A Great Day After Being Gone a Month....

[MarkB]

Well, I finally got back out after being absent since August 24. Family medical issues have pretty much consumed my time for the past month and there really isn't much relief in sight. I'm beginning to understand how over the road truck drivers must feel and I don't envy them. So, today was a really nice outing in spite of more pressing things.

I got out this morning around 10 o'clock. My wife opted to stay home and finish up some things so I fished alone. The first spot I went to produced fish. I started with minnows and missed the first 3 hits I had due short hits, impatience, or, maybe, a little of both. I switched to crawlers and started boating fish. It was actually quite interesting to watch fishing boats leave their docks and roar off across the lake while I was catching beautiful walleyes within casting distance of some of their docks. I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing was happening in front of my dock I was fishing 19' of water and slipping closer into 15' at times. Rocks were in the area and the occasional snag slowed me up a bit. I boated 7 walleyes in an hour and 45 minutes and missed a half dozen more that should have been caught. I kept 4 for our dinner and went back to the house. The walleyes were full of perch minnows of various sizes. My wife was thoroughly impressed so, after dinner, we went back out.

The best way to describe the fishing was steady. We tried a different spot and found them in exactly the same depth. This time though, no rocks. We got back out around 1:30 and we were back home at 4:30. We used crawlers exclusively and used a plain hook, green bead, and a 3/4 ounce lindy sinker with a 3' leader. The hits were anything but tentative and several fish wacked it hard enough to get our bait before reflexes set the hook. We ended up boating 15 total. No slot fish, 2 dinks, and the rest between 14" and 15". Beautiful eaters.

I don't want to sound like a one hit wonder but if you fish the weekend, here's some advice: don't be afraid to fish shallower than you think you should for this time of year. There was no deep water in the vicinity of where we fished today. Gradual shoreline contours on mud/gravel bottoms worked for us. We did not see many fish on the sonar. They are really scattered over a fairly wide area so, if you get a hit or catch a fish, work the spot over and keep moving shallower as you search. The west end of Big Bay, Daisy Bay, the north side of Pine Island, and the west end of Frazier Bay all have what I would consider fishy water for this time of year.

Today, the warmest water I fished was 62 degrees. Almost no wind and completely overcast skies made for a great day on the water. I may have set a personal best for the most eagles observed on a single outing. As most of you know, the adult loons are long gone and the young of the year are hanging out getting fat. Lake activity was surprisingly bustling with most of the traffic looking like walleye fishermen. I had boats going by me all day and never saw a single boat fishing remotely close to the spots my wife and I fished.

What a glorious time of the year to be on the lake. I just wish I could alter the circumstances a bit.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

 

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Mark,

Glad that you are back on the forum and back on the water! Best therapy that there is!

Good luck in the medical problems that your family has been having.

Cliff

[MarkB]

Thank you very much Cliff.

MarkB

[SledNeck]

Noticed the same thing, perch minnows. 4 man limit today. Fish 9 feet to 20+

[chaffmj]

Missed your reports, glad to see you are back and I wish the best for your family on the medical issues.

Edited September 27, 2015 by chaffmj

[redlabguy]

We've all missed your reports. Not to discourage others from posting (I encourage them!) but no one writes like you- it's like Sports Afield. It's great to have you back on the lake. I was afraid something was wrong when I didn't see you on the forum or on the water. My thoughts are with you. 

Dick

[fishingdad]

Mark:  My thoughts are with you as well on your family issues. Great report as always & as Dick said your reports are always a great read

[Fish Head]

Glad to see you post again and back on the water. It's my favorite time of the year! 

[MN BassFisher]

Welcome back Mark! Thanks for the tips, those sound like a couple of great outings

[djlong]

Mark,

  I hope that everything works out ok and welcome back.  I will be making my last trip to the Big V this weekend for open water this year.  Could you or anyone else offer any tips?  With the cooler weather, I imagine that minnows will be the ticket but I will also bring some crawlers.   Will reefs still be good or would you be looking more main lake structure.   Also, when you mention main lake structure, are islands also included?  I am sorry for all the questions but obviously, I need all the help I can get.  

[Cliff Wagenbach]

dj,

About 1/2 of the walleyes that we caught yesterday were caught on crawlers!

Chubs and pike suckers caught the rest.

Jigs or lindy rigs both are catching fish.

