Fireside Lodge

Get away from it all and enjoy a Canadian Wilderness Experience at Fireside Lodge. Three and a half hours from the Minnesota border, Fireside Lodge is road accessible, and is the only resort located on Little Vermilion Lake.

Little Vermilion is the largest in a ten-lake system. Approximately seventeen miles long, Little Vermilion is a long narrow body of water with a lower and upper section. These spring-fed waters are deep and cold with numerous bays, reefs, and deep weed beds that have created excellent fish-holding structures. The lake forage consists of whitefish, cisco, suckers, perch, various minnow life, and crayfish. With the combination of all these factors, the unpressured waters of Little Vermilion offer our guests some of the best sportfishing Canada has to offer; year after year.

We at Fireside Lodge follow a catch-and-release program to protect the resource and the sport. Therefore, along with ten additional lakes accessed by creeks or portages, this multi-lake system offers exceptional sportfishing. Just imagine having eight lakes to pursue Northern Pike, six for Smallmouth Bass, six for Muskie. Three of these lakes had been closed for fishing since the 1930’s but are now opened for anglers.

Fishing at Fireside Lodge

Ontario’s Little Vermilion Lake System has some of the best fishing for Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Muskie, and Tiger Musky that Canada has to offer. Our guests have the opportunity to fish for Northern Pike on a total of eight different lakes, as well as Smallmouth Bass fishing on five lakes, and Muskie and Tiger Musky fishing on five lakes. Little Vermilion Lake System provides a fabulous fish habitat by having many rock shoals, points, creeks, bays, and also harbors a wide variety of bait-fish including many species of minnows, white sucker, yellow perch, leeches, and crayfish. In addition to this Fireside Lodge have cold-water bait-fish of cisco and whitefish. Cisco and white-fish are fatty based fish which is one reason why our Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Muskie, & Tiger Musky grow fast and to very large size. Open fishing season for Northern Pike and Smallmouth Bass is from the third Saturday in May to the second Saturday in September with Muskie and Tiger Muskie opening starting from the third Saturday in June.

Fishing at Fireside Lodge is great throughout the open season for all species, however to achieve consistent success we do fish in different locations, and apply a variety of techniques and presentations depending on the current fishing stage. The fishing stages during our open season are designated as Pre-Spawn, Spawn, Post Spawn, Early Summer, Summer, and Late Summer/Fall stages. In another section I discuss these fishing stages in detail, and what you can expect in fishing for each fish species of Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Muskie, and Tiger Musky during each specific stage. These pages are very helpful in giving fisher’s good information during our different fishing stages of our open season, which will assist Fireside Lodge guests in either selecting the time they would prefer to fish with us, or help them prepare a fishing strategy for the time they will be fishing with us at Fireside Lodge. Below you will find general fish species information on Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Muskie, & Tiger Musky.

Stay at the Fireside Lodge

At Fireside Lodge, our guests will enjoy hearty home-cooked meals in our dining room and a friendly atmosphere where you can share the fishing stories of the day. The main lodge provides a change of atmosphere from your everyday life. Photographers will enjoy the natural surroundings and the wildlife that our area has to offer. For the exercise enthusiast, our two miles of quiet scenic road are excellent for jogging or hiking.

New modern log cabins are nestled in the trees along the lake front, providing a comfortable home-away-from-home atmosphere for your stay. Lodge rooms also accommodate our guests, each with a refrigerator to store any “goodies” they choose to bring along. Modern bathroom facilities are located in the lodge and in the American Plan cabins to make your stay in the Great North a comfortable one.