Sunday, January 30, 2011

Eenie, Meenie, Miny, Moe......


Every year, before open water arrives, I seem to spend a lot of time thinking about the tackle I might use in the upcoming season. I often begin with my choices for line. There are so many types, and so many options within each type, that it can be very hard to choose. Monofilament, copolymer, the various super lines.

Once I choose a line type I am still faced with the question of color.


And let's not forget about the line test weight. That will undoubtedly make or break (sorry!) my year. All these choices do matter and I play around with different combinations often. After all, I don't want to be the one responsible for some poor bloke losing his job because line sales are in the toilet. What I want to know is what the many great fishermen that call Vermilion Bay Lodge their fish camp of choice think about all this. I don't want to have to make these decisions alone. So, let's hear it!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Mojakka Days Celebrated In Edgerton, WI


Mojakka...It starts with a vision of a delicious fish soup from Finland. But it only materializes after a sucessful lake trout hunt into Clearwater Lake or Eagle Lake's Trout Holes. A successful trip produces a few pounds of laker filets which become key ingredients in this soup. Add these to to a variety of vegetables, herbs, spices and dairy products and what you wind up with is an incredibly tasty soup that is perfect for cold weather.
Mojakka Days is an annual event at my home every winter and it celebrates Finnish independence from Russia with soup. A few friends come over, we toast the Fins, and we eat mojakka. Then eveybody is happy. My friend, Andy, was over and he was very happy. For his own good, we had to cut him off after he consumed five bowls of mojakka in rapid succession.
Sadly, Mojakka Days is now over with. It only lasts as long as the soup does. The photo shows the last bowl from what originally was a big pot full. It made for a fine lunch.
If you like fish chowders, you would likely enjoy mojakka. There is no one right way to prepare this soup. But the recipe I use is a winner and I'll send it to you if you wish. Just click on "Professor" under the Eagle lake Blog "Contributors" heading and email me.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Kurt, back in the day..........

This poor photo by Gord documents our 55 minute 2 man limit. It was a day trip that we had to portage due to low water levels that year. Gord dropped us off for the day and while we ran out of minnows that day by lunch time we ended up using just plain fuzzy grubs catching walleye after walleye.
Mark with a whitey

Some whitey's come in good size and you will usually run across schools of these great fighters.

The Wiley Whitefish....

In our continuing effort to showcase all the species we fish for here at VBL I present the whitefish. There is a good "how to" whitefish section on the VBL website that gives a background on how to catch this overlooked species. With a generous limit of 25 on a regular licence, they are well worth the effort.......very tasty as well.
Whitefish are a deep water fish that can be caught on Eagle and Clearwater Lake. I must say that most of our whitefish efforts take place on Clearwater Lake.........catching most of them as we jig for lakers.

Which bodes the question......"Why don't we do more of this on Eagle?" Good question. Perhaps we should take up the challenge in 2011 and do a few "whitefish missions" on Eagle. Two areas that come to mind would be the Trout Holes, and Portage Bay. Both would have the added bonus of lake trout as well.


Whitefish are great fighters on light tackle.


We've been most successful with this species in the Fall when they seem to school up as they prepare to spawn (usually late September, early October). I'm sure though that there are other techniques, such as trolling, that might work well at other times of year. Let's mull this over this winter and try something new this coming season!




Wednesday, January 19, 2011

BULLSEYE!!! Come to VBL for perchfest 2011

This is for you Bastable!!!!
There will be none of this sitting around CRAP in 2011

Yup Gord taking a sip of beer before the nightmare begins


Which one of these dinks did you catch Kurt?


Man this is going to take some time.


Come join in the fun for "PERCH FEST" 2011


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Team Vollmer..........

It was pointed out to me after the last issue of the VBL newsletter "The Beaver" was mailed out that I had neglected to mention some of the bass that were caught last season. Whoops! As Joe Vollmer (above) pointed out to me "Some of us are bass fishermen first, and we love the smallmouth fishing up there!". In an effort to correct my oversight I present "Team Voller, 2010".

