Rick Bartels, Ken, Adam, & Ryan, Green from Columbus, OH along with Mark DeLong from Orlando, FL were happy to return to Fireside Lodge. 1st day all caught fish as they re-familiarized themselves with Little Vermilion Lake. Highlight story of the day was Ryan catching his first ever Muskie with a top water lure, a nice 37″er, with his dad Ken netting it as Adam ran the boat. 20Years ago it was Ken catching his 1st Muskie ever on Little Vermilion Lake, while Adam ran the boat and Ryan was only 10 years old & he netted Ken’s first Muskie.

Long time guest of Fireside Lodge Randy Molson from the Greater Toronto Area returned with his two sons of 10 & 12, Jack and Jordan. They were here for 3 days and what a great 3 days it was for this family. They caught many fish throughout their stay both Smallmouth Bass and Northern Pike and on the very first day Jordon landed his first Muskie and Jack a big Northern Pike. On one cooler day looking like it might rain Randy told his boys he would check the weather to see what was coming their way but Jack and Jordon said too Randy, “What difference does it make dad we are fisherman let’s just go”.

Scott and Candie Siebenthal from Creve Coeur, IL returned after several years, being long time guests with Scott’s first visit being in 2002 with his father Larry. 1st day they did great catching 18 Northern Pike top fish being a 35″ Fat Northern Pike by Candie and she also hooked and landed a 35″ Muskie with a huge girth. 2nd day was another day day for Candie as she landed a Big 39″ Tiger Muskie with a very large girth right after Scott caught a very nice 38″ Muskie, and they also caught 15 nice size Northern Pike. 3rd day was a cold windy day and even in the cold front conditions they caught fish, mostly Pike and Candie caught 1 Muskie.

Long time Fireside Lodge guest of over 20 years Walt LaCasse from Minnetonka, MN returned with his 21-year-old grandson Keeghan for his 12th visit to Fireside Lodge. Day of arrival these two got right to it catching a dozen nice size Northern Pike & Walt topped the day off with a nice Muskie. 1st full day was just that catching 44 fish total 21 Smallmouth, 21 Northern Pike and two Muskie. 2nd day we were hit with a cold front which brought high winds a rain all day long bringing them in early and the next day the winds blew at 24-36mph until about 4pm but they stuck it out all day.

Brian Schmidt from White Bear Lake, MN with his sons Dylan & Kyle returning to Fireside Lodge for their third time. They came prepared to target BIG toothy critters especially Muskie. During their first two days and their day of arrival Darren caught a 37″ Muskie on a good old Muskie Lure the “Suick” while Kyle caught his largest ever Muskie landing a beauty measuring a healthy 39″. They also caught a lot of Northern Pike in-between these Muskie with Brian taking top billing for the Pike at 38″. 3rd day they had a lot of follows from Muskie and caught some nice Pike.

For the 22nd year of our 34 year tenure Ron Vincent from Sherrills Ford, NC returned with brother Jeff from Fort Collins, CO for his 3rd trip. Travelling together were good friends father and son Eric & Cully Hess from McLean, VA for their 7th and 4th visit respectively. Steve Fallen, from Mossula, MT and Jamie Dodd from Westchester, VA joined this group for their first experience fishing at Fireside Lodge. 1st day Ron and Jamie had a terrific day catching all kinds of Smallmouth Bass lots 15-17.5″ and Jamie first time ever fishing in Canada caught a 38″ BIG Northern Pike and missed two others that were larger and Ron caught a 32″ Muskie.

Ed & JoAnn Piotrowski from Huntley, IL were back for the 8th time this being a special trip having their Grandson Matthew (11) with them for the first time. DOA in just a few hours they caught 11 Fish with Matthew already taking the lead catch 6 including a Trophy 18″ Master Angler Award Smallmouth Bass. 1st full day was amazing fishing catching 42 Smallmouth Bass on JoAnn’s favorite Lure “The Worm” and soon to be Matthews as he hooked and landed a 38″ Muskie, his first ever, on “The Worm”.

