Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 8/3 to 8/10 2019

[Alan Brandys]

Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 8/3 to 8/10 2019

Weather this week was variable mostly have nice temperatures in the low to mid 70’s, with wind causing some challenges on a few days. Fishing was great as a lot of Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, and Muskie were caught with some guests catching their personal best ever fish.

Dennis Wolf returning to Fireside Lodge for his 4th visit brought Carol Ann for her first time for a special occasion, to celebrate their anniversary. The first evening fishing they caught a good number of Smallmouth Bass with Carol Ann coming up with the largest fish, landing a large 17.5-inch Smallmouth Bass. 1st day they caught a lot of Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike before the winds started. This happened when they were tucked in a bay having an enjoyable lunch, then coming out of that bay after lunch is when they realized they were on a very windy side of the lake having an adventurous ride back.

2nd day after Dennis caught a Smallmouth and a walleye back to back, both him and Carol Ann got on a roll catching Northern Pike and they went on having action all day long on Northern Pike 25-30-inches. 3rd and final day, boy 3 days fly bye, they had a fabulous day catching 37 Smallmouth Bass on lures they purchased from my tackle shop. Both had a great time enjoying our wonderful Canadian Wilderness Fishing while celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. Thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge to make your special memories together.

John & Monica Ziegler from Union Hall, VA returned for their 9th visit with us at Fireside Lodge and for their 3rd time were John & Monica’s son Dan & wife Crystal from Rock Mount, VA. First day they caught Smallmouth Bass with John catching the big fish of the day a nice Trophy 18-inch Smallmouth Bass. 2nd day they caught about a dozen fish per boat and Surprise, Surprise Crystal caught the largest fish of the day a chunky 32-inch Northern Pike.

3rd day Dan and Crystal decided to fish a portage lake with Crystal landing the prize fish, a 20-inch Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth Bass, and Dan missed a fish thought to be the same size. They also had a lot of Muskie follows, at times there were two Musky following at the same time, but just could not get them to hit their lures. Monica and John fished some of their old haunts in Little Vermilion Lake catching upwards of 35 Smallmouth Bass ranging 15 to 17.5-inches and 5 nice Pike in the 28-30-inch class. 4th day was a good day with all catching Smallmouth Bass and for the 3rd day in a row Crystal landed the BIG Fish of the day, which was her 2nd 20-inch Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth Bass. 5th day was a great day all catching a lot of Smallmouth Bass, Dan having a very good day catching 16 himself along with a Trophy 18-inch Smallmouth, Monica also caught a Master Anglers Award Smallmouth at 18-inches but for the 4th day in a row Crystal caught the biggest fish of the day landing an 18.5-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass. 5th day was a quality day with Monica, Crystal, and John all landing trophy Smallmouth Bass over 18-inches but for the very first day Crystal did not own the Big Fish of The Day, John beating her out by a half inch landing a 19-incher. Dan had a very exciting moment just before suppertime when he hooked a BIG fish that got off after making a full body leap out of the water. Both Dan and Crystal got a good look at this seemingly Trophy Muskie.

6th and final day for Dan and Crystal, all had a fun catching Smallmouth Bass and John with Monica accounted for 24 Smallmouth Bass with John catching another 19-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass in the exact same spot as yesterday. John and Monica on their 7th day had fabulous fishing, catching 48 Smallmouth Bass with most being 15 to 18-inches, plus caught two 18.5-inch trophies and 6 Northern Pike. Their 8th and final day was another very good day catching their favorite fish, Smallmouth Bass and Monica ended it with her 3rd Master Anglers award Smallmouth measuring 18-inches. Even after their extended 9 night / 8 day stay they were still sad to leave, but left with hopes of returning in 2020.

Family Mike, Polly, & Joe Charbonneau from Mechanicsburg, PA were very excited to arrive for their 3rd consecutive year and also with them was a friend of Joe, Kenny for his first Canadian Wilderness Fishing Adventure. 1st day Joe and Kenny had a very good day catching upwards of 20 Northern Pike and Joe had a special catch landing a Trophy Smallmouth Bass measuring 18.5-inches. Polly and Mike caught 16 Northern Pike between them. 2nd day was a slower day, however they made up for it the next day catching many Smallmouth Bass a few Northern Pike and had some Muskie action in the way of follows. 4th day was as Polly expressed it, an Amazing Day. Together they caught 86 fish, Polly catching her Biggest Northern Pike ever and Joe caught another Trophy Smallmouth Bass at 18-inches and Kenny caught a Master Anglers Award Samllmouth Bass measuring a HUGE 19.25-inches. Kenny was smiles ear to ear in the dinning room not only because of his trophy catch but also because of the huge slab of ribs he was served at suppertime.

5th day was very good for Polly and Joe catching a lot of Northern Pike, but the big bonus was they saw a Moose crossing a creek saying it turned to look at them and then disappeared in the bush. Mike and Kenny also had a great day with Kenny catching his very first ever Muskie slightly over 30-inches. 6th and final day all had a fun filled day catching a lot of fish, and the highlights were Joe catching his biggest Northern Pike measuring 34.5-inches and Kenny caught his second Muskie, a 34-incher. All left having a fabulous family fishing trip, full of memories that will last a lifetime. Before departure plans were already underway for a return in 2020.

