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Author Topic: Just got back from Holiday Harbor Lodge in North Hero Vermont - PICS  (Read 5696 times)

Offline Big Tuna

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Just got back from 3 days of heaven -  Fishing, Drinking, Snowmobiling and Eating...   A big THANKS to Bruce at Holiday Harbor Lodge.   He's a great host all around.    I can get into the details later but I wanted to get a few pics posted... 

Some pics from our 2012 outing to Holiday Harbor Lodge...

BASE CAMP


Bloody Bar   ;)


Chef Jeff working his magic

AND now to the fish.........


My first Pike through the Ice - Not huge but my first.



My best on the weekend about 29.5"


Chef Jeff getting in on the action

Some of the crew's catch


































Offline Pike Bait

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Holiday Harbor is awesome....been going there before Bruce owned it and it's always a fun weekend.

Looked like you had the three essentials...drink, food and fish! ;D


Offline striper50trout

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Great post! Nice pike! Love the bloody bar!! I'm gonna do that next year  ;D

Offline minnow1

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Base camp looks awesome! I wouldn't leave that table!

Offline Team Bud Fish

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Looks like on hell of a trip :tipup: :tipup: :tipup:

Offline pikeaholic

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Looks like a great wknd. lots of nice fish and one heck of a bar.

Offline Big Tuna

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Thanks Guys...   Trip was great.   Flags going off left and right.  Old friends and new.   We had also rented 2 of the Hard-Sides from Bruce and he pulled them all together for us into a small community...   Good thing too, wind picked up on Saturday with at least 40MPH sustained wind...  Needless to say the tent had to come down or risk having to drive to Canada to get it.   I hear we already reserved for next year.   

Offline unoman

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Wow...nice trip...love the bar and the food....and the pike... ;D

Offline tomb raider

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Nice Pics

Offline Ziffle

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It looks like an awesome  time. Love the Bar.  I agree, great place. He has everything you need. It looks like he updated the shanties.

Offline BigG3206

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Great pics!  How much ice did you guys have?  I'm heading up there this weekend for my final time out, though I'm fishing a little further north from Holiday Harbor.


A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work!!

Offline Stealth

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Good friends, great food AND fish....... outstanding!  :clap:
Member of the GODs, the Grumpy Old Dudes, "We're off our rockers."


Offline capt.shay

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That there looks like some serious good times  :woot:



"I will never stop targeting trophies, every skunk is one skunk closer to a giant "  RC

"We're going to sit around the shanty mama...."  Johnathan Edwards

"If you are going out there to figure it all out by yourself, well, ice has a
 learning curve second only to fire. I wish you the best of luck."    Looneyducer

Offline drl823

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Good friends, great food AND fish....... outstanding!  :clap:
That is a good time right there, great post.....Jimmy and our trip gets cancelled  ??? Looks like we book the Harbor soon for next year, let's get this going. I know we got six that will go.

Offline macdaddyjb82

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Those are some great pics.  Fish look healthy, too.  Congrats! :tipup:

Offline Big Tuna

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Great pics!  How much ice did you guys have?  I'm heading up there this weekend for my final time out, though I'm fishing a little further north from Holiday Harbor.

The area has it's typical spots of current and open water but the safe ice ranged anywhere from 15" to 18+" .  You'll have plenty of Ice and I heard they had a good freeze up last night after the melt off of a lot of that new snow.    Good Luck!

Offline macdaddyjb82

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I usually go up to Swanton at the end of August to Campbell's Bay for a great 4 days of Pike fishing.  This year, we are going to Grande Isle for a change of scenery and will be right around what the call "The Gut".  Hoping for pike, lg and small mouth bass and catching my first walleye.

Offline vermonner

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Great pics!  How much ice did you guys have?  I'm heading up there this weekend for my final time out, though I'm fishing a little further north from Holiday Harbor.
We've been single digits overnight and not above freezing for the last 2 days.  It is supposed to reach 50 deg F on Thursday.  I bet there will be safe ice, but exercise caution as always.

The employment of effort, hard work, time, and energy put in locating fish will offend noone.

Offline Big Tuna

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It looks like an awesome  time. Love the Bar.  I agree, great place. He has everything you need. It looks like he updated the shanties.