We caught fish from 18 feet to 47 feet deep. The bigger fish came out of the deeper water on jigs/minnows.

Steep drop offs or deeper holes were the main areas that I fished.

Cliff

[Captain Acorn]

Still using those uncle josh pork crawlers cliff?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Still using those uncle josh pork crawlers cliff?

I did not try the pork crawlers yesterday, probably should have though, as they were hitting 1/2 crawler in that spot better then they were hitting a minnow!

Cliff

[MarkB]

I got back to the lake yesterday and my wife and I got back out this morning. 55 degree water at the dock when we pulled out about 7:30. I decided to try a couple deep water fall spots on the east end. The travel was cool, to say the least, and it was way more comfortable using gloves. Fall colors are evident everywhere now and, with the sound of shotguns in the distance, there is no question winter is not far off. I decided to try a rock reef that rises to 14' with gradual contours on 3 sides and a sheer cliff on the 4th side that drops abruptly from 14' to 40'! An east wind gradually built throughout the morning and as the wind got brisker, the fish moved shallower. Unfortunately, the 30' water on up is very rocky and my wife had a real problem with snags. Before we finally decided to move to friendlier waters, we managed to boat 7 walleyes up to 16.5" and 2 jumbos. One of the jumbos was 13.5"! We had lots of hits and all of the walleyes were keeper sized eaters. It helps to bring the fish up slowly from water over 30' and none of our fish had a blown out bladder. We used our standard bottom bouncer rig and baited with minnows exclusively.

I decided to travel back home to calmer waters, so we tried Banana Island on our way back. It's a favorite spot for us since we're looking at our docks while fishing. I suppose the fact that we've caught 2 fish over 30" there in the past few years has something to do with it also. Anyway, my wife baited with 1/2 crawler and I stuck with minnows. The walleyes were scattered over an area that maintained a steady 20' depth. We caught walleyes and jumbos with the biggest walleye being 14". The average walleye here was an age class smaller than the deeper water to the east. Lots of fun and fantastic for lunch.

The lake bird life was active again today with lots of young loons, eagles, and ducks observed flying and bobbing around the lake. One of these years, I'm going to get the perfect picture of the Canfield Bay lighthouse in full fall color. As of now, I'm still working on it.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Mark,

The fall bite is certainly beginning to shape up now!

Cliff

[mbeyer]

[MarkB]

My wife and I went back out this morning. The weather was absolutely beautiful! Cool in the early morning and balmy as the day wore on. I tried a different spot this morning and found everything in the deep water. 37'-40'+ held all of the big walleyes that we caught. It seemed that the bigger minnows worked best on slot sized and larger fish. We missed the usual amount of hits that is normal for us and, of course, lost a couple at the boat including the big fish of the day. I tried a couple spots, including a reef that is usually good this time of year, but the active fish today were on a deep shoreline. I've had trouble these past couple of days marking fish so if you have a favorite fall spot don't let a lack of marks stop you. There are lots of high end eaters chowing down now so getting a couple for dinner doesn't present much of a problem.

The fish pictured below is my wife's best for the day. She had a really big day today that included 2 big jumbos, a 34" northern, and 10 walleyes including the beauty pictured. She also wanted me to mention that she had ZERO snags!

Good Fishing,

MarkB

 

[TrueNorth]

I got back to the lake yesterday and my wife and I got back out this morning. 55 degree water at the dock when we pulled out about 7:30. I decided to try a couple deep water fall spots on the east end. The travel was cool, to say the least, and it was way more comfortable using gloves. Fall colors are evident everywhere now and, with the sound of shotguns in the distance, there is no question winter is not far off. I decided to try a rock reef that rises to 14' with gradual contours on 3 sides and a sheer cliff on the 4th side that drops abruptly from 14' to 40'! An east wind gradually built throughout the morning and as the wind got brisker, the fish moved shallower. Unfortunately, the 30' water on up is very rocky and my wife had a real problem with snags. Before we finally decided to move to friendlier waters, we managed to boat 7 walleyes up to 16.5" and 2 jumbos. One of the jumbos was 13.5"! We had lots of hits and all of the walleyes were keeper sized eaters. It helps to bring the fish up slowly from water over 30' and none of our fish had a blown out bladder. We used our standard bottom bouncer rig and baited with minnows exclusively.

