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Hey Cliff thanks for the great job of guiding. We caught lots of Walleye after fishing with you. You guys have a great lake, very pretty and lots of fish. We had a great two weeks,,,will be back next year. Anybody looking for a great Walleye guide Cliff is your guy. Thanks again for an enjoyable expereince

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Thank you! smile.gif

Very glad that you had a good vacation on Vermilion!

Hope to see you again next year.

Cliff

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SledNeck,

I do not guide for bass. Sorry!

There are some good bass guide out there though. E-mail me if you want a couple of names.

Doesn't sound like you really need one though! grin.gif

Cliff

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I was just curious, because I was interested to hear what people from out of the area think of Vermilion as a bass lake...like how the fishing compares in their opinion. Cause I really think that (especially after this year) Vermilion might be one of the best smallmouth lakes in the midwest.

Im not saying Im above learning a few things. But I do well enough to stay busy catching big fish all day long being my own guide.

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Sled, I used to be a diehard walleye guy but am now what I could best describe as a multi-species angler. I go through cycles of fish of choice. The last 3-5 years I have really been intrigued by small mouth bass and slab crappies. I love the sporting fight on ultra light equipment. The two top waters I have fished for smallies are stretches of the Mississippi and the Big V. The last few years on Vermillion the bite has only gotten better and the size has improved as well. It is not uncommon to have 25-50 fish days on Vermillion and a good percent in the 17-19" class. The 20" plus fish are still a challange. But those 18 and 19ers will soon become the 20-22 inch trophies. My next trip I am going to use the topwater a bit more then I historically have on Vermillion. Locally I have been having great success on the smallies and largemorth on the Heddon topwater baits with a prop. It is great to see them explode on a top water.

Speaking of multi-species I have got into a few Musky on Vermillion the largest a bit over 50" mark and thick. Anyway on a local lake her by home I have been getting into Tiger Musky on topwaters. I had a 4 fish day recently on a glass calm day and am now getting hooked on the Tigers. They are a beautiful fish and talk about a topwater hit and a great battle. Wow !!!!

Anyway short answer in my opionion Vermillion is a world class smallmouth fishery. I think the crayfish infestastion on the East side combined with most small mouth being catch and release continues to improve the quantity and size. I love those bronz backs !!!!!

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The 20 plus fish are out there. I found a few fishing dead water away from structure. I'd love to hammer them top water, but I feel its a waste of time when other things are catching them just fine. I would rather catch them with top water, dont get me wrong...but compared to other they just dont hit top water much at vermilion (compared with other methods)....Maybe they are programmed to hit crayfish or baits that have similar action.

I like fishing for monster pike topwater, probably my favorite type of fishing....as for muskies Id probably like them better if I could boat them consistanly as I do big pike. I grew up fishing walleyes too, and I suppose walleye fishing is better than sitting at home.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
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    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
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