Fishing Reports at Fireside Lodge: Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 8/6 to 8/13 2016

Fireside Lodge Fishing Report 8/6 to 8/13 2016

GIANT Trophy Tiger Muskie Fishing at Fireside Lodge by Scott Kimball

This week was absolutely gorgeous starting out with temps in the

Super Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing at Fireside Lodge

high 70’s the cooling off to the high 60’s just giving us a hint that fall in our area is just around the corner. As for the fishing the cooling affect seemed to spark some BIG fish activity, as you will read about below.

Terrific Fishing for BIG Muskie at Fireside Lodge by Dick

Big Northern Pike Fishing by Scott

Father & son Scott & Sam Kimball from Olathe, KS made their 5^{th

Sam with a HUGE Northern Pike Fishing at Fireside Lodge} appearance at Fireside Lodge with father-in-law / grandfather Dick Dalebout from Provo, UT for his 2^nd trip. 1^st day had them catching some nice Northern Pike.

Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing by Dick

2^nd day Dick started things off with 3 fish on his 1^st 3 casts and 5 in 8 casts. All ended up catching some nice fat heavy Northern Pike and seeing some Muskie follows. 3^rd day they again caught some good size Pike and Sam lost the Trophy Northern Pike of his life having it on for a while until it threw his lure.

One of Several BIG Muskie Fishing at Fireside Lodge

4^th day they did well hunting Muskie, getting follows and hooking up

BIG Northern Pike HUGE Smile Fishing by Sam

on one and landing one. In the process they also caught a few good size Northern Pike. 5^th day was super catching 38 Northern Pike and Scott caught 2 Master Anglers Trophy Smallmouth Bass. 6th day they were searching for BIG Fish only catching 2 Muskie and several Pike 32-36-inches. 7^th day they hit it BIG with Sam staring it off with a very large Northern Pike, Dick coming up with a BIG 41-inch Muskie, and Scott bringing up the rear with the largest fish of the day being a Monster 44” Trophy Tiger Muskie. WOW what a great day!!! 8^th day was full of fun catching 14 Pike in search of the monster toothy critter.

Marvelous Muskie Fishing at Fireside Lodge by Dick

9^th they set out with the same goal using every last minute of daylight. All left making wonderful memories between three generations, which was their biggest catch of all.


BIG Northern Pike Fishing by Jim OToole At Fireside Lodge

Fly Fishing Trophy Smallmouth Bass by Leah

Long time return guests since 2001 Tom Nayder, Sister Leah Bezin,

Love Summer Pike Fishing by Mike

and good friends father & son Jim & Bryan OToole and Mike Kobit from Orland Park & Downers Grove, IL, Norwalk, WI, and Boise, ID were very excited to arrive. 1^st day the group did well catching Northern Pike & Smallmouth Bass with Jim taking the prize landing a trophy 18.5-inch Smallmouth Bass. 2^nd day Tom & Leah did great catching Smallmouth Bass 15-17.75”, and Leah caught a nice 16.5-inch Smallie Fly-Fishing, while Jim, Bryan & Mike had a bang up day catching Northern Pike with a few Smallmouth.

Northern Pike Fishing With Family & Friends by Bryan

Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing by Tom at Fireside Lodge

Jim with a Smallmouth Bass Trophy Fishing at Fireside Lodge

3^rd day was a charm with Jim, Mike & Bryan catching over 40 Northern Pike and Leah & Tom catching over 30 Pike. 4^th day Tom & Leah caught many Smallmouth Bass 14-17-inches along with some Northern Pike. Leah, while learning to use a new lure, a suspending stick bait, and using the technique of stopping the bait and counting to 8-one thousand, was really surprise when a large fish attacked the lure and zipped off line taking her into the weeds, where her line snapped. 5^th & final day they did very well catching big Smallmouth Bass, Leah catching a Master Anglers Award Trophy Smallmouth plus they caught several pike. Both left talking about & looking forward to returning next year.

