Click on the movie clip below to see this fish in action.
Thanks for Bill Fitzgerald for sending us this video clip of some Lake Vermilion muskie action last week. We had so many good photo submissions this week that it was too hard to pick just a couple. Visit our facebook page: Everett.Bay.Lodge.Lake.Vermilion and check out some of the great catches and photos our guests shared with us. As the title says – it was another good week of fishing for a good number of our guests.
Walleyes were caught both deep and surprisingly shallow, with a good number of fish over 18 inches, plus nice eaters for many who wanted to cook or take home their catch. Eric and Val had a quick outing of less than an hour of fishing that produced 8 walleyes for our lunch the next day. 1/2 crawler and leeches continue to be the hot ticket.
Smallmouth Bass fishing continued to be consistent for our guests, with one group reporting that they quit taking photos of the 4 to 4.5 pounders when they realized there were plenty to be caught. Mark & Alec Spurbeck each caught & released a 21″er.
On the muskie front, Brian Carpizo caught his PR, a 53″ monster he had to land by hand as the net he had was far from up to the challenge. Congrats to him! There were several more in the 40″ to 46″ range and lots under our 40″ reporting cutoff.
This week’s report wouldn’t be complete without a little coverage of the Fitzgerald Tournament of Champions. The video clip above is proof that Kevin Fitzgerald would surely have found himself atop the leader board had he and his dad Bill found a way to get that muskie in the boat. With their purist -no live bait & no landing nets – tournament rules, at the end of the fight the fish avoided the boat, robbing Kevin of his daily winnings. During their annual Friday night recap of the week’s tourney results, the guys were less than considerate in their congratulatory remarks to Bill who eventually went on to win the week’s honors. Sounds like a Captain’s Meeting to review the rules is on the agenda before next August’s tourney. Kevin, just this once don’t listen to your dad – it was much bigger than a 36″ muskie.
A summary of the fish our guests told us about includes:
Walleyes: 23″ Bill Fitzgerald, 22″ Bob Crouse, 22″ Bob Crouse, 22″ Randy Wood, 22″ Eric Gooden, 21″ Eric Gooden
Smallmouth Bass: 21″ Mark Spurbeck, 21″ Alec Spurbeck, 20″ Mark Spurbeck, 19.5″ Bob Crouse, 19″ Hazy Wood, 19″ Jeff Dykstra, 19″ Jared Dykstra, 19″ Kevin Johnson, 18.5″ Kevin Johnson, 18.5″ Bob Crouse, 18″ Kathy Overby, 18″ Kevin Johnson, 18″ Hazy Wood.
Muskies: 53″ Brian Carpizo, 45.5″ Dave Gooden, 45″ Joe Richie, 44″ Joe Richie, 40″ Randy Wood, 40″ Joe Richie, 40″ Hazy Wood – and many in the mid 30s range.
The phone is ringing for September spots with a couple weekends not far from full, so now is the time to plan that Fall fishing trip up north.