Winter at Vermilion Bay Lodge

Click on the "Winter at Vermilion Bay Lodge" link to see what really goes on here at VBL!


Winter at Vermilion Bay Lodge

Here's a challenge to you bloggers out there! Go to www.animoto.com and create your own 30 second video / slide-show of your adventures on Eagle Lake. It's free, it's easy......be creative. If you can't figure it out have your kids do it for you! Post it to this blog and be eligible to win big in the VBL Video Challenge! Don't delay......do it today!

Winter Trout

Susanne and I managed to get out for a few hours to catch some trout. This "lunker" was caught while I was checking the depth. I was using a large orange clip-on weight attached to the treble hook on my spoon to figure out how deep I was when the fish hit! I never did get my weight back......

Susanne was putting the new Otter "Ice Lodge" to a good test......keeping out of the wind and catching fish!

I thought this was an artistic shot of a technique that caught squat. I'm not sure why I bother with live bait, tip-ups, or in this case a "rattle wheel". Seems 90% of our catches are on jigging spoons, without live bait. It is always a cold, wet chore at the end of the outing to pull in the tip-ups.....made even worse when they don't produce.

Most of the VBL guests who do the portage trail seldom get to see it in the winter months. Let's just say it is faster in the winter and the chances of getting attacked by mosquitoes is slim to none!

Well, we didn't set any records but we did end up with a good meal. We had some other bites and lost two fish on the way to the hole, but not bad for our first trout outing!

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!

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.

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!

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