GREAT Muskie catching Fishing by Braden at Fireside Lodge

Top Water Fishing HOG Trophy Smallmouth Bas

Brad Sammons & son Braden from Indianapolis, IN returned for their 10^th trip. This is the first trip without other son / brother Ryne as he just left to serve in the armed services. I just wanted to take time to recognize Ryne for this noble act, as we should for every man & woman who gives his or her service for his or her country. DOA & 1^st day they did well catching some larger Pike and two Muskie in the 34-36-inch range, plus had a few Smallmouth mixed in. Day two Braden had two Muskie on and they

Father & Son Muskie Fishing by Brad

caught some nice Smallmouth Bass up to 19”. 3rd day was good Smallmouth Bass fishing catching several Master Anglers Award Trophy Bass 18-19.5-inches. 4^th day was Braden’s Muskie day landing 2, one at 37-inches and Brad caught one the same size. 5^th and final day Braden caught another 37” Muskie and they got into some bigger Smallmouth Bass again catching several Trophies 18-19-inches. They both left making wonderful Father & Son memories together and Brad was already talking about 2017 hoping to work his dates around Ryne’s leave.

Another Nice Muskie Fishing by Braden

Long time return guest Tyler Tennant from Lakeway, TX & father-

Trophy Smallmouth Bass at Fireside Lodge are Absolute Tanks

in-law Pete Higman from Libertyville, IL were back to chase those Big Trophy toothy critters. 1^st day was good with

Giant Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing

Pete catching 2 Muskie, having some follows and catching some big pike. Second day Pete caught another Muskie, 3rd in 2 days, plus both caught several nice Pike and 4 very large Smallmouth bass measuring 19, 18.5, 18, and 17-inches. 3^rd day they located so many big Muskie and had follow after follow but could not get the big dogs to strike. Good news is they know where these big fish live and have 3 days to revisit them under different conditions with varied presentations. 4^th day had them having many Muskie follows, some in the trophy size category, and Pete caught two making his Muskie total to date at 6. 5^th day was a good day for locating those trophy toothy critters getting plenty of follows while catching some Northern Pike and Pete caught his 7^th Muskie of the trip keeping his streak going of at least 1 Muskie per day.

Great Muskie catching Fishing by BIG Bait Guy Jeff McGlade

6^th & final day they had a good day catching Pike and 2 Muskie, Pete catching his daily Muskie his 8^th in 6 days & Tyler landed a heavy Tiger Muskie measuring 34-inches. Both had a fabulous trip catching fish, learning new spots for future reference while making great memories.

GREAT BIG Northern Pike Fishing by Tom McGlade

Jim With a Very Large Northern Pike Fishing at Fireside Lodge

Father Tom McGlade with sons Jim & Jeff, Palatine, IL, returned for their 3^rd trip with us at Fireside Lodge. 1^st day was SUPER Northern Pike fishing catching a total of 39 plus 3 at 36” being very heavy fish. 2^nd day was a portage to Closs lake where they had countless follows, caught some Smallmouth Bass and the BIG lure guy of this group, Jeff cashed in on his theory of go big or go home. He caught a nice Pike and three Muskie one measuring 36” plus one was a Tiger Muskie.

BIG Fish Release Fishing at Fireside Lodge by Jim

3^rd and final day, boy 3 days goes by fast, they had a great last day with Jeff landing another Muskie on a Suick plus they caught 26 northern Pike. We also had a small celebration for Tom’s birthday. What more could a father want for his birthday than fishing & making memories with his two sons. Thanks for choosing Fireside Lodge to do so.

21-inch Monster Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing by Matt Holesinger

HUGE 20-inch Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing by Don

Don & Audrey Holesinger, Fulton, IL with son Matt from Roscoe IL

Audrey with a Great Big Trophy Smallmouth Bass

were back for their 10^th consecutive year. 1^st day was great despite a slow start in the morning ending up catching over 40 fish including a 19 & 18.5-inch Smallmouth Bass. 2^nd day was terrific Smallmouth Bass fishing catching over 60 fish, many being BIG including another 18.5 and 19-inch trophy. 3^rd day was another

So Many Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing at Fireside Lodge

very good Smallmouth day catching 34, most were BIG including a absolute Hog Trophy measuring 21-inches caught by Matt. Matt also had two Muskie on and the bigger Muskie caused some excitement as it tail walked spitting his lure right back at Matt. 4^th day was their traditional portage day to Closs Lake to search out Smallmouth Bass.

Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing Heaven at Fireside Lodge by Don

They did very well catching 34 Smallmouth most were big including Don catching GIANT 20-inch Trophy Smallmouth. Also, Matt had some excitement after hooking a BIG Muskie, which he fought for a while

Couples Trophy Smallmouth Fishing

but lost it on the second jump. 5^th and final day was not heir best but still caught some nice Smallmouth Bass with Matt landing 2 trophy size at 18 and 18.5-inches plus they caught some Pike 28-30-inches. This family had so much fun fishing together during the day, playing cards after supper and the smiles & laughter told their whole story.


BIG Bronze Back Smallmouth Bass Fishing at Fireside Lodge by Jim Leever

BIg Trophy Smallmouth Bass Makes Me Smile Fishing by Steve

Rick Leever from Lornville, AZ with fishing buddy Steve Brockman

Fishing BIG Northern Pike are Wonderful

from Saint Mary’s, GA were visiting Fireside Lodge for their first experience. For their 1^st time ever on Little Vermilion Lake they did well catching Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass with some being very good size. 2^nd day they caught a bunch of Northern Pike and really enjoyed the scenery while making the long creek ride to a few of our back lakes. 3rd day was a portage to Closs Lake for Smallmouth Bass. Rich

Fun Northern Pike Fishing at Fireside Lodge

caught a huge 4 pounder on his 1^st cast and they had a fun day fishing this lake all by themselves. 4th day these two set out to learn a portion of Little Vermilion Lake initially doing well until the cloud cover burned off. They both agreed it could not have been a nicer day weather-wise reaching 71F with a slight gentle breeze. 5^th day was Super GREAT catching 75 to 80 Northern Pike and several Smallmouth Bass. 6^th & final day was a good day fishing catching some Smallmouth & Northern Pike. They really enjoyed their stay with us & discussed possible dates for 2017 before their departure.

PB Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing by Scott Willett

Best Smallmouth Fishing Ever at Fireside Lodge by Mark

Long time guest Mark Reese from Alexandria, VA returning with

PB Huge Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing by Mark

Scott Willett from Atlanta, GA for his 1^st experience at Fireside Lodge. 1^st day was FABULOUS as Scott caught his 1^st Northern Pike on his very 1^st cast plus they caught over a dozen other Pike and many Smallmouth Bass both landing a trophy, Scott’s at 18.5” and Mark had a 19.75”er his personal best.

My Biggest Northern Pike Ever Fishing by Scott

Friends Fishing for Northern Pike

2^nd day these two had a super day catching 40-45 Northern Pike, Mark caught a Trophy 18.5” Smallmouth while Scott caught two Trophy Bass measuring 18.5 and 18.75-inches. 3^rd day they did great catching many Smallmouth Bass several Pike including Scott catching his PB, which was a 34-inch fat Northern Pike. 4^th & final day these two had fun fishing for and catching Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike concluding there trip. For Mark it was a trip down memory lane reminiscing when him and his father would take their traditional fishing trip with us, and for Scott it was a terrific 1^st experience fishing at Fireside Lodge.

Multiple Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing at Fireside Lodge

Niko's Smile Tells The Story Fishing for BIG Smallmouth Bass at Fireside Lodge

Father & Son Mike & Niko Robinson from Frankfort, IL were making

Brute of a Trophy Smallmouth Bass

there first visit with us at Fireside Lodge. 1^st day they did some learning while catching a few fish. Niko saw a lot of Smallmouth Bass that just would not bite. 2^nd day was great fishing as they caught a lot of Northern Pike, could not keep count, & Niko caught a 15” Smallmouth Bass. 3^rd day they visited Twin Falls for the first time really enjoying this natural wonder, while fishing for Northern Pike and Smallmouth

Fishing BIG Throphy Smallmouth Bass

Bass on the trip there and back. 4^th day was fun taking a creek ride to another lake having action on Northern Pike, & Mike proved that fishing barbless is not only good for the fish but also for the fisher as after hooking himself was surprised at the easy removal. 5^th & final day was terrific catching 45-50 Northern Pike as the fish just turned on with an approaching rain system moving in, plus Niko caught a nice Smallmouth Bass. Mike & Niko had an absolute blast during their stay making many priceless memories together.

Monster Trophy Smallmouth Bass Fishing at Fireside Lodge

Big Trophy Smallmouth are Common

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