meal. Jane and Bob got a good look at the fish saying it was huge, and I guess it would have to be big wanting to eat a 33-inch Pike. Both left having fabulous time and Bob had already made mention on what he may do different next year.
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Hot Lures: Mepps Spinner, Mepps Musky Maribou, Blue Fox Spinner, Dardevle Spoon, Rapala Skitter Walk, Suick,

Catches of The Week: 48.5-inch Tiger Muskie, 43-inch Muskie, 39-inch Muskie, 38-inch Muskie, 39-inch Northern Pike, 19-inch Smallmouth Bass 7-18 to 19-inches, 21 Muskie caught 100’s of Follows
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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

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Email at:fireside@xplornet.com