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RIVERBEND 12/28 AND 12/29


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As always a trip to LOW is a great time, if the fish cooperate so much better. Three of us managed to limit out even though the bite was slower than past trips. It did take both days of fishing and chasing any fish that showed up on the electronics. Saugers outnumbered the walleyes. Plain red hook and shiner caught a lot of the keeper sauger, with Buckshot and minnow head accounting for a lot of small fish. The dead sticks outfished the jigs for sure. We were set up with Riverbend in 35' about 7 miles past Pine Island. There were a couple of the houses that did better on the eyes, we just didn't get into any number of eyes on this trip. As always though good time, good food and good service. Headed up again in two weeks, so perhaps a different story then. But for these two days it was fishing hard and watching the electronics.

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Hey Bill, was there any talk of going to the reefs yet? We have a group going up 1/21-1/22 through Riverbend and we would love to fish the reefs again.

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No there wasn't any talk of the reefs yet. I would not be surprised however that if the bite stays deep like this, that they may head up that way earlier than normal. I am headed back on the 17th of January and again on Feb 21st. Last year they did go to the reefs late January, so I would think it would be a possibilty. I did note quite a few sleds with porties headed farther out than we were Tues and Wed, but did not hear if they went all the way to Knight and Bridges. Sorry don't have any other info for you. Bill

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No there wasn't any talk of the reefs yet. I would not be surprised however that if the bite stays deep like this, that they may head up that way earlier than normal. I am headed back on the 17th of January and again on Feb 21st. Last year they did go to the reefs late January, so I would think it would be a possibilty. I did note quite a few sleds with porties headed farther out than we were Tues and Wed, but did not hear if they went all the way to Knight and Bridges. Sorry don't have any other info for you. Bill

Bill if you remember the bite on the reefs was nothing last year and the best fishing was in the mud 30ft to 31ft. Shallow bite wasn't much this year either so IMO stay in the mud and look for suspended fish. I fished the reefs last year by sled and ended up back in the mud. I was up Wed. just fished one day caught lot's of fish at 30ft. Eye's I caught were mostly suspended already l had a great day of fishing. Wanted to get out before the strom moved in had our limits so took off early Thurs. Still bad roads heading back.

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dryfly: I agree with you regarding the reefs last year. Went up one day in February, nothing exceptional, fished the mud in 36' the next day and had a great bite. In years past the reefs have done well but for some reason last year it was spotty at best. We did not mark a lot of suspended fish where we were at on Tues and Wed. I was surprised that some of the suspended fish, 8-10' below the ice were 8 and 10" sauger. Also had a couple of tullibee up there as well. I agree that ride home on Thursday was an adventure. The only thing I didn't drive into was green grass to mow otherwise pretty much covered all bases.

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Surprise to me the suspended fish you caught were Saugers. I've teased them off the bottom up that high and caught them but never one I marked that high and came up to catch. Tullibee I've caught that were marked suspended also. I was in 30 ft and had great success with the Walleyes Wed. Brought the wife along she fished the bottom with no elec. to use and had fun with the Saugers. I was happy to catch enough Eyes for us both and threw some back. One 24 1/2" fun day all in all.

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Sounds like you had a good day out there. Yes I too was surprised at the saugs. Caught the first one at 800am on Tuesday. Saw the flash up high 8' down ran upstairs with a Macho Minnnow and an 8" saug. Are you headed back anytime soon?

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Heading back up the 5 & 6 with my son for 3 days. It will be my 5th trip this year. I switch around a lot between portables and day houses. Like using Riverbend myself they do a real good job of taking care of people. Really like the breakfast there. I like using the portables because I like fishing the border area a lot and being able to move around and with my replaced knee getting them out of the holes is much easier. Taking along a real comfortable chair helps as well. It just seems to get tougher and tougher as we get older but still enjoying every minute of it. Nice to get out with my Son on most trips he really enjoys fishing as well. He takes me out on the St. Croix in the fall for some great Walleye & huge Saugers some around 20" 21" great fishing in Stillwater.