Returning for their 3rd time was Mark & Tom Sweet, Ray Baldwin from Norwalk, OH Dan Amborski and Ed Psurny from Bowling Green & Lewis Center, OH, and 1st timer Jim also from Ohio. DOA these guys did great catching fish and BIG fish landing two over 40″ Muskie largest 43-inches by Ed and a 36″ Pike plus a 41″ Muskie by Tom 1st day they caught well over 100 Northern Pike with Tom and Dan cashing in with 46 just in their boat plus Jim caught his first Muskie ever, Congrats to Jim, and Ed landed another at 39″.

Long time guests since the 1990’s, The Ramsey brothers Mike, Dan, and Butch from Penn Valley, CA & Hillsboro, OH returned bringing Dan’s two adult kids Jess who was here 18 years ago and Addy making her first visit to Fireside Lodge. Well Addy made her presence know on their day of arrival catching 9 fish in just a few hours and in total including their first full day of fishing they caught 32 Smallmouth Bass Butch landing a trophy 18’er & 44 Northern Pike Dan taking home the BIG Prize catching a 43″ Monster Trophy Northern Pike.

Al Sins from Asheville, NC returned for his 21st time bringing a good friend and first timer at Fireside Lodge Mike . 1st day they went out and caught 20 nice Pike, 15 between 30-35″ and a 40″ Trophy, plus a 19.5″ Trophy Smallmouth Bass. 2nd a 3rd day they continued to catch mostly Pike with some Smallmouth but Mike hit it big catching a BIG 41″ Muskie. 4th day was very still which made the Muskie and Pike bite challenging catching fish but having to really work for their catches. 5th day was excellent catching over 40 Northern Pike, a lot 30-36-inches and Al had a first ever while trolling for Pike in 15ft depth catching a Trophy 34-inch Lake Trout.

Eric Jensen, and Dodd Cosgrove returned to Fireside Lodge bringing newcomer Mike Hettler for his 1st experience. 1st day out they caught over 75 Smallmouth Bass. 2nd day was fantastic catching well over 100 Smallmouth Bass all bigger sizes with at least 15 that were trophy size measuring between 18-20″. 3rd day was a 50 Smallmouth Bass day and the 4th was another terrific day again catching well over 100 Smallmouth Bass and again having 15 Trophy size 18-19″.

Donn Loy from Kearney NE, Tom Wiersema and Doug Richardson , from Laramie and Casper, Wyoming were all smiles and glad to be back fly-fishing at Fireside Lodge 1st day was great catching lots of Smallmouth bass of all sizes. 2nd day was by far their best day ever catching 100’s of Smallmouth all 14 to 18-inches all fly fishing with the Fat Albert fly being the most productive. 3rd day was just as good but their catches averaged larger with all their Smallmouth Bass being in the 16 to 18″ range however Doug mentioned that Tom and Don went to the dark side and used spinning rods and Ned Rigs

Best of Friends Dan Szkola, Sugar Grove, IL and Don Landbo, S Elgin, IL returned for their 20th year having an adventures 1st day catching 20+ Smallmouth Bass up to 18.5″ 3 Muskie plus a Walleye. 2nd day 12 SB to18.75″ & 212 Northern Pike. 3rd day 12 SB up to 18.75″ & 213 NP . 4th 4SB to 18.25″ & 155 NP. Their last two days were back to reality catching 24 NP and 32 SB biggest being 18.25″ and they lost 2 Muskie.

31 Year guests father and son Dave and BJ Young from Nashville, TN, BJ’s first trip being when he was 7 and now 38 Years old, brought with them the many memories made on past trips and ready to make new memories waiting for them here at Fireside Lodge. DOA was a great start out of the gate catching over 25 fish mixing it up with Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, and Walleye and BJ had a first landing a walleye while fly fishing.

Bryan Neel III and Tim Stewart from Rochester, MN made their appearance for opening week making it over 20 consecutive years and over 30 total trips to Fireside Lodge. Tim on his first night happen to wake up at 1:30AM to be rewarded with a spectacular viewing of the Northern Lights. One of the many benefits of fishing the the Canadian Wilderness at Fireside Lodge.