June 27 Insider Report

June 27 Insider Report

Busy Busy Busy! It has been about six weeks since my last Insider entry. Much has happened in those six weeks. I will try to touch on a few of the highlights.

Alan and I have been working diligently all spring to get our new fishing opportunities ready for guests to enjoy. So far we have had four groups out to the new lakes. Everyone has enjoyed the experience. To be honest I was unsure how guests would respond. It is certainly rewarding to have a project be appreciated. I hope many more guests will get to enjoy the new lakes.

The weather finally broke several weeks ago. We started to get consistently warm days with lots of sun. This contributed to a rapid Bass spawning period. The cold weather had delayed their activity by about two weeks. Pike and Musky are starting to move a little deeper into the weeds, which are just now starting to come up. How do I know this you may ask? As rough as it may sound, I get a chance to get out on the water almost every day.

As Alan mentioned in the most recent Current Happenings entry, we have taken a map of Little Vermilion Lake and divided it into a grid. One of my weekly assignments is to examine a series of grid squares, the same squares that are used for wildlife sightings, that we believe are being overlooked or underutilized as quality fishing areas. So far the ‘field research’ I have conducted has produced some surprising and positive results. I have been able to locate a number of areas that hold fish that nobody ever goes to. It is not as if these locations are secrets, they just tend to be places that are easy to skip, or do not appeal to anglers for other reasons, i.e., shallow water, steep drop-offs, tight cover, etc. The two major goals of this project are to improve the fishing experience of guests that are at the lodge when the information is collected, and also to develop a long-term research project in the hopes of finding yearly patterns in fish behavior on our lake system. There has been great interest by guests in this project so far. Collecting the information is the best part. I love finding new fishing spots and exploring new areas of a lake I thought I knew well. It is a tough job, but somebody has to do it!

I have been surprised at the number of guests who have read my Insider reports. I will continue to try to let all of you know what we are working on at Fireside Lodge. If you have any feedback, questions, or suggestions, We would like to hear from you.

Tom Bradstreet