Fishing reports are written weekly throughout the open fishing season based on Fireside Lodge guests reports of their daily fishing experiences while fishing at Fireside Lodge
This week
brought variable weather having a few warm days, a few T-Storms, & a few
cold fronts however the fishing was HOT!
Long time
guests of 15 years Al Sins & Don Funderude from Asheville,NC met up with
Dave & Pam Hamilton from Raleigh, NC. The 1st 1.5 Days they 4
boated numerous Northern Pike & 12 Muskie, several 35-36�?�, one at 37.5�?�
& Dave had the largest at 40.5�?�. Pam on both days had the trifecta landing
a Musky, Smallmouth Bass, & Northern Pike.
2nd day was a BIG
fish day as Pam caught her largest fish landing a Trophy 40�?� Northern Pike
& after Al & Don had a day of many Muskie follows & catching 3 at
the end of the day AL caught 40.5�?� Trophy Northern Pike. That�??s 2-trophy Pike
in 1 day for this group. 3rd was fabulous Northern Pike fishing as
Dave & Pam caught 73 with Al & Don at 84. 4th day Al &
Don caught 26 nice Pike, 4 SB while Dave & Pam caught a bakers dozen. 5th
day Dave & Pam had 10 Pike with Don & Al catching 8 Pike & 5 Muskie
despite a severe cold front. That makes 23 Muskie for the group. 6th
& final day was spent chasing that Monster Muskie with Dave & Pam
having two different follows that qualified but despite great efforts could not
get either to bite. All had a great trip & hope to return in 2016.
Bob &
Ollie Waldeck from Cotter, AR returned for their 4th consecutive
year this time spending two weeks with us including a very special day being
their 20th Anniversary. 1st full day they caught 19 nice
Smallmouth Bass & a Pike. 2nd day had them doing very well catching more
fish than they could keep track of, mostly Northern Pike & a few
Smallmouth. 3rd & 4th day were spent exploring the upper half of
Little Vermilion Lake finding some great Smallmouth Bass areas & Bob landed
a Trophy 18.5�?�er. 5th day was full of fast action & fun with
Pike. 6th & 7th days they caught their fare share of SB along with a few
Pike. 8th day they caught a lot of Pike searching for trophy Smallmouth Bass.
10th day was a special day for Ollie & Bob as the celebrated
their 20th anniversary & congrats to them both. Their last
several days were full of Northern Pike action while also catching some
Smallmouth Bass. Both left having such a terrific time the reserved 2 weeks for
2016.
Mark
McDermotte, Chicago, IL returned for his 8th consecutive year bringing
his son Sean. 1st day was
spent catching some nice Pike up to 33�?�. 2nd day was gangbusters
catching 105 Northern Pike & 3 SB. 3rd day cold front conditions
slowed things down but still caught a bunch of Northern Pike 50+. 4th
day they spent most of the day searching out bigger Pike & Musky, catching
some 30-33�?� while seeing a few really big fish. 5th & final day they again
caught well over 50 Northern Pike leaving on a high note. After making wonderful
father & son memories, Mark made his standing reservation for the same
dates in 2016.
The
Ramsey family Mike & Cathy from Roseville & Sacramento, CA Butch &
sons Will & Nick from Hillboro, Oh & Dan from Germantown, OH returned
for their 3rd time. They arrived with team shirts on ready to
compete between the elders & youngins. Butch & Mike got a head start
catching 9-Pike before breakfast. 1st day was unreal catching 250
Northern Pike & 18 Smallmouth Bass with
Cathy landing a Trophy 18�?�. 2nd day brought a severe cold front but
it was their BIG fish day as they caught number of Pike & couple of Muskie
in
the 33-36 inch range plus Will caught a MONSTER 43�?� Muskie. 3rd
day was a fabulous day catching 189 Northern Pike & 44 Smallmouth bass
including 8 Trophy size 4 at 19�?�. Dan & Mike had a double Trophy catch
& if Butch didn�??t loose his it would have been a triple. 4th day
brought another cold front, catching some larger Pike & 9 Muskie as a group
with Butch catching the two biggest Musky at a vey fat 33 & 35�?�, plus Mike
had a 36�?� Pike, & Nick & Will both
lost what they thought were over 40�?�
Musky. 5th & final day was an enormous day as they caught 351
fish as a group, mostly being Pike, but they also caught some huge trophy Smallmouth
Bass several in the 19-19.5�?� range. All left having a blast & made
reservations for 2016.