Glen and Shawn Vollmer with a brace-o-bass. When, almost 20 years ago, we had bought the camp who should be the first one to phone about booking a cabin but Glen. Since then the brothers Vollmer have spent many, many 2 week stints at the lodge chasing bass, drinking martinis and smoking cigars.

It looks like all their practise has paid off. Even "rough fish" such as walleye have fallen victim to their expertise.

It's great to have guests like the Vollmers who really enjoy the experience here at VBL and we hope to have them back for the next 20 years!



Friday, January 14, 2011

January at the lodge.....

Welcome to the lodge in the winter......

Mike's garden shed project looking good, but it must be pretty chilly in there without a door!

Dog pack down by the cabins.



No fish fry today.......but coming soon enough.........



......if we ever get out on the machines.......



We had a visitor on the road into the camp. By the size it was definitely a timber wolf.



The wolf had a nice stroll from the camp to the railroad crossing......into town for a nice beagle or poodle perhaps?





Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Cryogenic deer........

Last weekend Susanne and I went for a ride on Eagle Lake and came across the site of some recent wolf activity in the form of some deer hide, a couple of hoofs, plenty of wolf tracks, wolf pee, and this object protruding from the snow.
On closer investigation it would seem that the head had partially frozen into the slush that was present on the lake in December. Time to bring out the axe!

This must be a new form of archaeology.....chipping away the layers of time, in this case ice.

Further along and I think I've gone as far as I need to go. Now for a little precise surgical separation using my axe.........

A nice looking 8 point rack. What a bummer to survive various winters, numerous hunting seasons and then succumb to who knows what just shortly after the hunt of 2010....but that is nature I suppose. By the way, this deer was located close to shore in Favell Bay.




Saturday, January 8, 2011

Summertime, makes me feel fine.....


Well, its a new year and that means deer hunting is over and spring fishing seems a long way off. I find it helps me drift off to sleep on these cold winter nights if I think about the good fishing memories of the past year and imagine the season to come.


The highlight of every season is our annual trip to Eagle Lake and Vermilion Bay Lodge. If heaven is this good it'll be worth the wait. Gord, Susanne and Mike made us feel like family from the first time we met them. Actually, they made us feel terrific. It seems though, that Gord has an oddly disturbing ability to make everybody think he's Canada's gift to the world. We knew this in earnest this year as we neared the town formerly known as Vermilion Bay.


Now, we all love Gord, but this is a bit much. Not withstanding Gord's over developed ego (and under developed waistline), we once again were reminded why we are enamoured with Eagle as we pulled up to our first fishing spot.


Does anyone ever tire of scenery like this? And this is just above the water line. My wife could blow a million dollars on film while "we" fish Eagle. Thank God for digital cameras. Me, I'm still waiting for new Polaroid film, which I hear may be coming back. Still, I worry about Gord. No sooner do we return to the cabin after a morning on the water than he feels obliged to show off to my girls. "Look girls, no hands!". Wow.



To be fair, they were impressed. But then again, warm Spaghettios make them positively giggle. I was less impressed. Despite Gord's spin I still don't much care for the "custom" look of my pick-up box. Oh well, maybe this year I will finally out fish the Silver Fox and pull him back to earth. If not, I'm putting concrete in his Sorels. Until then, "keep your stick on the ice".


Thursday, January 6, 2011

Photos from 2010......in no particular order....

Colonel's Island in a veil of frost.............


Brother in law John enjoying ice fishing and Keith Mitchell's Crown Royal.


Nuclear explosion in the west?

......or just a nice sunset


Checking out the Indian pictographs on Clearwater Lake..


A shoreline cedar tree on McColl Island which must have had some good wave action last Fall.



Flashback to the Fall of 2010.......a foggy morning and fishermen at VBL.



September morning down at the docks......



Cliffs along the portage trail to McGregor Lake......and Fall colours.



Frost on the roof of cabin 7 last Fall.




Another foggy morning ...........



A curious fox checks out Keith Mitchell and I..........



I think he's lonely Keith.......




Trolling for muskie on Halloween day off of muskie point.......no muskie but a nice lake trout!




Caught trolling the "Lil Fat Bastard" in 27 feet of water. "Beware the Fat Bastard!"