Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 7/30 to 8/6 2011
Hello from Fireside Lodge in Northwest Ontario, Can
ada where the weather was beautiful this & the fishing was great this week. Highs were 80 to 85 with lows ranging in the high 50’s.
The Holesinger family of Don & Audrey and their son Matt from Fulton and Roscoe, IL returned for
their 5th consecutive year. Audrey made sure she had her own measuring tape this year as last year there was a doubt the accuracy using Matt’s beat up rusty old tape. After a slow morning they got right into a bunch of 14 to 16.5” Smallmouth Bass during the afternoon. 2nd day they did great only counting the BIG Smallmouth of which they landed 44, and Matt tied into & caught a BIG 37.5” Northern Pike with HUGE girth. 3rd day was another fabulous day catching well over 65 Smallmouth plus Matt caught another big 34” Pike, & Don caught an 18” Master Anglers Award Smallie. 4th & final day was the absolute best ever, as before supper they caught 79 Smallmouth with most being 15 to 18” & Audrey landed the 18” Master Anglers Award Smallmouth. WOW!!! During their cabin time laughter could be hear as they enjoyed having some good old fashion fun playing a few board & card games. All left making another set of wonderful family memories.
Father & son Bob & Ron Ramsey from Leavenwoth, KS & Sewanee, TN returned for their 7th year in a row. DOA these two got right into fish catching Northern Pike & a Muskie before supper. 1st full day they had some big follows & Ron lost a Huge Muskie after breaking his leader. A few minutes after t
his event Ron and Bob watched this huge fish jump clear out of the water & throw Ron’s lure. This is when they realized how HUGE this fish was. 2nd day had them getting a lot of follows from Big toothy critters, but getting a hook up was not easy. They did catch some average size Pike. 3rd day was a portage for Musky. Well they found Musky having 18-20 follows from different fish, but they were very lazy & at times had them opening there mouth right behind the bait, but then they would turn away & wave goodbye with their tail. Their final two days they caught a good number of sizable Pike in the 28 to 31” range, a few in the mid 30’s & also saw a few more monsters that teased them again. Better to not catch these big fish trying than not trying at all. Both left making another set of wonderful memories at Fireside Lodge, to hold for years to come.
First time Guests, David & Denise Law from East Bethel, MN did great their first day finding bigger Northern Pike, each lading their personal best at 36.5 & 33”. Both commented that all of the Pike caught were very thick, larger than any Pike they catch in Minnesota. 2nd day was a slower 89-degree day. It did pick up in the evening after supper as it seemed chartreuse grubs were the ticket. Last day was their best as they caught a bunch of big Smallmouth & Pike with Dave landing a 37” & a trophy 40.5” Northern Pike along with fish in the 28 to 33” range. Dave thanked us for their fabulous first experience fishing in Canada & have all intentions on returning in the future.
Back for their 2nd visit were Denver & Christi West from Lakeview, AR. They got right to it as they caught a lot of Smallmouth Bass on their first day, including big fish, Denver landing two Master Anglers Award Trophy Bass at 18 & 18.25”. 2nd day was slower overall, but for Christi it was a good day as she caught most of the fish. We’ll blame this one on the near 90-degree heat. Terrific Smallmouth fishing was on the menu for their 3rd and final day. Denver said that there were times periods in the morning when they caught Smallmouth on every cast. Lot were in the 14 to 15” range, & a dark green gitzit was their meal ticket for Smallmouth today. Their last evening was spent catching more Smallmouth but mostly savoring their time in the Canadian Wilderness enjoying one last beautiful sunset together. Audrey & I were honored to find out on Denver & Christi’s last night that this trip was to celebrate their 35th Wedding Anniversary. Thanks for spending this special with us at Fireside Lodge.
