Week 13 Wrap-Up!

Good morning RSL Family! Week 13 Wrap-Up!

This week’s anglers were a tad camera shy so photos were hard to come by, or at least they haven’t sent me too many photos.

The Original Rich Award was not handed out this week.

Walleyes were scattered over humps, Bills point, a few were taken in the normal late August, September spots. The minnow bite is increasing as the temperatures are starting to cool. As I write this, I know many of you are experiencing a heat wave down in the Midwest, and I’m glad it has not made it’s way up here. No offense to any of our sun lovers but we like cool and overcast up here! Crawlers are working and the Sandbar has been fairly steady as well in the evenings as the fall bite starts to take shape. Seems like mostly RSL boats are sitting out there in the early evening hours and that is fine by me. More fish in the livewell for us. Marty from P1 made a comment that he and Mark caught more over 24-Inch walleyes than they ever have this week. So many he told me the last one he caught he said meh another 24. That’s pretty darn good fishing. Some of our new guys who know Cedar Lake well did great down there since they have stayed at Cedar Lake camps numerous times, so they were looking for spots on Perrault and had better luck down there as they figured out where the successful anglers were getting them on Perrault. Dick and his daughter Amanda from C6 fished for anything that bit, and while Dick didn’t catch many walleyes in the boat, so he walked down to the floating dock and started jigging. Bang a 23-Inch Walleye! He told me he should have just fished off the dock all week! How many times have we all heard that statement! Al, AJ, and AJ’s son (first timer) caught some nice fish as AJ caught the biggest Walleye at 25.5-Inches, and Grayson took the Micro prize this week. Not a bad way to begin your Rocky Shore Adventure!

We did not have any musky caught or reported, but Bo and Steve did throw some big baits and had 5 missed strikes so I’m not sure if the muskies were that lucky not to bite a hook or Jeff and Bo were just unlucky enough to not hook up. Lots of Grassy Bay follows for those two. They did a lot of walleye fishing also, so their Musky fishing took second fiddle to Walleye fishing. Some guys from P2 threw some Musky lures but also had no hookups that were reported to us but saw a lot of the toothy critters come to the boat only to decide against eating.

Ron and Jim from Cabin 2 caught some nice fish but when Ron told me he caught a 16-Inch Perch, I didn’t believe him. He was smart enough to snap a photo of it. Impressive Perch. The biggest one I’ve heard caught! Great fish Ron!

Week 13 Monster/Micro Fish tournament results: Jeff (Bo) went out with his guide (Steve) and scored a 26.5-Inch Northern Pike! Roy landed and released a nice 22-Inch Walleye while trolling around with Rhonda! Grayson reeled in a 5.75-Inch Small mouth Bass (If memory doesn't elude me)! Congratulations to all our winners this week!

I forgot a few weeks ago to add recipes here's several from our wonderful camp cooks:

Scott Beaulieu:

Marinated Mushrooms:

(1) 16 oz. package of fresh whole mushrooms

(1) stick of butter

(1) package Ranch dressing mix

Melt butter, mix in ranch, add to mushrooms in slow cooker. Set on low for 2 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally.

Double the ingredients, slow cooker 3-3 1/2 hours.

This week was absent any funny stories to tell other than P1 Mark who was wearing an automatic life vest. It decided for no reason to blow and inflate. Marty looked back to see his dad with a fully inflated life vest on.

They believe the gasket got old and gave out, but who knows. Other than that, I didn’t have any confessions, or I was out baiting bears too much to hear any. I’m sure it’s one of the two as we had a lot of laughter in camp as usual or guests know I’m looking to hand out the illustrious Original Rich Award. Nah I’m sure that’s not it!

As we are coming to the end of Week 14 already. suppose I should sign off and prepare for the Week 14 blog that hopefully will be posted by next Tuesday! Tight Lines everyone!

Week 12 Wrap-Up!

Good afternoon RSL Family! Week 12 Wrap-Up! Here I am on Friday afternoon an entire week late on the Wrap-Up! I know some of you enjoy reading the blog in a timely manner so for that I apologize.

We had some new members to the RSL Family as well as some long timers! Fishing was good and then we also had some not so hot days. Seems like we had some weird weather patterns that gave us multiple direction wind and it made the walleye chase bait all over the place when they found bait balls to chase!

The Original Rich Award this week goes to none other than me (Mike). Harvey and I always tell people what you say and do at RSL can and will be used against you. So with that thought process in mind I will jump on my own sword and fess up to a couple woopsies. Don and Laverne came up and brought some very good friends with them for their first trip to RSL. Of course we always strive to take care of our guests. To make a short story long and to propose a defense for my Award; the week prior I was pulling boats out and doing midsummer oil changes and changed plugs in all the boats. With that being said Boat 7 was the last boat completed. I put it in the water and prepared for a quick test run when I got ready to get up on plane I realized I forgot the gas can. We actually gave it to Bill since he was guiding and wanted to take the guests down to Cedar Lake and I decided to give them extra half tank of gas. Of course since I was doing the oil change etc on Boat 7 what better boat to pull a gas can out and give to Bill. Okay that was mistake one….Mistake 2 happened when I got distracted with said gas can and forgot to connect the last spark plug. So with all this in mind I didn’t test run the boat with no gas can so I turned it around and docked it. The following week I gave it to one of Don and LaVerne’s friends. They headed out for their first day got a few hundred yards from the shore and the motor died. They were towed back and of course I discovered their issue. No problem gas can connected off they go. Back they came ten minutes later and let me know the motor just doesn’t seem right. I of course found the issue within about ten seconds of lifting the cover off the motor. I definitely deserve the award this week!

