Lunge Log 2007

Hard to believe, but we will begin our 10th season this spring. Of course, guest loyalty has played a big role in our success. We cannot thank you enough for your continued support! A lot of exciting things have happened in 10 years and many things have changed. One thing has remained unchanged, the peace and beauty of the French River. It’s what brings us all back year after year.

The 2007 season was packed with excitement and some great fish stories. Thanks to everybody who came up for a work party when the season opened, we got a lot accomplished and managed to get some quality fishing in too. May was colder than average and the Perch and Walleye bite didn’t get hot until the last week. Once June arrived, and the water warmed, the bite was on. There were too many 6-8 lb Walleyes caught to mention them all. One particular fish that comes to mind was a 9.5lb Blue Walleye that was caught by the Harvey Adams group. They also managed a couple other 9lbers during their stay. By the way, we will have the Blue Walleye displayed in the lodge next season. Roger Merics brought in a ten pound Walleye during one of 4 trips he made last season. Once again the Jordan group took advantage of the late June bite and caught numbers of big fish. By the end of June the Bass fishing was in full gear. We had another great Bass season with more and more quality Largemouth caught than ever. We broke last year’s weight record in our September (Pettry), Bass Tournament. The winning team had over a 3lb average, and only one fish was a Largemouth. All the tournament fish were released alive so they can be caught again. David Mulby, Mike Leyh, Roger and Jay Merics, Bob Collins, Mike Pettry, and Cody Black all caught Pike in the 40+ inch range, just to name a few. 12 year old, Cody Black’s catch was special. He hooked his giant Pike from a Kayak! The Pike pulled him around the portage pond for 15 minutes! 2007 was one of our best Muskie seasons. We didn’t beat the 2006, 57inch mark, but plenty of nice fish were caught. Roger Merics topped the list with a beautiful 54’’ Muskie. John Shantz caught two 50” Muskies during our Muskie Madness week, winning the tournament. Brian Bernhardt got a 50” fish, caught and released, on film! With the season winding down, the guys from “Hunting with Penn’s Woods” arrived at camp to film a Bear hunt. Although the week was slow, they managed to film a nice Black bear hunt. Those of you who are lucky enough to get their TV show should look for the Lunge Lodge hunt airing this spring. The show airs Sunday mornings (8:30) on Fox Sports Network.

Our website http://www.lungelodge.net/ continues to be a great source to get weather and fishing conditions as well as most information you need to book a trip. If you haven’t already, check out our reports page with up to date information concerning the lodge. We have over 13,000 hits on this page. Look out Yahoo! Thanks in part to our “Buy a Board” program we began to re-build the L-dock in the front of Camp. Completion is expected by early summer 2008. We also have plans on running a short ice fishing season this winter. We are looking to book trips for the month of February. If you, or anyone you know, likes to Ice Fish please contact us!

Changes for 2008

There are some fishing regulation changes for the 2008 season. You can view these, courtesy of Jay Merics, on our reports page. The Passport issue is still not clear. It’s probably best to play it safe and get one. Sooner or later they will be required. We will not have a rate increase for 2008 but might be forced to add a $25 gas surcharge per boat. We are following the fuel prices closely and hope to have a decision by show time. Speaking of shows, the show dates and locations are also listed on the reports page of our web site.

Once again the Staff at Lunge Lodge thank you for your continued support! We hope that you and your family have a great holiday season. See you on the river.

Winter Contacts:

Phone: (412) 992-7226 New
Lungelodge@aol.com