Frank Poehlmann & Mike Coble from Schwenksville & Phoenixville, PA were fishing at Fireside Lo
dge for their 1st time. 1st full day fishing they caught both Smallmouth Bass & Northern Pike as they were learning their way up the lake. 2nd day had the heat sending them in early, but they did well catching Northern Pike & Smallmouth Bass, with Frank landing a big 17.5” Smallie. 3rd day was intended to be a Smallmouth day but after having a double bite off on their 1st cast, they put leaders on and continued to catch Pike after Pike having their best Northern Pike day ever. Next few days these two caught a lot of fish while getting through a few slow periods & experienced several 1st’s. Frank caught his first Muskie, Mike landed his first Pike while fly-fishing, and Mike caught his biggest Northern Pike ever measuring 38”. Last day was a great send off as they caught both Smallmouth Bass & Northern Pike, & while Mike was fishing with a Gulp Leech on a plain hook with no leader he hooked a 38” Muskie. Mike battled this fish for 15 minutes and ended up landing it. Great catch & a great end to a fabulous fishing trip.
Long time return guests since 1993 Paul & Susan Frost from N Quincy, MA were here to relax in the wilderness while enjoying the sport fishing & in Susan’s case fly-fishing. First day had them catching a few larger Smallmouth Bass. 2nd day was great as they not only had some great fishing but Susan caught 5 Smallies while fly-fishing & Paul caught a Master Anglers Award 18.5” Trophy Smallmouth, however the story is just as good as the catch. While using a Pop-R surface lure Paul had a fish explode on the lure. At that point the fight was so strong Paul thought in to be a BIG Muskie, however when they got a closer look he had 2 big Smallmouth Bass hooked on the same lure. After a great battle it turned out that Paul was fighting a 16.5” & an 18.5” Smallmouth at the same time. One fish was hooked on each treble hook. Incredible catch by Paul. 3rd day had these two searching for big toothy critters, but while on the search ran into Smallmouth Bass & caught a bunch of fish. As for the Pike & Muskie it was back to the map & discussing locations, lures, & presentation. On their last two days both did very well catching sizable Smallmouth Bass & Susan shined as she connected up with many Smallmouth while fly-fishing. Her go to fly was an olive color wooly bugger. In the process we both learned something about line-to-line knots. Right Susan? Paul also caught a BIG 36.5” Northern Pike & in the end most of their goals were accomplished. Both and a fabulous time making some great outdoor memories together & hope to return in the future.
Scott Kimball from Otathe, KS returned with his son Sam (12) for their third trip. Even though Sam is age 12 their main purpose is to h
unt large toothy critters. First day they caught Pike & caught a BIG 40.5” Master Anglers Award Trophy Northern Pike. Sam did a great job of netting & photographing his Dad’s catch. 2nd day had these two catching a lot of Pike. 3rd day was spent hunting for BIG toothy critters & they did find them getting a lot of follows. Sam had a Musky come up on his lure several times that was approaching 50”. Could you imagine the fight that would have been? They also caught 15-20 Smallmouth Bass. The next several days became a mission hunting that BIG Musky in the 50” range, & Sam got the fever bad. After seeing a number of these big monsters he would come to supper every evening asking about lures & presentations to coax one of these fish to hit. Loved seeing this young boy get so involved in sport of fishing & hunt of the ultimate BIG fish. On their last day after hunting for the monsters again they decided to change tactics. Well, all heck broke loose as they caught over 25 Northern Pike in just a couple of hours. Everyone enjoyed hearing the excitement of the story through Sam’s interpretation. After Sam told his story we discussed some things, we both decided that the biggest catch of all for Sam & his Dad was the memories made while fishing together for the week. Thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge to make these special memories.
Back for their third visit were Jim & Mike Stalknecht from Ringwood, NJ & Guthrie Center, IA and Mike Crescente & Joe Link from Highland Lakes & Ringwood, NJ. Early bird gets the worm panned out for Jim as being and early riser & fishing by himself before breakfast caught a HUGE 40” Muskie. A challenge landing by yourself but Jim managed and penciled an outline of the fish on the bottom
of the boat so all could see. That’s setting the bar!! The rest of the day all caught some Northern Pike & Smallmouth along with seeing many large follows from both Musky & Pike. 2nd day was fabulous as they caught over 80 Northern Pike, but not without effort. Receiving very little rain our creeks leading to other lakes have become very shallow and the Beavers have been hard at work, so they had to contend with 3 dams and a few shallow silt bars, but it was well worth it. 3rd day had Jim & Joe Musky hunting and they did great having many follows while hooking up on three Muskie, & Joe landed two. Jim lost the biggest fish at the boat when the fish spit out his buck-tail. Mike & Rick did well fishing for Pike catching some in the 28-32” range. 4th day had the rolls reversed as Mike & Rick were Musky fishing & they also did great hooking up on 5, catching 3 with Rick getting his first ever Muskie landing a very BIG 38.5” Tiger Musky. Mike caught a 28”er but lost the fish of the day believed to be well over 40”. 5th & final day Mike & Rick did great at an out lake catching 40+ Pike & 13 walleye before supper. That same day at evening time they were very excited to tell us they saw the biggest Musky ever. Mike & Rick said they can’t wait to come back next year to chase this monster.