The Walleyes were biting on crawlers, leeches, and the minnow bite has started to come back. The sandbar has also heated up quite well, and it seems like our guests are taking advantage of the bite more than some of the other lodges. It won’t be long before that changes. Humps, sunken island have been good sources to go for. We have some more spots obviously when you get up here we will fill you in. Scott brought his two sons Carter and six year old Jackson. Jackson on day 1 boated a 28.5-Inch Walleye! Like a chip off the old block when Jacksons dad Scott boated a 28-inch Walleye Jackson informed him that it was smaller than his the day before! Ahhhh like Father like Son! They had quite a week and I think Jackson is counting the days down already! P2 had a good week pulling in multiple plus 25-Inch Walleyes! Roy and Rhonda switched weeks and were able to make it up and as usual they did well catching walleye, Northern, and some nice perch to boot. Mark and Marty in P1 went out early and came back happy pretty much every day. Caught tons of Walleyes! Reif and Scott were up last year fishing and like many other people they got an anchor stuck on the rocks on one of the humps and had to cut it loose to become another permanent member of the Perrault Lake anchor club. Well this year they were fishing close to that location and wouldn’t you know it they pulled up that old anchor. Reif it’s waiting for you when you get here next season!

We did not have any musky hunters this week but there were some nice Pike caught. No one reported an accidental Musky catch this week.

Week 12 Monster/Micro Fish tournament results: Another Sunday fun day on the water, and quite a few nice fish caught but alas there can be only one (Highlander movie reference) or three winners. Starting out of the gate our Micro prize winner Jackson from C-6 and age 6 boated and released a 6.75-Inch Small mouth Bass and chose a 5 of Diamonds for his prize. Used it fishing for Pike and its pretty beat up. I'm awaiting a photo of it. Mark from P1 boated a healthy 26.75-Inch Walleye to claim top spot Sunday! Don from C-1 boated a 26.5-Inch Pike to capture the Pike/Musky Prize! Congratulations to all our winners this week!

With our new guests arriving now and our first two Bear Hunters in camp I have to call this a wrap! Tight Lines everyone! Hope to get Week 13 Wrap-Up completed much sooner than next Friday! I'll get the recipe posted soon!

Week 11 Wrap-up!

Good afternoon RSL Family! Week 11 Wrap-Up! Bear baiting season has started and obviously I’m late with last weeks results!

Had a super busy week with Musky guys fishing as late as 4:30 am and a full camp of people chasing Walleyes and Smallies. Weather cooperated and tons of fish were caught and some big ones to boot. The bite remains light and slip bobber fishing as well as simple hook and split shot out produced most other types of fishing.

It seemed like family week this week. Wives, sisters, brother-In-Laws, sister-in-Laws, nephew, and friends of family! Needless to say we had a very nice week and appreciated all our guests understanding and allowing us a little time to spend with family! Steve and I didn’t have to cook at all!

Thanks to Charlie for the renovation of the shore lunch spot across from Cedar Island, and he also found a new spot off of Little Hatfield Island they started work on. Although it’s not complete he said it’s easy to get boats into and next year there will be a new picnic table on that spot as well. Thanks Charlie and the P2 Crew!

The Original Rich Award this week goes out to Leah from C3 and Don, and Mike from Cabin 6. Originally I figured Leah had it wrapped up after Day 1 when she discovered that the ladder on the back of their boat will tip into the lake when applying weight to it, or leaning on it. Into the lake she went, and Les caught a personal best for the 2nd time! The first time was in 2019 when he proposed on the lake after Leah caught a 30-Inch Walleye! The Runners-Up goes out to Don and Mike. They were successful in losing 2 anchors in one week! One of the anchors simply disappeared off the transom of the boat while traveling. The other one simply got stuck like so many other anchors on the lake. Wonder how many anchors are stuck on the bottom of the lake! Don recommended we add a Gold package boat plus 2 anchor special next year and we will take it up for consideration!

The Walleye bite as discussed earlier seemed a bit light, but that didn’t stop The Fetzer Trio from boating over 500 Walleyes, and Grandpa/Dad Fetzer said he caught a few of those! Josh and his crew of 4 neared 600 walleyes for the week, and Leah and Les boated 10 fish over 28-inches although Leah couldn’t get to 30-inches this year. A couple 29.5-inchers were all they mustered for the week! Those people who don’t think fishing is good in the late summer up here just don’t understand. We had quite a few 29-Inch Walleyes this week and just lots of great fish in the mid 20s plus numbers, and most of our guests said it felt like a lighter bite than normal.

Some quality muskies and Pike were boated and released this week. Anglers were targeting the moon phase heavily and the times were fished whether it was midnight or 2am. Private boats only of course.

I never got the total numbers of muskies, but the count from the Brag Board reads 9 with the largest being 50.5-Inches caught by Les from C3! Nice work guys and gals!

Week 11 Monster/Micro Fish tournament results: Eli came in with a very solid caught, photo, and release of a 37-inch Musky! I think this is the photo of the fish. Ron from C-4 pulled in a 6-Inch Small mouth Bass to claim the Micro prize, and Leah in C-3 boated and released a very solid 28.25-Inch Walleye ! Congratulations to our winners!

Wacky cake Recipe from mom baked by Steve:

That’s a wrap for a shortened Week 11 Wrap-Up! Tight Lines everyone!

Photos can be sent on Messenger, photo dropped on Friends of Rocky Shore Lodge, or emailed to fish@rockyshorelodge.com