I decided to travel back home to calmer waters, so we tried Banana Island on our way back. It's a favorite spot for us since we're looking at our docks while fishing. I suppose the fact that we've caught 2 fish over 30" there in the past few years has something to do with it also. Anyway, my wife baited with 1/2 crawler and I stuck with minnows. The walleyes were scattered over an area that maintained a steady 20' depth. We caught walleyes and jumbos with the biggest walleye being 14". The average walleye here was an age class smaller than the deeper water to the east. Lots of fun and fantastic for lunch.

The lake bird life was active again today with lots of young loons, eagles, and ducks observed flying and bobbing around the lake. One of these years, I'm going to get the perfect picture of the Canfield Bay lighthouse in full fall color. As of now, I'm still working on it.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

Mark, 

You're  a genius Vermilion fisherman.  I don't think there are many that would disagree and we surely appreciate any and all input.  Love it....

[MarkB]

These past 4 days have been mostly more of the same.........spectacular fishing!!!!!!!! In between readying for cold weather, a trip to Duluth, and window washing, we have fished every day if for only a few hours. I've been kind of volleying between deep water(>35') adjacent to rock piles and shallower water humps(15'-19') adjacent to constant moderate depth water(25'-30'). We have been finding fish at all places we have fished and they have been cooperative at all hours of the day. Certain days, BIG minnows work best on BIG fish. Other days, there doesn't seem to be any preference. All of our fish have been caught on minnows and my suggestion is buy the cheapest minnows you can find that still offers good size. Most often, the cheapest BIG minnow is pike suckers and they work great! if you can find them. Rainbows are good if they are BIG and they are actually rainbows They cost more, and lately, there have been far too many crappie sized rainbows and various other kinds mixed in and called rainbows. We have been catching lots of 14"-15" walleyes and higher end slot fish. Actually we've had some pretty spectacular days for numbers. I fished for two hours alone 2 days ago and boated 14!! Yesterday, I again fished alone and left the house at 2:30 and was home by 4:00. I boated 5 nice keepers(I didn't keep any keepers) to 16.5", a fat 23" slot fish and a 12" jumbo. I missed a dozen more!!!! Yesterday the fish were biting as lightly as I've seen all year. When they picked up the minnow they just kind of held onto it. Lifting the rod tip ever so gently let you know they were there. I actually had to tease them into taking it for a hook set. Frustrating but a ball! Today, my wife and I went out in the mist and chill. We never got out of sight of our dock and had a spectacular morning! We landed 15 walleyes and a jumbo in 2.5 hours. My wife finally froze out and so we went in. We have been catching some really nice jumbos the past few days and we've been getting them out of the same water where we have been catching our walleyes.

If you've had any problem catching walleyes this summer, you'd better get up here ASAP! The fall bite is upon us and it's been absolutely spectacular! Mix in the peak of fall colors, eagles, loons, and, oh yeah, the really nice big black bear that strolls through our front yard every day or so, and it just doesn't get much better!

The walleye pictured is our best of the morning....

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Fish Head]

Great post Mark!  I'll be up there tomorrow. The last 4+ weekends have been great.  I love the fall!

Dan

[redlabguy]

You are sure making me wish we hadn't had to close up Sunday! Great report that makes me miss the lake even more. One more thing might add to a perfect fall: it looks like you'll have a good chance to see northern lights overhead in the next few nights, especially Friday night. Us older guys have a natural alarm clock to get up and check for them. 

I wish you all well on the lake. Keep us dry-landers in mind and keep posting the news,

Dick

[norwaybay]

Thanks to all who post and it is great to see the pictures.  Had to close shop a few weeks ago and went out but the fishing wasn't as good as the scenery or weather.  Keep the pictures coming and stay safe on the lake.   Don

[FishinCT]

Finally getting up there late next week after being gone all summer. Glad to hear the fish are really starting to turn on. Looking forward to eating some fresh walleye again. Just hope the weather cooperates and gives me highs at least in the 50s but that's not looking to be the case!

At least not all was lost this summer, spent it night fishing on Lake Ontario. If you're ever out east I highly recommend it. Average walleye was right around 5 lbs! Fattest walleyes I've ever seen and saw them caught up to a little over 12lbs. 

Fishing from a pier at night with a headlamp just doesn't do it for me like being in a boat on the big V though!