 The bar was great, thanks.   The Shanties couldn't have been a couple years old in my opinion...   You could comfortably sit 6 in each or squeeze 8 if you had to.  There are 6 covered jigging holes in the floor and Bruce will move the shanties with his tractor if you'd like. He even supplies the wood and kindling.

Offline jtk

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that sounds like a pretty good place to take a trip. nice fish.
"give a man a fish and he will eat for the day. teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day"

Offline Big Tuna

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that sounds like a pretty good place to take a trip. nice fish.

  Basically it's like this.   If you want to fish Pike, Pickerel & pan fish, keep in mind the Pike and picks are big and there's no shortage of them, then you never have to leave Holiday Harbor.    If you're up for a short drive then you can probably find even bigger fish.   There is something to be said for the convenience...

Offline jtk

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thats awesome. you know what the the rates were? they have summer rates but not winter on the site.
"give a man a fish and he will eat for the day. teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day"

Offline Big Tuna

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thats awesome. you know what the the rates were? they have summer rates but not winter on the site.

We paid $55.00/ night per person...we had 11 and he put us in 5 rooms...  4 double rooms and 1 large unit with kitchen that slept 4.   I think the total with tax was $181 per person and then the shanties are $100 for the day...  Don't quote me on these rates but I think they are accurate.   Well worth it if you want to go Pike fishing.

Offline fishsluggos

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Outstanding trip report BT!  :tipup: :tipup: :tipup:

Did you get in any bocce games?  ;D

tight lines,
sully

Offline Big Tuna

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Outstanding trip report BT!  :tipup: :tipup: :tipup:

Did you get in any bocce games?  ;D

tight lines,
sully

Hey Sully !!!   Oddly enough we didn't get to play Ice-Occe although I was there with the Ice-Occe crew.   There was just too much running for flags and a lot of snow/slush on the Ice...   Ice-Occe is going to have to wait til next season.   I think I'm putting the gear away for the season unless something gets on the calendar real quick.  ~ Jamie

Offline 7 plus larry

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Looks like you guys had a great time. Any size on the pike caught? Heading up this weekend looks like we will have nice weather, wondering if the big girls are in yet.Thanks

Offline Johnny Ringo

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Yup it was sure was an awesome Trip. My buddy Ed and I were part of the group representing NH and we had an amazing time. That was the first time I ever caught Pike and needless to say I am hooked. My largest was 29"...The fishing was slowed a bit due to 40+ mph winds all day Sat but still a decent amount of fish were caught. Holiday Harbor is where the fish are and Bruce runs a great lodge/motel for a very reasonable fee.

Thanks again for inviting me and for the best ice fishing trip I've ever been on. The food was just incredible - Thanks Chef Jeff for the amazing job cooking steaks and more.

Hope we can all do it again next year and I hope to get up there this June for some top water action.

John

Offline Big Tuna

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Yup it was sure was an awesome Trip. My buddy Ed and I were part of the group representing NH and we had an amazing time. That was the first time I ever caught Pike and needless to say I am hooked. My largest was 29"...The fishing was slowed a bit due to 40+ mph winds all day Sat but still a decent amount of fish were caught. Holiday Harbor is where the fish are and Bruce runs a great lodge/motel for a very reasonable fee.

Thanks again for inviting me and for the best ice fishing trip I've ever been on. The food was just incredible - Thanks Chef Jeff for the amazing job cooking steaks and more.

Hope we can all do it again next year and I hope to get up there this June for some top water action.

John

I supplied plenty of entertainment during the high winds...  Thought I was going to have to travel to Canada to get that tent.   Great times buddy.   Hopefully I make the trip next year.

Offline Big Tuna

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Looks like you guys had a great time. Any size on the pike caught? Heading up this weekend looks like we will have nice weather, wondering if the big girls are in yet.Thanks

We had quite a few around 29-33" ...   don't be afraid to set up in the shallow water  (2-4').  We got a lot of them there and as I understand it they are coming in.   Good Luck!

Offline Jschumacher

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looks like a great weekend. Very nice Pike
Hard water Tight lines Flags up. Doesn't get any better than that

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