Also back
for their 3rd trip was Mike & Janet Estes from Livonia, MI. DOA
after supper they caught 8 Pike. 1st day they had a real good day
catching Northern Pike up to 32�?� & landed 3 Smallmouth over 17�?�. 2nd
day was a great day catching Northern Pike. 3rd day was portage lake
day where Janet caught her biggest Smallmouth ever landing an 18.5�?� Trophy. 4th
day was a GREAT Northern Pike day catching many 27�?�-33�?� fish plus they enjoyed
the great weather in our remote peaceful wilderness atmosphere. 5th
day was more of the same & their 6th day, despite high winds,
had a another great day Pike fishing. Their last evening they went for their
last ride up the lake minimizing to just a few fishing rods to enjoy the
beautiful evening. The fish were biting as they caught 10 Northern Pike with
about 8 coming from their favorite spot, which was the very 1st spot
the caught fish on their 1st visit. Both had a very enjoyable stay
& before departing made reservations for 2016.
For his
13th consecutive year Steve Jensen, Springfield, MO returned
bringing a good friend Tom Logan, Tallahassee, FL. & they were here to fly
fish only. 1st day despite severe cold front conditions they caught
a lot of Northern Pike up to 30�?� fly-fishing. 2nd day the wind gave
them problems fly-fishing. 3rd day had them Musky hunting with flies
but the Muskie, as they often do, out smarted these two very good fly-fishers. Their
last day was a super day fly-fishing for Northern Pike as they cautching so
many they could not keep count. Both left having had a great time & Steve
reserved his dates for 2016.
Returning
for their 4th trip were father son Troy & Javan Starkey,
Creston, OH. with David Bowman, Wooster, OH & Daniel Vavra from Sterling,
OH. 1st day before breakfast each boat caught 7-9 Pike & a few
Smallmouth Bass up to 17�?�. Rest of the day they caught several Smallmouth &
Many Pike with Troy landing a 34�?�, 36�?� & HUGE 38.5�?� Pike.
2nd
day they did great with Javan & Dan catching over 60 Pike & David
landed a Trophy Smallmouth at 18.5�?�. 3rd day had Javan & Dan
each catching a big Smallmouth Bass all caught 21 Pike 30-34�?�. 4th
& 5th days they all caught a lot of Northern Pike with Troy
& Dave catching the most & largest fish landing most of their fish in
the 30-35�?� range. Dan also caught his first Tiger Musky. 6th &
final day was good Pike fishing for all catching many 28-34�?�. All left having
had a blast.
The
Klimes family Group returned for the 4th consecutive year headed by
Brian & his boys Zack, Tyler, & Jordan from Willow Brook, IL, his
brother Kenny & son Kameron from St Louis, MO area, brother Kerry & son
Kody from Phoenix, AZ & Geno Dombrowski & Eddie Clark from Orland Park,
IL. After a slower Start on day 1 they made up for it on day two catching over
150 Pike with a few Smallmouth mixed in. 3rd day was good as Kenny
& Kameron got into some SB, Brian & his boys caught over 20 bigger Pike
up to 33�?�, Kerry & Kody also got into some nice Northern Pike with Kody
landing his largest ever on a fly rod measuring a fat 33�?�, & Geno &
Eddy also caught plenty of Pike with Geno loosing a monster near the boat breaking
his line. 4th day Brian, Zack, Tyler & Jordan had a great day
catching some nice Pike. Brian also caught a Muskie & the boys went
swimming to relieve themselves of the heat. Kenny & Kameron got into the
Smallmouth & Pike. 5th & final day Brian & his boys
really got into the pike again, Brian catching a Trophy Smallmouth Bass &
Zack, using a lure I gave him the night before, caught a 35�?� Musky. All had a
great time making family memories together which is the biggest catch of all.
Thanks for choosing us to make our family memories.
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