More May fishing pics from VBL

And as the saying goes REST RELAX and UNWIND while at VBL

Hope your trip is as memorable as mine has been over the now 10+ years visiting VBL.

A beautiful site near the secret perch spot

Just a couple of JUMBO PERCH

The evening hot spot produces lot of quality fish in May

Probably will take some heat for putting this mug on the post but what the hell

Monster lake trout even being caught at the evening secret HOT spot while trolling circles for walleye

Whitefish can be had at anytime while fishing for walleye and northerns.

Hope May 2010 brings beauty of the 2nd picture and not the top one!

Raging Bull-Perch.........

Andy mentioned the need to post more pictures of perch. From back in the archives here is a classic........Mark M. and Perchmaster salivating over a pile-o-perch! What a couple of baby faces....and Mark hasn't become pregnant yet!

Gord's nightmare........"Clean us, clean us!"

More up to date perch "action". From yesterday, a couple of mega perch that fell victim to Perchmaster's ice fishing rig.

The ice was groaning under the weight of this beast!

May time fishing at it's best

Now does the above pic show a "GRUMPY OL MAN"

My biggest walleye to date pushing 29"

26" wally

Wally

Bronze Back

Accidental Musky

Northern Pike

For all of you that have not made the trip North of the border in May for springtime fishing here are some pics to show you what you are missing by not making a trip to VBL in May.

As you can see from the pictures above Eagle Lake and Vermilion Bay Lodge has a lot to offer in May, yes the weather can change from winter to summer from one day to the next but the fishing is well worth it.

Dr. Seuss Day

One Fish

Two Fish

Red Fish

Blue Fish

Wishing Sussanne and her school kids a Happy Dr. Seuss Day!

Deep water pike........

It is a misconception that pike are shallow water predators. While some of the juveniles will spend plenty of time in those weedy bays, the big boys prefer the cooler water and the fattening, greasy food that exists there.

Ron here is showing off a very nice pike (37-38 inches) caught in 70 feet of water in Buzzard Lake. Ron had wanted me to take him there for trout. Other than the one I lost just at the hole, this was the only fish we landed. It was a short day........the men's Olympic gold match hockey game teed off at 2 pm..........and we all know how that turned out!!!!

Lake trout success.........

Susanne and I thought it might be fun to fish a lake we have never tried before. From Eagle we were able to scout out the trail (no we weren't the first ones there) into several other lakes before arriving at this "hidden lake".

Another view of coming off a portage trail onto yet another lake.

The first trout caught on a tip-up using one of Perchmaster's ice fishing rigs. These fish are some of the darkest lake trout I have ever caught.......almost a copper colour.

The biggest fish of the day caught by Susanne on a Williams spoon. Note the careful use of the hat to hide the dreaded "hat-head".........

After about an hour and a half we ended up with our limit of nice eaters. Perhaps we will keep this lake's location a secret!

Ramblings on a -27C morning........

On a cold morning such as this it is hard to imagine that the lake will ever thaw and open water fishing begin. While I wait for the sun to thaw out my truck, here's a few musings on warmer weather.........
Some of the fun aspects of the season are the Walleye Madness Week (July 24-31) and the Muskie Madness Week (September 11-18) where a week of friendly competition culminates in the awarding of one of these fine trophies! Hand carved by artist Charles Weiss, these are the 2010 versions up for grabs. Now wouldn't those look nice on your wall! Give me a call, I'll squeeze you in!

My other thoughts turn to this old classic......the Zebco Cardinal 3. This is the ultra-light version made by Abu-Garcia back in the 70's and was given to me by long time guide and "Eagle-Laker" Gord Euler. This seems to be the reincarnation of the "Ol Greenie" I owned for decades. The sad but true tale of losing Ol Greenie is burnt into my brain. Several years ago we had two couples stop off the highway for an overnight cabin. These people were from Italy (only one spoke English) and were on their way to Churchill, Manitoba to see polar bears. One thing lead to another and they decided that they should go fishing on the way back, and that I should guide them. Now, these were not our typical fisher people. The women were somewhat older, but were dressed like Italian models. Particularly intriguing was the hair color of one lady.....sort of a burnt red, fluorescent orange combo.......very distracting. Of course no one has equipment, or likely has even fished before.......never mind the language barrier. Well, I set them up with my stuff, including the classic Zebco on a lovely St. Croix ultra-light rod which I "lent" to the Italian lady in my boat. I even conscripted my son Mike into guiding and running the other boat........he had the couple who spoke no English, which was perfect for Mike who isn't much for small talk. We did the adventure trip of going up the creek into Clearwater Lake, which seemed to impress the Italians greatly. The fishing was absolutely "stupid".....you couldn't help but catch trout or whitefish.......and we often had 2 on at the same time. Mike even landed a 40 inch pike out of 60 feet of water......it was nuts. It was so nuts in fact that when the lady in the boat set down "my" rod and reel to take a picture of her husband's fish it was like the time-space continuum suddenly slowed to a crawl. From the corner of my eye I thought I saw the rod tip go down......at about the same time the butt of the rod went way up. I had time to think "What the hell, she left her lure in the water......." and perhaps started a futile grab maneuver. The rod vaulted over the side and entered the nether regions of deep water. I could only smile and control the urge to strangle someone....it was my beloved "Ol Greenie".

I'm over the trauma now, and actually have fond memories of that day. We had a great shore lunch of fried trout, and even saw a 12 point buck. The "rod loser" woman was very gracious in her broken English in offering to pay for my rod......but I chose to just chock it up to experience. Well, now a new "Ol Greenie" has surfaced. Time to grease it up and get it ready for the summer of 2010!