First timers Michael (Mick) Russo & Ron Suda from E Moriches & Patchogue, NY were here for their first Canadian Wilderness Fishing Adventure. 1st day these guys did great catching over 20 bigger Smallmouth, 12 Northern Pike & Ron came up with a 38” Muskie. Great for 1st time ever fishing this Little Vermilion Lake System. 2nd day these two tore the Northern Pike up catching well over 50 near 60, & several nice BIG Smallmouth Bass mixed in. 3rd day they were off to an out lake to try their hand at Walleye fishing. “FABUOUS” described their day as they caught close to 40 walleye with all but a couple being 20-26”. They got great photos & said the fish were hitting & fighting extra hard. 4th day was another “FABULOUS” day for these two as the had about 30 Musky follows, catching 4, along with having great Smallmouth fishing both landing 18”+ trophies. A very exciting happening was watching Mick catch both of his Muskie on surface poppers while fishing for Smallmouth with 6bl test no leader. WOW!!! They captured video of a Muskie attacking & coming completely out of the water on Mick’s popper. Look for this soon on our YouTube site. 5th & final day these two finished strong catching 15 nice walleye, 30+ Pike and had the opportunity to catch two big Muskie. In fact after Ron did the figure 8 for about 15-20 seconds a BIG Musky finally lunged & actually had it’s mouth around Ron’s lure, but in the excitement Ron set the lure just a second too early and pulled the lure right from the grasp of this monsters mouth. We’ve all done this, & as I always say “That’s Fishing”! Both of these Long Islanders had fabulous time fishing with us for the first time & were talking at supper on their last night about a return trip in 2013.
Long time guest Rob Little with son Aaron from Toronto, ON returned with Rob’s long time friend Michael Winton & his son Tyler from Plano, TX. DOA before supper they got to a great start catching 20 Northern Pike and several Smallmouth Bass in just a few hours. Tyler himself caught 8. 1st full day they did fabulous catching plenty of Pike & Smallmouth Bass as Tyler & Aaron had a blast hooking & landing these feisty fighters. Michael, being his first time ever in our location was really taken by the fabulous wilderness setting we have to offer, and mentioned how he would love to get a group together from Texas, as he was sure they would be amazed also. 2nd and final day. Yes, you read this correct, these fathers made the effort to come from very far away making time to fish with their 10 year old sons. Hurrah to these fathers for such a GREAT effort. This great effort will surely pay dividends in future years to come. This last day was full of both Smallmouth Bass & Pike action with Tyler landing a 25” and Aaron a 24” Pike and all caught many pike up to 28”, and a bunch of Smallmouth. From my observation I think the kids definitely wore out their dads. All had loads of fun and made memories to last a lifetime.
Make sure to go to our website listed below to see the 2011 Photos
For Fabulous Video, Wildlife Events, and Current Happenings go to our Social Sites Below.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fireside-Lodge/304211179043?v=wall
YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/FiresideLodgeFish
http://twitter.com/FiresideFish
Hot Lures: Surface Popper, Swim Bait, Chartreuse Blue Fox Spinner, Green Mepps Black Fury, Fluke, Tube Jig, Twister Tail, Burt Bait, Live Leeches
Fly of the Week: Olive color Wooly Bugger
Catches of The Week: 40.5” Northern Pike, 19.5” Smallmouth Bass 38.5” Tiger Muskie, 38” Muskie, 20” & 16” Smallmouth caught on a popper at the same time, 26” Walleye
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
No comments:
Post a Comment