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
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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