Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 6/29 to 7/6 2019

[Alan Brandys]

Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 6/29 to 7/6 2019

This was an absolutely beautiful weather week having nice summer temperatures with light to moderate winds. We had one rain day but the rest of the week was near perfect. The fishing was great and all went home making many memories of their fishing adventures at Fireside Lodge.

First time guests at Fireside Lodge were father and son Cam and Ruben Shapansky from Camden, ON with Father and son combo Tim and John Snider from Kirkwall, ON. All were very excited to be here after reading my weekly fishing reports. From my reports Ruben was prepared having some baits that were working in previous weeks and after the others purchased some from my tackle shop they were off catching many Smallmouth Bass before suppertime. They had a great day of arrival catching fish and learning new waters. 1st full day was a fabulous day catching some big Northern Pike 30-33-inches. Tim lost a BIG Muskie after it broke his line, and they all caught many Smallmouth Bass with Ruben coming up with the catch of the day being a Trophy Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass measuring 19.5-inches. They also enjoyed a shore lunch over an open fire.

2nd day was very fun discovering new waters and visited Twin Falls for lunch enjoying this natural wonder. 3rd day creek accessible lakes were on the target list and did these four ever have a blast catching over 75 Northern Pike between them. They had never experienced such fast action while fishing and said it was just amazing. 4th day Cam and Ruben portaged in to one of our back lakes catching 28 Northern pike and 4 large walleye saying that portaging and fishing on a lake all by themselves was awesome. All left having a fantastic fishing trip and Cam when leaving mentioned they will be back.

Long time guests father and son Jim and Michael Stalknecht from Ringwood, NJ and Guthrie, IA were glad to be back fishing on Little Vermilion Lake System. DOA they went out and found some very large Muskie and Northern Pike that would not bite but they did do well catching Smallmouth Bass and Jim caught 2 walleye. 1st day fishing many Smallmouth Bass were caught and they caught another 4 walleye between 20-24-inches. They also located one HUGE Muskie but they could not even classify it as a follow and said it was more of a swim-by. 2nd day they caught some Northern Pike a Muskie and had some big follows, they also caught more nice size Smallmouth Bass plus their daily walleye.

3rd day they caught some Smallmouth Bass but was slower than the last few days. 4th and final day was an active day for Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass catching many of each, which finished their trip off on a high note. Both had another great trip and hope to return in the near future.

Long time guest Joe Richter made the long road trip from Kempton, PA to fish with us at Fireside Lodge with his two grandsons Sean & Christian from Macungie, PA. Joe looked like a very happy man to be travelling and on a fishing trip with his grandsons, Sean being his second time and Chris his first. DOA they went right out Joe using his past knowledge and all caught a combination of Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike. 1st full day was a trip up a long creek for a days adventure fishing in one of our back lakes. They did very well catching many fish and both Sean and Chris each caught 13 Northern Pike and 7 Smallmouth Bass with a lot of other action, not counting what Joe caught. 2nd day was a search for Muskie and Grandpa was very successful with Christian catching his first Muskie ever and the smiles on both Grandpa and Grandson’s face told the whole story.

3rd day they had a good day catching a mix of fish and enjoying the good weather. 4th day the highlight was shore lunch and all the activities that go with it and both Sean and Christian got very involved with cooking. 5th day we discussed fishing location and presentation for Smallmouth Bass and these three knocked it out of the park catching 35+ Smallmouth Bass with their newly learned technique. 6th and final day was a super finish continuing where they left off the day before catching well over 50 Smallmouth Bass and Sean caught the largest Northern Pike of his life while Smallmouth fishing landing a big fat 36 inch Pike. Joe left very happy knowing that he had a very successful fishing Adventure with his grandsons saying that this was an important item on his bucket list. All left with memories to keep giving for years to come.

Long time return guest Greg Benton from grand Blanc, MI was ready to fish for Toothy critters with his nephew Cody Bowen from Flint, MI who was here for his first visit. First day had them catching Northern Pike and Cody had Musky try to grab it’s lure as he was pulling it out of the water, which sacred the heck out of him. Also, Greg as he was thinking of the next spot to fish and not paying attention his lure was just dangling in the water near the boat a HUGE Muskie showed up just under his lure. Greg said he felt handcuffed and attempted to move his lure in an L pattern but the Muskie just sank into the depths of Little Vermilion Lake. Greg said he thought it ranged between 48-52-inches. Greg is a very attentive angler but these huge fish often seem to appear when you are paying less attention.

2nd day was another good day catching fish and searching for Mr. BIG Musky. Greg is one of the few who applies a well known concept of fishing for large toothy critters over open water baitfish, and has been successful doing so. 3rd day was a good day catching Northern Pike while search for Muskie having some follows. 4th day was a very good day Muskie fishing landing 3 between 35 to 40-inches and Cody landed his first ever Muskie. Congrats to Cody. 5th and final day they had a good day catching northern Pike and as leaving Greg said his countdown to next year’s return has already started.

Brenda and Kevin Kubiak from, Willoughby OH were thrilled to arrive for our 30th year knowing that 30 years and 8 days ago they arrived at Fireside Lodge for their 1st time on our very first year of operation. 1st day they paddled their way into Cedarbough catching some Smallmouth Bass and ended their day in Little Vermilion Lake catching more nice Smallmouth Bass. 2nd day was a trek to Twin Falls area fishing the Upper arm of Little Vermilion Lake. They did great catching over 20 Smallmouth Bass with Kevin Landing a Trophy measuring 18.5-inches, while only covering a much smaller area than intended, because the good fishing was keeping them from moving. 3rd day they had a fabulous day catching again a lot of Smallmouth Bass including 4 Trophy Smallmouth Bass measuring 18, 18.5, and each Brenda and Kevin landed HUGE 19.5-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass. They also had a ball watch all the various wildlife around them on a picture perfect day. 4th day was more humbling as the Smallmouth were not as cooperative, but they did catch some nice fish and lost a trophy size fish at the boat. 5th day Kevin said it was his best day yet as him and Brenda caught three more Trophy Smallmouth Bass and had a ball watching the wildlife that abounds all around us on Little Vermilion Lake. 6th and final day was a great day fishing catching 3 more Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass making that a total of 10 Trophy size Smallmouth Bass, and last but not least each soaked up the wilderness they have both been absorbed by since they arrived. Before departing they made reservations for 2020 so they could start counting down they days until their return in 2020.

