Hello from Fireside Lodge in Northwest Ontario, Canada. This week our weather showed some change by mid-week having thunderstorms with high winds coming in on Wednesday & again on Friday with a major cool down. This is just a reminder that fall is just around the corner.
Frank & Doug Kerr from Plainfield, IN & Henrico, NC made their first trip to Fireside Lodge. First day they got started and caught some Smallmouth while learning their way around the lake. 2nd & 3rd days were very good as they caught many Smallmouth Bass along with some bigger fish up to 17-18-inches. 4th day was slower during the day catching 10 fish before supper & catching a few after. 5th & final day they finished strong catching many Smallmouth Bass, 40+, with the sinking worm presentation they were using all week. Both had a terrific trip with us at Fireside Lodge not only fishing but catching up with their lives and reminiscing about there past. Before leaving they were asking about availability in 2012, and we sure would be glad to have these two back.
Tom Nayder from Orland Park, IL and sister Leah Bezin from Berwyn, IL returned to Fireside Lodge for their 12th consecutive trip. 1st day had them catching a mix of Smallmouth Bass & Northern Pike. Second day was a portage lake day and did very well catching two dozen Smallmouth, mostly bigger girthy fish. Tom said one Smallie was 17” long with a 13” girth. WOW!! Leah also landed an 18” Master Anglers Award Smallmouth. Their technique was using wacky worms & their presentation was slow. 3rd day Had Tom the leader catching both Pike & Smallmouth with Wacky Style Sinking Worms, but Leah’s fly-fishing presentation was not what the fish wanted today. 4th day was a fun day with most of their action preceding a storm that rolled in & out very quickly, catching 16 Smallmouth Bass & a few Pike
. 5th & final day they did great catching 18 Smallmouth Bass with no small fish. They each caught a Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth Bass & both tied catching 3 each during their 5 day stay. Side story on the last day a Bass got away from Tom & slipped into the bilge area then under the floor. Tom decided that if he filled the boat with water then bilged water out the Bass would slide to the back where he could nab & release the fish. All worked as planned except Tom had to stick his arm up under the floor to grab the fish so we all decided give this new recreational way of catching a fish it’s very own name. The name “Bilge Noodle’n for Smallmouth Bass”. Both went home making some wonderful brother & sister memories & before leaving Leah was already talking about next year.
Long time Guests Ed Burns & Todd Smith from College Station & McKinney, TX returned. First day was great catching both Smallmouth Bass & Northern Pike. Very first fish was Ed landing a 38” Pike. 2nd day was slower but they did catch some nice Pike & Smallies. Todd caught 5 big Smallies after supper. 3rd day had them catching Smallmouth & Northern Pike with Todd landing a BIG Northern Pike just missing the 40” Master Anglers Trophy mark. Fourth day was windy therefore tough fishing conditions, however they still managed to catch some Smallmouth Bass & Northern Pike here & there with no real pattern. Both had a great trip as they have since about 1997, and both hope to return next year.
John & Monica Ziegler from Union Hall, VA returned for their 3rd time. 1st day they did great catching 9 Smallmouth Bass, with Monica catching some in the 16-17” range along with 4 Northern Pike. That evening after supper Monica shinned again catching some nice Smallmouth including a GIANT TROPHY 18” Master Angler Award Smallmouth Bass. 2nd day Monica caught 6 Smallmouth up to 16.5” & John did the same along with catching a Pike, which he could not move for several moments, but it turned out it was a feisty 26” Pike that got John tangled in the weeds. 3rd day John described as unbelievable as they got into a bunch of 15 to 17” Smallmouth where they visually saw them and were dropping tubes in front of the Smallmouth & watching them take their tubes. They got into such a feeding frenzy that Monica & John had multiples of double hook ups. Very exciting story as told by John & Monica at suppertime. 4th day they caught some nice 14-16.5” Smallmouth Bass & John landed a big 35.5” Northern Pike. 5th day they faced high winds, caught a few fish and came in early. 6th day was their first portage lake adventure, which they enjoyed, while catching about a dozen Smallmouth Bass & Monica again came up with the big fish landing a 17.5 & 18.5” trophy. She had a very big smile on her face at suppertime. Their 7th & 8th days were windy with some showers & t-storms which had them catching some fish in these tough conditions The highlight was John landing a HUGE 18.75” Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth Bass. Their 9th a final day they spent catching some very nice size Smallmouth Bass and soaked in as much of the wilderness around them as they could. Before leaving they expressed the wonderful time they had together & made their reservation for the same dates in 2012.
