Fireside Lodge Fireside Lodge Fishing Report June 15th to June 22nd 2019

[Alan Brandys]

Fireside Lodge Fireside Lodge Fishing Report June 15th to June 22nd 2019

This week was a beautiful week with just one day of rain and the temperatures were ideal being in the high 60’s to mid 70’s with moderate to light winds. The fishing was fabulous for both Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike and the Trophy Smallmouth Bass fishing was phenomenal.

Jerry Amer and Bill Calhoon from Columbus, OH were returning to fish with us for their 18th consecutive year. DOA these two caught 55 BIG Smallmouth Bass with 15 being Master Anglers Award Trophy fish 18-19-inches. 1st day was just incredible catching over 100 Smallmouth Bass with the majority being over 17-inches and 21 were Trophy Smallmouth Bass 18 to 20-inches. Also about half of these fish were caught fly-fishing.

2nd day they spent the better part of searching for Muskie having many follows and caught three, with the largest being 38-inches. Jerry caught this fish, after seeing it lying on the bottom, by throwing what he said to be the ugliest lure he had ever purchased right in front of the Muskie and let it sink to the bottom. Well it must have been ugly and scared the fish as it just pounced on it in a split second and the fight was on. After seeing the lure he was right, it was ugly. 3rd day was full of fast action Northern Pike fishing catching over 50, plus some big Smallmouth Bass landing another 5 Master Anglers Award Trophies.

4th and final day was great catching over 50 Smallmouth Bass including 19 Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth 18-19.5-inches and to top it off, while Bass Fishing with a very small lure Bill hooked and landed a heavy 38-inch Muskie. With several hours still left to fish they decided to end their trip on Bill’s Musky catch. The end results of their trip were over 330 Smallmouth Bass with 75% being 16 to 19.5-inches, many Northern Pike and 5 Muskie two at 38-inches. Both left already talking about next year and went out the door as they entered with smiles and laughter.

Long timers, since 1996, of Fireside Lodge Mike and Linda Lapresi from Tucker, GA were back to target BIG Smallmouth Bass primarily surface fishing. First day Mike and Linda caught close to 35 Smallmouth Bass, Mike using a popper fly-fishing and Linda using her favorite lure, which is a Tiny Torpedo. Second day was toothy critter day and did they ever have fun catching 75+ Northern Pike saying that usually when catching this many pike they tend to be smaller, but today they were running on the larger side.

3rd day had them back to what they do best catching Smallmouth Bass on the surface landing about 35-40 Smallmouth Bass, and in the evening after supper Linda tied into and caught a beauty of a Trophy Smallmouth Bass measuring 19.25-inches bulging at the seams. 4th day started with rain and had them having a slower which brought them in early however they more than made up for it after supper have excellent surface action on BIG Smallmouth Bass. 5th and final day they had another great day catching many Smallmouth Bass and again most were larger fish. They enjoyed every last minute of the Northern Wilderness fishing right to the end of the evening.

Father and son Jack and Steven Starnes from Wise and Duffield, VA were back for the 18th time in 18 years. 1st day these two caught 20 Northern Pike and over 40 Smallmouth Bass. 2nd day had them catching just under 40 Smallmouth Bass several Pike and 3 Muskie, biggest being 34-inches. Great day in any fishing memory log. 3rd day had them catching their magic number of 40 Smallmouth Bass and 13 Northern Pike. A comment Steven made in the dinning room was that all the Smallmouth were large and very heavy compared to some other years, most likely being attributed to slightly later spawn.

4th day had them searching for Muskie catching 2 plus several Northern Pike, but after discovering the Smallmouth Bass were on the bite they proceeded to catch over 50 bigger Smallmouth including several trophy fish. 5th day, as quoted by both Jack and Steven, was their best day ever when fishing for Smallmouth Bass catching well over 150 Smallmouth Bass and Steven caught two large Muskie at 42 and 38-inches plus lost an even bigger fish at the boat. Last day had them catching 35 Smallmouth, 15 Northern Pike and 3 more Muskie. Both left having another great fishing trip and reserved for the same time period in 2020.