Horace Phillips returned with his son Perry and his normal group of fishers Tom Green, Barry Bennett, Bob Murrell, Van Shelton, Craig Turner, Keith Mitchell, Ryan Key, and Hector Najera from Oklahoma City, Edmond, Newcastle, Moore, & Okarche, OK. First day Horace and Craig led the pack catching 27 Smallmouth Bass while Tom and Barry caught 7 each plus a Pike. 2nd day, after some readjustment with location type of bait and technique, Tom and Barry almost tripled their production catching 38 Smallmouth Bass before supper. Horace and Craig caught 27 Smallmouth. Perry, Hector, Bob and Van had a great day Northern Pike Fishing catching more the 50 in each boat.

3rd and final day, boy three days goes by fast, all heck broke loose with each boat easily catching over 50 fish per boat, being a mix of Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass, and the highlight fish were Horace, Perry, and Craig all catching 20-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass. Horace and Craig were fishing together and their 20-inch Trophy Smallmouth were caught back to back, which is an amazing fishing feat. Keith and Ryan had a ball with a new presentation and had Keith landing an 18.5-inch Trophy Smallmouth. For Hector it was his first experience catching Northern Pike landing many during his stay, and Bob fishing with Van caught Northern Pike until they were tired.

One side story that will be talked about for years to come was while unhooking a Pike Craig lost grip of the fish, and without the bail released on his reel, the fish swam off bouncing his rod and reel across the whole length of the boat, with Craig just one step behind grabbing at it only to watch it bounce over the bow of the boat and slowly be carried under the water never to be seen again. Craig said it was like everything was happening in slow motion and of course it was a new expensive rod a reel. All had a great time and while saying goodbye said they all intend on returning in the near future.

4th year returning, was father John Bahls and sons Don, Robert and David all from Hastings, MN with the exception of Don who is from St Paul, MN. They were here to chase the elusive Muskie while fishing Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass when the opportunity arises. First day was productive Muskie fishing having may follows, a few being very large, and Robert caught a Muskie on a figure eight and had two other Musky try to hit his lure while in a figure eight. He also caught a few Smallmouth Bass up to 17.5-inches while the others caught some Northern Pike and had follows. 2nd day had Robert and David fishing for Muskie and Pike catching a few but the day was cut short when a Northern Pike threw a hook into Robert’s hand with a classic quick hard head shake. Don and John portaged to George Lake, which is seldom used because of it being a canoe lake, and they did well catching 21 nice size Northern Pike while fishing the quite old fashion way.

3rd day had them catching some Pike, Don landed a Muskie and John caught a Master Anglers Award 18.5-inch Smallmouth Bass, while Robert and Dave caught Northern Pike in search for Mr. Big Musky. 4th and final day Muskie were boated in each boat in the low to mid 30-inch range, they had a few more follows, one just nipping at David’s lure during a figure 8, plus they caught some Northern Pike. John was again up to his bag of tricks catching another Trophy 18.5-inch Smallmouth Bass. All had a great time and made their 4th year of fishing memories between father, sons, and brothers. Thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge to do so.

Ray Canady from Waycross, GA was thrilled to be returning to Fireside Lodge with his son Jonathan from Savannah, GA. 1st day of fishing was great catching 20+ Smallmouth Bass and 10 Northern Pike and the color of the day was pink as they came to my tackle shop on a search and resupply mission. 2nd day they had a great day catching 30+ Smallmouth Bass, 20+ Northern Pike and they sighted a HUGE Northern Pike swimming by their boat, so Jonathan threw an in line spinner away and ahead of the fishes direction, bringing it back on an angle and the fish just slammed it. It jumped clear out of the water and the fight was on right up to the boat but just before netting the fish it shook the hook. They both estimated the Northern Pike to be at least 40-inches.

3rd and final day they finished very strong in the Smallmouth Bass category catching well over 50 using the magic worm. Both had a fabulous father and son fishing trip making lifelong memories, and intend on returning to add more to their log.

Return guest since 2003 Ed Bromeier from Boone, NC returned with his wife Millie for her 2nd consecutive year fishing at Fireside Lodge. 1st day was good day Northern Pike fishing catching about a dozen. 2nd day Millie was thrilled catching Smallmouth Bass for the first time and was very impressed at how hard and long they fight. 3rd day they had a great day catching some Smallmouth Bass but hit into a bunch of Northern Pike 30-33 inches, Millie landing the largest and they had their first ever double catch which created a little chaos in the boat. 4th day was another very good day catching Northern Pike with Millie again catching the most and the biggest fish. 5th and 6th days they continued to consistently catch Northern Pike plus Millie caught a few Smallmouth Bass and her first ever Walleye. Both are great conversationalists and they again met some new people in the dinning room and every night you would find the talking with others about many different topics and enjoying each other’s company.


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: Blue Fox Spinner, Buick Tail Spinner, Mepps Spinner, TRD Finesse Worm, X-Rap, Yo Zuri, Spoon,

Catches of The Week: 3-20-inch Smallmouth Bass and 45+ Master Anglers Award Smallmouth Bass 18-inches or greater

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