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
was absolutely gorgeous starting out with temps in the 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.
Father
& son Scott & Sam Kimball from Olathe, KS made their 5th
appearance at Fireside Lodge with father-in-law / grandfather Dick Dalebout
from Provo, UT for his 2nd trip. 1st day had them
catching some nice Northern Pike. 2nd day Dick started things off
with 3 fish on his 1st 3 casts and 5 in 8 casts. All ended up
catching some nice fat heavy Northern Pike and seeing some Muskie follows.
3rd
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. 4th
day they did well hunting Muskie, getting follows and hooking up on one and
landing one. In the process they also caught a few good size Northern Pike. 5th
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. 7th 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!!!
8th
day was full of fun catching 14 Pike in search of the monster toothy critter. 9th
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.
Long time
return guests since 2001 Tom Nayder, Sister Leah Bezin, 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. 1st
day the group did well catching Northern Pike & Smallmouth Bass with Jim
taking the prize landing a trophy 18.5-inch Smallmouth Bass.
2nd 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. 3rd day was a charm
with Jim, Mike & Bryan catching over 40 Northern Pike and Leah & Tom
catching over 30 Pike. 4th 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.
5th & 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.
Brad
Sammons & son Braden from Indianapolis, IN returned for their 10th
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 & 1st 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 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. 4th
day was Braden’s Muskie day landing 2, one at 37-inches and Brad caught one the
same size. 5th 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.
Long time
return guest Tyler Tennant from Lakeway, TX & father-in-law Pete Higman
from Libertyville, IL were back to chase those Big Trophy toothy critters. 1st
day was good with 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. 3rd 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. 4th 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. 5th day was a good day for locating
those trophy toothy critters getting plenty of follows while catching some
Northern Pike and Pete caught his 7th Muskie of the trip keeping his
streak going of at least 1 Muskie per day.
6th & final day they
had a good day catching Pike and 2 Muskie, Pete catching his daily Muskie his 8th
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.
Father
Tom McGlade with sons Jim & Jeff, Palatine, IL, returned for their 3rd
trip with us at Fireside Lodge. 1st day was SUPER Northern Pike
fishing catching a total of 39 plus 3 at 36” being very heavy fish. 2nd
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.
3rd 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.
Don &
Audrey Holesinger, Fulton, IL with son Matt from Roscoe IL were back for their
10th consecutive year. 1st day was great despite a slow
start in the morning ending up catching over 40 fish including a 19 &
18.5-inch Smallmouth Bass. 2nd day was terrific Smallmouth Bass
fishing catching over 60 fish, many being BIG including another 18.5 and
19-inch trophy. 3rd day was another 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. 4th
day was their traditional portage day to Closs Lake to search out Smallmouth
Bass. 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 but lost it on the second
jump. 5th 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.
Rick
Leever from Lornville, AZ with fishing buddy Steve Brockman from Saint Mary’s,
GA were visiting Fireside Lodge for their first experience. For their 1st
time ever on Little Vermilion Lake they did well catching Northern Pike and
Smallmouth Bass with some being very good size. 2nd 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 caught a huge 4 pounder on his 1st 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. 5th day was Super GREAT
catching 75 to 80 Northern Pike and several Smallmouth Bass. 6th
& 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.
Long time
guest Mark Reese from Alexandria, VA returning with Scott Willett from Atlanta,
GA for his 1st experience at Fireside Lodge. 1st day was
FABULOUS as Scott caught his 1st Northern Pike on his very 1st
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.
2nd
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. 3rd day they
did great catching many Smallmouth Bass several Pike including Scott catching
his PB, which was a 34-inch fat Northern Pike. 4th & 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 1st experience fishing at Fireside Lodge.
Father
& Son Mike & Niko Robinson from Frankfort, IL were making there first
visit with us at Fireside Lodge. 1st day they did some learning
while catching a few fish. Niko saw a lot of Smallmouth Bass that just would
not bite. 2nd day was great fishing as they caught a lot of Northern
Pike, could not keep count, & Niko caught a 15” Smallmouth Bass.
3rd
day they visited Twin Falls for the first time really enjoying this natural
wonder, while fishing for Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass on the trip there
and back. 4th 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. 5th & 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.
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