The All ladies fly-fishing group was back after a 1 year layover, Louisa or Lou “Le’s Go” Runnals Ft Leonard Wood, MO, Gina “Trout Mum” Leitle from Aurora, MO Paula “Spanky” McNeary from Cleveland, MO, & Peggy “Pyro” Carl from West Columbia, TX. All were out for a few hours before supper and all caught Smallmouth Bass. 1st day of fishing was terrific full of action and fun with all catching fish, a mix of Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike. Gina said she had a TERRIFIC day; not only catching Pike and Bass plus she hooked a Big Muskie that jumped completely out of the water throwing her fly in the process. While catching some of the fish using poppers, Paula said every time she was not paying attention to her popper a fish would come up and strike the popper as if they were watching her. 2nd day they were in search of, Pike but again got into a bunch of Smallmouth Bass enjoying what nature was giving to them.

3rd day they had a ball again looking for Northern Pike and had Peggy catching her first ever fly fishing along with all catching some very nice Smallmouth Bass. In fact Paul and Gina both never caught Northern Pike Fly-Fishing before this trip. 4th and final day they faced very strong winds, which is a challenge for any angler but especially for Fly-Fishers. They fished all day having some success and Gina did very well catching 2 Northern Pike in the 28-inch range. All left very satisfied however all wishing they had a few more days of fishing. Before departing talk of a return trip was in the air.

Return Guests Larry Walstrom from Lampe, MO along with father and son Scott and Corey Krause from Southbend, IN and Waterford, MI were thrilled to be back at Fireside Lodge to hunt down Muskie and Northern Pike. 1st day was a great day Muskie fishing having numerous follows and Scott had the hot hand catching two 32-34-inches and lost another after it straightened his hook. 2nd day Corey again had most of the action on a new lure he purchased from me, which met my warranty obligations the same day as purchased.

3rd day had Corey again catching a nice Muskie on the lure he bought from me and Scott had a special happening at lunchtime. While eating his turkey sandwich he left a Jitterbug dangling in the water. Well all of a sudden his rod tip started to quiver and as he looked down a Huge Smallmouth Bas grabbed his lure. Scott quickly picked up his rod, set the hook, and then the other bigger Smallmouth seem to be trying to get the lure away from the Bass he hooked. After several exciting moments Scott landed the fish, which was a 19.5-inch Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth Bass. Great catch and even greater story. 4th day Corey continued to have the hot hand catching a 34-inch Northern Pike 34-inch Musky and a 34.5-inch Muskie all on the lure he purchased from my tackle shop. Larry also caught a Muskie on the lure he purchased from me so I know only have one warranty to fulfill with Scott’s lure.

5th and final day was another Muskie catching day, Scott landing a 34.5-inch Muskie and Larry catching a 32-inches and he also lost a very large Musky at the boat. That’s great Muskie fishing catching at least one Muskie per day. All left having a great time and hope to return in the near future.

Ken and Ginger Sprague from Indianapolis IN. returned for their second visit with us at Fireside Lodge. First day was a slow start hardly catching anything by noon, then they decided because of the windy conditions to fish for Northern Pike and all heck broke loose catching a bunch of Pike having action all afternoon. On a very windy second day they caught more nice Northern Pike plus Ken caught a nice size Smallmouth before waving the white flag and giving into the winds by noon.

3rd day Ginger and Ken caught a lot of Smallmouth Bass in the 14-16.5-inch range before noon and then both caught many Northern Pike up to 28-inches. 4th day they caught a few Smallmouth Bass as they found the Northern Pike fishing great again, catching Pike all day long. 5th and 6th days they spent exploring new sections of Little Vermilion Lake catching a mix of Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike. Both had a fabulous time not only fishing, but meeting and enjoying conversation with other Fireside Lodge guests in the dinning room.

Wayne Busdiecker, son Todd from Centerville and Dayton, OH returned for their 13th time. DOA they caught 15+ Northern Pike before supper despite the very windy conditions. Day of Arrival day was excellent catching many Northern Pike and after some discussion of new areas to explore Wayne came up with the Fireside Lodge fish of the day landing a great big 40-inch Master Anglers Ward Trophy Northern Pike.

1st day by Suppertime Todd alone had 15-20 Northern Pike with Wayne catching about 10 but the bigger fish evaded them today. 2nd day they caught about 20 Northern Pike before supper and 16 after supper on surface lures. Wayne said it was a blast seeing the fish torpedo from the depths to attack their surface lures. 3rd and final day before supper the caught about 25 Northern Pike but the very large fish the saw would not take there offering. After supper they gave it one last shot at the big fish they saw earlier to no avail. Well they caught plenty of fish but that big trophy Muskie never showed up. But there is always next year. Both had great stay making another set of father and son fishing memories and thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge to do so.



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.

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Pinterest
TripAdvisor

Hot Lures: Mepps Spinner, Blue Fox Spinner, You-Zuri Twitch Bait, Williams Wobbler, TRD Finesse Worm, Sinking Worm, Cisco Kid

Catches of The Week: 40-inch Northern Pike, 3-20-inch Smallmouth Bass

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.firesidelodge.com
800-545-0815
Email at:fireside@xplornet.com