David & Michael LaFever from Burlington & Bettendorf, IA, Kenneth & Emma Plummer also from Burlington & Scott Brown from Normal, IL were all here to experience Fireside Lodge for their first time. First day all went out and caught some fish while enjoying the beautiful wilderness of Little Vermilion Lake. After some lure purchases at my tackle shop all were ready for day two. Days two & three all had a ball catching some Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike. Scott had a story as while he was trying to land a big pike the fish slipped right through the bottom holes of a rubber net. Unfortunately the fish got away but the memory lives on. Day four was extremely windy conditions, which brought all back to the dock before noon. They managed to catch a few fish but it was mostly reading & internet time. For their last 2 days one was forfeited to very high winds & the other all had a great time catching some Northern Pike & Smallmouth on two lures, Mepps #3 & #5 Blue Fox Spinner. Also Ken & Emma took canoe ride / swim if you know what I mean, and they also went on a Moose excursion very early Friday. All had a FABUOUS family trip & David was very proud to have three generations of his family with him for the week. David, Thank you very much for choosing Fireside Lodge to make these special family memories.
Father & sons Jim, James, & Jake Ekdal from Chicago, IL & San Francisco, CA were fishing at Fireside Lodge for their first time. In just a short 1.5 hours after supper on DOA each caught 3-4 Smallmouth Bass with a few in the 16” range. 1st full day they caught a few Smallmouth Bass and learned the lower half of the lake. 2nd day they had loads of fun portaging into a lake & catching many Pike & Walleye with James landing an 18 & 20” & Jake caught a very big 22” walleye. 3rd day was fun as they caught some Northern Pike a Smallmouth. 4th day was very windy which brought them in before noon. With the winds still strong after supper but calmer they went fishing for a short while & James landed a BIG Smallmouth bass over 17”. 5th & final day they portaged again for Northern Pike & Walleye. Well, they certainly finished with a BANG catching 55+ fish half being Pike & half being walleye. The walleye were very impressive as just about every fish was 20-26” & Jim said half of the walleye you could hardly put two hands around the fish. All had a fabulous father & son’s trip and made some wonderful memories.
Good friends Larry Hinshaw & Pat Hobson from Blue Grass, IA & Elmwood, IN returned for their 5th time. 1st day involved a portage for Musky having many follows but to takers. 2nd day had them catching 25 nice Smallmouth but none came easy as they just picked up a fish here & there all day long. 3rd day was very slow going for these two and the 4th day came with the strongest winds of the season with gusts over 50km per hour, which hampered their fishing. Despite this they did do well for the conditions and caught 12-15 Smallmouth Bass. They also had a little extra time as the winds blew into the evening so they took advantage of this taking a little longer enjoying their daily cigar on the screened in porch at the main lodge. 5th day they picked away catching 22 Smallmouth Bass. 6th & final day had them facing t-storms during breakfast and shortly after that the winds kicked up again which brought the back in hopes things would calm down later. It did somewhat, which enabled them to go out & catch 6 more nice Smallmouth bringing their daily total to just over 20. Both knew their trip was just about concluded when their traditional evening cigar was down to barely a stub. They made the most of their trip right to the end and hope to return in 2012.
Steve Jensen from Springfield, MO. returned for his 2nd trip this year which makes 9 times in the last 8 years, bringing his better half, Nancy for her first ever fishing experience in the Canadian Wilderness. 1st day was a practice fly-casting day for Nancy with Steve catching a few fish. 3rd day was great as they caught 7 Pike & 2 Smallmouth Bass along with losing some while fly-fishing. Steve said he saw an eye opener Smallmouth Bass which was GIANT estimating it to be over 20”. This monster just came in and eyed up Steve’s fly, caused all kinds of commotion, then just slowly swam away. 4th day was fabulous as they caught many Northern Pike & Nancy landed her first two Pike ever. Steve’s main goal was having Nancy catch a Pike on the fly. All were caught fly-fishing of course, as this is the only fishing method Steve & Nancy use. 5th & final day very high winds were not suitable for any type of fishing let alone fly-fishing, so Steve & Nancy stayed back enjoying their beautiful cabin view and atmosphere around it, while catching up on some reading & looking forward to Audrey’s famous Wednesday night ribs. Both thoroughly enjoyed their stay and we look forward to seeing them next year, as they already have reservations for 2012.
