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Welcome to the Vermilion forum Curtisa1.   The walleye population in the west basin use to be much lower than the east end, and heavily tilted toward very large fish.  That has changed over the recent years and I think the west population is nearly equal to the east end now.  I suspect that most people fish on the east end because of tradition, and the easy lake access from McKinley Park.  Maybe some people are not aware that the west end population has improved significantly.   Late in the winter fishing season I like to fish deeper (25-30 fow).  The bite has been fairly consistent (but also fairly slow) throughout the daylight hours.  Interestingly I have caught very few fish in the first 1-2 hours of daylight.  Several days the bite has been very good between 330-430.  Vermilion is not known for a good night bite, but this year people have been picking up a few walleyes throughout the night.  Other anglers may have different experiences but this is what I know.  Good luck.

Cool story!   FWIW, the only hooks that fish can dissolve are bronze hooks - the “old fashioned” kind.  The newer hooks like most of us are using don’t dissolve.

Have a place on the west end of the lake and wanted try fishing this weekend. Never been out and never see anyone out on the west end.... Anyone know why no body is out fishing the west end? Also any tips on depths and time of day to fish? Is it any good at night? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Interesting about the leader coming out of the stomach area.  I have a similar story that happened years ago.  But this is about a tropical fish(an ell) when I was in the tropical fish business.  I never forgot it and thought only a swallowed hook might desolve(if the fish was lucky).  But I had an eye opening experience that stuck with me.  Since this is about a tropical species(and a ell) some may  not be interested but here it goes anyways.   So I received about a 10” black leopard ell and it was doing well.   They come from Asia and have no scales.   After I had it about a week or so, I noticed a bump, about the size of a pin head, on it’s side.  I thought maybe it was a tumor or cyst but there was nothing I could do. After several weeks the bump got a little bigger and looked like it was coming to a head.  Then it be started to look a bit shinny/silvery.  I never saw anything like it and it didn’t seem to bother the ell.  After another week, the spot was definitely shinny and was coming out of the skin with no sign of infection, just this odd shinny spot and it still didn’t bother the ell.  I decided to catch the ell and get it in a net and then hold it with a damp towel and see that the heck it was.  I finally got a hold of it with the towel so the silvery spot was visible.  I touched the spot with my finger and it was sharp and hard!  I took my pliers on my Leatherman and grabbed it and pulled carefully.  Out came a very small hook and a 4” length of mono!  The hook didn’t have an eye but was hammered flat and the mono tied to it. The ell healed up as it nothing had happened. So this ell was caught with a hook and line and the ell swallowed the bait and the fishermen cut the line and kept it to be sold.   

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will host a candlelight hike on the Gateway State Trail from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 28.Discuss below - to view set the hook here.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will host a candlelight hike on the Gateway State Trail from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 28.Discuss below - to view set the hook here.

It’s just appalling.  Never seen anyone dump their tanks myself but I’ve done lake clean ups and found all the other junk like waste bags and dirty diapers.   If you’re so special, your poop probably has above market resale value.  Take it with you!     If you’re not so special, nobody else wants it either.  Take it with you! 😡    

surprising there is not a citation to give a violator other than a littering ticket!!  There should be hefty fines for dumping human waste into a public waterway!  

This article is posted today.  Appalling to say the least.   https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-lifestyle/its-disgusting-reports-of-anglers-dumping-sewage-on-upper-red-lake

it is truly amazing what these fish can survive. long time ago and i dont know why i remember this but i do, we got to know and old guy that lived close to the cabin. got to know him good enough we left him the keys and would call him when we where going up in the winter to start our 2 burner fuel oil stove at the time.   anyway he was quite the story teller.......one wondered how much you could actually believe, but he told us he was spearing on the lake the cabin is on. telling us he had seen about an 8lb pike with a leader coming out of the side of this fish.....he didnt spear it.   well after some time about a 100 yards from where he had set up, someone in our group did in fact spear that fish. that leader was literally coming out the side of this fish in the area of where the stomach was!!!!