Father & Son Paul and Tony Capecchi From Inver Grove Hgts and Woodbury, MN consecutive year guests since Tony was 17 years old now 36 returned for the 4th year in a row with Tony’s wife Jody and 5 year old Joe. 1st day they all just went for a boat ride after supper to get Joe out on the water a comfortable.

2nd day all fished together taking the scenic boat ride to Maskinonge Lake catching many Northern Pike and some very Big Smallmouth Bass, 4 Trophy Size, with Joe catching two of these Master Anglers Award Trophy fish plus he caught 17 Northern Pike. 2nd day was Paul & Tony’s traditional fishing day on Closs lake doing very well catching about a dozen Smallmouth Bass, 5 Northern Pike between 31-35-inches and 3 Muskie, largest being 38-inches.

3rd day was spent having great family fun in the rain catching countless Northern Pike, Jodie having the hot hand catching the most for the second day. Joe enjoyed the rain so much he fell asleep while it was raining. 4th day was a perfect weather day and all had a blast catching many Northern Pike and Jodie got her first Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth Bass of the trip measuring 18.25-inches and Paul had two at 18 and 18.5-inches. Also, in the evening Jodie, Tony, and Joe went for a family canoe ride.

5th and final day was more about doing a scenic tour than fishing going to Twin Falls for a half day enjoying family time plus they did well fishing the other half day just soaking in the Canadian Wilderness they have all grown to love. Before departing they made reservations for 2020.Thanks for spending your special family time and making memories at Fireside Lodge.

Father / Son combo and first timers Bob and Brad Currie from Midland, MI and Dayton, OH were very glad to be at
Fireside Lodge. First day these two did well getting familiar with Little Vermilion Lake catching about a dozen Smallmouth Bass a several Northern Pike and the BIG plus is they saw a Moose swimming across our bay. Bob & Brad were just in awe seeing this huge animal get into the water swim across our bay and when getting out gave a pause and look back to where it came from before disappearing into the bush.

1st day they did well learning the lake while catching some Smallmouth Bass and a few Pike. 2nd day had them catching 23 nice Smallmouth Bass including Brad catching 2 trophy Smallmouth Bass 18-18.5 inches and Bob landing one in this category. The next day they caught more Big Smallmouth Bass with Brad landing a monster Trophy measuring 19.5 inches. 4th day was a banner day for these two catching 46 Northern Pike, never experiencing such fast action before. On their 5th and final day they caught well over 20 Smallmouth Bass several Northern Pike and that evening after supper Brad caught a nice 34-inch Muskie. Both had such a great time they made their reservations for 2020 before leaving.

17-years ago Tim Bergen, Palos Park, IL brought his 9-year-old sons to Fireside Lodge and for 16 years it has become a Bergen Family Tradition to fish at Fireside Lodge. We feel very honored this family has made Fireside Lodge their place to make so many family fishing memories. They focus on large toothy critters not really caring about numbers as much as size. 1st day they did very well catching 12 bigger Northern Pike and having some huge follows before coming in for their traditional late afternoon happy hour enjoying a few beer and a cigar.

2nd day was slower for them in the catching department but finding fish was not a problem as they again saw a bunch of big Northern Pike that were not cooperative. 3rd day they had another good day catching nice Pike in the 30-inch plus range, but again the BIG fish evaded their lures. Joe and Adam said they contacted a HUGE Muskie and they new that it was Big because when Tim got a glimpse of the fish it unseated him, which almost never happens.

4th and final day was another great day fishing but did not accomplish their goal of landing the fish of a lifetime despite seeing a few fitting that category. During their last happy hour and supper they were already planning for next years return visit in 2020.