Mike & Zack Gerulski from Huntington Woods, MI returned with us for their 10th consecutive year. DOA Zach started catching fish right off the bat landing Smallmouth Bass & Northern Pike. 1st full day Zack was the leader before supper catching most of his fish on “Zack’s Bass Zapper” both Smallmouth Bass & Pike with one being a BIG 34” Northern Pike. Zack’s Bass Zapper was a lure he created about 6 years ago which Is simple but very affective. 2nd day Zack still had the hot hand catching many Smallmouth and several Pike, but at Supper Mike bought some Slimmers to try and turn things around. That same evening Zack caught several nice Smallmouth including a Trophy 18.5” Smallie & Mike caught some Smallmouth & a 30” Pike. 3rd day was very fun catching a mixed bag of both Northern Pike & Smallmouth Bass & for Zack I mean this literally. Zack while fighting a Smallmouth Bass had a Northern Pike charge towards the Smallmouth Bass on his line. Then the Pike circled the Bass twice and then attacked the Smallie. After fighting both of the fish Zack got them close enough for Mike to net them both. For Zack he caught two fish on one cast, one lure. Moral of the story is when fishing for Smallmouth Bass & Northern Pike Zack does not fool around. 4th and final day brought torrent winds blowing over 50km per hour but Mike & Zack made the best of it as still caught 10 fish before supper. They also made a final run after supper catching a few more. Both made fabulous memories and are hoping to return & meet up with a few friends in 2012.
Fran & Colleen Stack from Lorain, OH returned for their 8th consecutive year. DOA both Fran & Colleen caught Smallmouth & Pike and before breakfast on 1st day Fran had a BIG Northern Pike shake his lure off at boat-side. The rest of the day Fran kept the hot hand catching 8 Smallmouth & 5 Pike. 2nd day had these two landing over 20 fish, combination of Smallmouth Bass & Northern Pike. 3rd day had these two catching both Northern Pike & Smallmouth Bass with a mix of small and larger fish. 4th day brought extreme winds (50km+) however Fran & Colleen had some excellent fishing catching 25 fish, mostly Smallmouth Bass & Colleen caught 2 Trophy Master Anglers Award Smallmouth & Fran landed one. They also had a double, Fran’s being 14” and Colleen’s measured out at 18”. 5th & final day was terrific as they got into a bunch of Smallmouth bass using everyone of their 48 leeches and then started catching some on gulp alive leeches & Colleen landed a 31” Pike. After supper they added 7 more Northern Pike & a Bass. Both had a GREAT time enjoying our wonderful wilderness fishing & making memories.
Walt LaCasse from Minnetonka, MN returned for his second trip this year bringing his grandson & fishing buddy Keeghan for 3 days of fishing. They had a ball together catching Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike with Keeghan doing very well catching a few bigger fish. On their second day they adventured to a portage lake having fun walking through the bush, seeing animal tracks, & just enjoying the scenery. They also enjoyed the fishing as they caught a bunch of Pike on this very windy day. Walt would just drive to one end of this long beautiful lake and then drift all the way to the other end casting and catching fish. Both caught a few large Smallmouth Bass & Northern Pike & had a wonderful time making their third set of Fireside Lodge fishing memories together. Thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge to spend this special time together.
Father & son Jerry & Ben Lester from Waconia & Edina, MN returned to Fireside Lodge for their second trip & this time daughter/sister Jenna joined them. First day they caught a ton, over 80 Smallmouth Bass on leeches, plastics, and top-water lures. Many large fish were caught between 15-17.5-inches. Great fist day for all but especially for Jenna, as it was her first experience fishing with us at Fireside Lodge. 2nd and final day was spectacular as they caught over 50 Smallmouth Bass, with most being larger 15 to 18.5” Smallies, and it was all on top-water prop baits. The excitement was very evident as they were re-supplying with surface lures at my tackle shop. The reason the 2nd day was their final day was that the wind kicked up so bad on their 3rd day it made fishing very difficult and they bailed out by noon. All had FABULOUS father/son/daughter fishing trip, made memories to last a lifetime, and said they will return.
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Hot Lures: Wacky Sinking Worm, Live Leeches, Tube Jigs, Surface Pop Baits, Blue Fox Spinner, Mepps #3 Spinner, Zacks Bass Zapper,
Catches of The Week: 17 Smallmouth Bass 18” or larger, 38.5” 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
800-545-0815
Email at:fireside@xplornet.com