Fireside Lodge Fishing News/Photo Report 6/20 to 6/27 2009 Part 2

This week was a repeat of last weeks weather, as we had temperatures from 77 to 85 degrees for highs and only had a few quick thunderstorms roll through. It was just what the beginning of summer should bring, and all guests at Fireside Lodge seemed to be enjoying their time on the water.
Long time return guests of Fireside Lodge were Father and Son Dave and Matt Moon, John Setzer, Bob Hanewinkel, Tom Wolf, and Jeff Stoyanov from St Peters, Hillsboro, High Ridge, and O’Fallon, MO. First day including the evening of arrival Dave and Matt caught 69 Smallmouth Bass, Bob and Tom caught over 70 and John and Jeff caught 33. A lot of the bass wee quality fish with Tom leading the BIG fish board catching 9 Master Anglers Award Smallies, Bob with 6, John 4, Jeff 2, and Dave and Matt both had 1 over 18-inches. Tom also described a Smallmouth seen by him and Bob by saying it was the largest they had ever seen and could ever imagine seeing. This was just the beginning of what would turn out to be an unbelievable week Smallmouth Bass fishing. That’s what this group targets and if anyone gets off track while fishing with Jeff, he has methods of making sure nobody thinks of bringing a toothy critter in the boat. This group caught so many Smallmouth it was impossible to keep exact tracking of numbers so a conservative estimate of 650 to 700 was agreed upon. Most of these Smallmouth were in the 14 to 17-inch range and they caught a record amount of Master Anglers Award Smallmouth, 18-inches or over, beating their old record. The groups old record set two year sago with 8 people in the group was 43 Master Anglers Award Smallmouth caught in 6 days. This year with 6 people they managed to land a total of 71 Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass between 18 to 20-inches. John caught the largest at 20-inches and Matt came in a close second with a 19.75-incher. Fabulous fun was had by all and before leaving were already discussing plans for their return trip to Fireside Lodge.
The Meyer family of three bothers/fathers each bringing two sons were back for their second trip to Fireside Lodge. Bob with sons with Jake 17 and Mitch 9, Martin with Jordan and Nick both 16, and John with Jack 16 and Mick 13, showed up with smiles from ear to ear ready to enjoy fishing in the wilderness once again. Here for three days of fishing they certainly made the most of it with the first day having fabulous fishing. All caught a lot of Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass, averaging 75 fishing per boat, and Marty’s boat in the lead with 100 fish. Jack Caught a 19-inch Master Anglers Award Smallmouth along with Jordan’s 19.5-incher, and Jordan just missed a Master Anglers Award Northern Pike by one inch as he landed a very big 39-inch Pike. Second day was a planned shore lunch day so they fished their way to Twin Falls where the water in Little Vermilion Lake is flowing out into Vermilion Lake at 10’s of thousands of gallons per minute. They caught Smallmouth Bass on they way there and back and had an extended lunch cooking over a fire and having the youngsters expend some energy. They had fun in the water, starting the fire, and running through the bush. They also fished at the falls catching some fish, and Marty while reeling in a Smallmouth had a Muskie try to eat the Smallmouth he was fighting. After swimming around with the Smallmouth for a while the Muskie spit it out, then came back and attacked it again. An attempt was made by John to net the monster Muskie, but one look at this 6-footer and the Muskie let go of the bass and swam away. After getting caught in a brief but heavy rain they built their fire larger to dry off. Third and final day was another great day catching lots of Northern Pike and Smallmouth. Also, many more BIG Master Anglers Award Smallmouth were caught with Jack catching another at 18.5”, Jake caught a 19”and 18”, Marty had 6 between 19 and 20-inches, and Mitch at 10 years old came up with the prize landing a GIANT 20-inch Smallmouth Bass. Great fun was had bay all and many memories made between father, sons, uncles, and nephews.
Long time guests of Fireside Lodge, Mike and Linda Lapresi from Tucker, GA. Returned to Fireside Lodge for some relaxing time together while fishing in our wonderful wilderness surroundings. Here for the Smallmouth Bass Mike and Linda did great the first day catching close to 40 Smallmouth, with Mike catching all of his fly fishing, and landing an 18-inch Master Anglers Smallmouth. Second day was almost a carbon copy of the first as they caught 34 Smallmouth. Both days all their fish were caught while fishing with surface presentations, Linda using a Tiny Torpedo and Mike fly-fishing with poppers. Also, many of the Smallmouth were very large, with many between 16 to 17.5-inches. They also had a lot of missed fish as the Smallmouth would either miss the lure, or come off after exploding on the surface. This is common when catching Smallmouth with top-water techniques, but the great thing is that even the missed fish account for great excitement. The third day Linda and Mike decided to catch Northern Pike, and did they ever. Lind caught over 40 Pike herself, and had many missed fish on Buzz Baits, and Mike sticking to fly-fishing caught over 10 Northern Pike and a HUGE 18.5-inch wide bodied Master Anglers Award Smallmouth. Fourth day brought some weather and rain, having very windy conditions by noon with wind gusts to over 30mph, and the heavy rain was coming down sideways. I found them sitting on the lodge porch watching the storm, which drove them off the lake, but not before Linda caught a GIANT 19.5-inch Master Anglers Award Smallmouth. Weather cut their fishing short but both had a wonderful stay, and made another set of memories at Fireside Lodge.
Fireside Lodge guests since 1994, here for their thirteenth trip were Kevin Marks from Hebron, KY, Michael, Muir from Knoxville, TN, Mike Colitti from Matthews, NC, and brothers Andrew and Thomas Hurdman from Chester NJ and Jacksonville, FL, and Jay Lind from Matthews, NC. They had another FANTASTIC fishing and catching trip. This group averaged 55 fish per day per person, which for four days comes out to the unbelievable number of over 1300 fish caught. The majority of the fish caught were Northern Pike, but they did catch a good number of Smallmouth Bass and a few Muskie. Some highlights were, Jay catching two Master Anglers Award Smallmouth at 18 and 18.5-inches, and a HUGE 41.5-inch Muskie, Kevin landed an 18-inch Smallmouth, Mike Colitti caught a 19-inch beauty of a Smallmouth and a BIG 38-inch Muskie, and Mike Muir took top billing in the Smallmouth Bass category catching a GIANT 19.5-inch Master Anglers Award Smallmouth. Brother Andrew and Tom caught some big Pike and had some terrific days on Northern Pike over 30-inches. All had loads of fun, which is a given for this group as they are good friends dating back to their school days. All intend on returning to Fireside Lodge in the near future.



Make sure to read Part 1 of this weeks fishing report.


Make sure to go to our website listed below to see the 2009 Photos

Hot Lures of The Week: White Twister Tail Jig, Blue Fox Spinner, Tiny Torpedo, Senko Worm, Mepps Spinner, Buzz Bait
Fly Fishing surface poppers


Catches of the Week: 41-inch Muskie, 39-inch Northern Pike, six 20-inch Smallmouth Bass, and 121 Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass between 18 to 20 inches were caught.

Please note that we have a “NEW” email address below.

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
mailto:fireside@xplornet.com