Best Friends Don Landbo and Dan Skolza from S Elgin and Sugar Grove, IL returned for 18th straight year. 1st day and DOA they caught 60 Smallmouth Bass and 8 Northern Pike. These two are very flexible using different techniques and whatever needed to catch fish. For example they may start with a surface bait for Smallmouth Bass and if they see a fish they will change to another lure / technique to find out if the alternate method will work better.

2nd day they had a great day catching Northern Pike landing 159, most on Buzz Baits, plus 10 very BIG Smallmouth Bass. Next day was more of an even split catching 34 Northern Pike and 38 Smallmouth Bass. Don and Dan 17 years ago were mostly focused on our great Northern Pike fishing, however after discovering the quality and quantity of Smallmouth Bass they started to give each species equal time and are they ever glad they did.

4th day had them catching 63 Smallmouth Bass and a Muskie, and all the Smallmouth Bass were BIG ranging from 16 to 20-inches. In fact we have a Master Anglers Award Program at Fireside Lodge and Smallmouth Bass qualify when they are 18-inches or larger and Dan & Don between them caught 68 qualifying Smallmouth Bass with many 19-20-inches. 5th day had them catching 55 Smallmouth Bass and the 6th and final day the number was 39 Smallmouth Bass and 40 Northern Pike.

While checking out Audrey took the traditional picture of Don and Dan shaking hands in front of our tackle shop and before departing they reserved their dates for a return trip in 2020.

Return Guests Rick and Nancy Hoffman from Olathe, KS were glad to be back in a place Nancy calls home. These two have been fishing here for a long-time, first time for Nancy was when she was 11 years old, now just recently retired, has many wonderful memories fishing on Little Vermilion Lake. 1st day they came out of the gate on fire catching well over 60 Northern Pike. 2nd day was spent searching for big Pike seeing a lot of follows but just could not get the larger ones to bite.3rd was another fast action Northern Pike day catching over 40 and Rick said they could have caught all they wanted but by mid day choose to search for that fish of a lifetime, getting some follows but could not hook up on one.

4th day they had a great time locating bigger Northern Pike and Muskie, which was their intentions, but they just could not get the bigger ones to hit their lures resulting in a lot of follows. 5th and final day they decided they would just fish for numbers and not concern themselves with targeting BIG fish but the unplanned deed was accomplished as the big fish showed up and they started catching Northern Pike 30 to 36-inches with regularity. On Rick’s last cast he had a gigantic follow that prompted many more casts with no avail. Rick said that this was the fish that makes you want to keep coming back. Both left having a wonderful time and making memories once again in a place the call their home. Thanks for choosing us at Fireside Lodge as that special place for you.

Roger Haglung with with wife Jackie from Tulsa, OK and daughter Bridgit from Lexington, KY. were glad to be back fishing at Fireside Lodge. Roger ha been before but it was Jackie and Bridgit’s 1st experience. 1st day out these three had very good success catching some Northern Pike and a lot of Smallmouth Bass.

2nd day they ventured further up Little Vermilion Lake doing very well again catching Smallmouth Bass along with a few Pike. Bridgit, for navigating Little Vermilion Lake for the first time did very well, getting them around safely and putting everyone onto fish. With Roger seeming to have a preference for Smallmouth Bass fishing they focused in the area for their last two days.

Blessed with nearly perfect weather they did great catching plenty of fish along with some sizable Smallmouth. The last day they traveled towards the Twin Falls in the Upper Arm area enjoying the different scenery. All left having a wonderful time making another set of family fishing memories at Fireside Lodge.

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: Buzz Bait, TRD Finesse Worm, Sinking Worm, Blue Fox Spinner, Pointer Minnow, X-Rap, Yo-Zuri, Torpedo, Mini-D,

Hot Flies: Poppers

Catches of The Week: Over 175 Trophy Smallmouth Bass 18-20-inches, 38-inch Muskie, 39-inch Northern Pike

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