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I can certainly attest to the "getting older, getting harder". Yes it is a great time. My wife will go back with me on the 17th, she absolutly loves fishing and is pretty darn good at it. Good luck on your next outing, and I'll have the biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon..... crazy

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • monstermoose78
      Had something crazy happen this morning a fork horn buck came running up to Finn and I while sitting on the pond at just after legal shooting time. Finn bark and the buck snorted and came closer. Next I saw was a big white flash of Finn going after this buck. They made it to the field and then the buck started chasing Finn. The buck stopped at 40 yards from me and Finn was behind me. I thought I was going to have shoot this buck if it tried to get me. I also could have got my fall turkey as, but you can’t have a dog with or shot bigger than 4 shot. I had 2 shot only with me. What a crazy day. Only had a few ducks close enough but I was busy trying make sure this deer didn’t hurt my dog. 
    • Kettle
      Best time of the year. Water temp mid 50s, aggressive fish. Threw back some big ones too
    • redlabguy
      Mark, Great that you made it back up and great report on another great trip. Sitting here in Urbandale, I am jealous. I’m working on training my new lab, not at all sure he will be ready for pheasants! Thanks for sharing your trip, RLG
    • monstermoose78
      Shot the muzzleloader and I am good. Then saw big groups of woodducks  everywhere. I saw 300 easy as the sunset. 
    • leech~~
      Those darn tournament guys, their always trying new ways to get weight in their fish!  🤣🤣
    • SkunkedAgain
      Hogs! Hogs!!!
    • MarkB
      My 2 cousins and myself just finished up a windy 4 day trip to our favorite lake. It was the last of the year and was eventful to say the least. When we arrived, water temperatures were 61 degrees and when we left yesterday morning the water temps had dropped to 54 degrees. The fishing was fantastic, once again, and we caught walleyes, bass, and northerns on minnows and crawlers(northerns only on minnows). We found the fish adjacent to shallow rock piles(14') in 20'-28' of water. Our best fishing hours of the day were ~5:30 -twilight in the evenings and until ~ 10:30 in the mornings. Although those two time periods were prime time, fish bit all day. For us, the bite was very light and we probably missed or lost as many fish as we caught. Some people think I'm nuts when I say bead color can make a difference and it certainly did this trip. My cousin's "go to" green/white bead combo did zilch on this trip. It was one translucent red bead and a plain size #2 gamakatsu hook with a 3' leader that produced the fish. We ended up with 137 walleyes and 19 bass for the 4 day outing. We caught far more 17"-19.999" walleyes on this trip than on our previous trips and our numerous slot fish measured from 21"-25". My younger cousin caught 4 slot fish in ~20 minutes one evening. We fish exclusively for walleyes and additional species are incidental. With that said, we caught some beautiful smallmouth bass on this trip and they were right down there with the walleyes, usually in the rocks. As usual, everything is catch and release except for the fish we eat while there and the 12 walleyes(3 individual limits) we take home to the wives. While cleaning some eaters we kept for supper, we always check the stomach contents. One of the walleyes had the jig that is pictured below loose in its stomach!  No attached line, no embedded hook, just the jig! It baffled us as to how in the world it could have gotten there . As you can see, the jig is in good shape so the fish must have swallowed it recently .   The boat traffic was minimal this trip and we had a couple days where it looked as if we had the lake to ourselves. Sunday was a brutal day with wind gusts to 50MPH!. We stayed in and ventured out finally at ~5:00. It turned out to be the best 2 hours of the entire trip. This time, the baby loons were around, the eagles were abundant, the changing leaves made the entire lake area look like a painting. If I could make only one short trip a year to the lake, now would be the time. What capped off the trip was the magnificent display of the Northern Lights. We can't wait for next spring to return, God willing, and, in the meantime, good fishing.  MarkB🙂 The jig found in the stomach of a walleye we ate.   My young cousin with his best of the trip.   a chunky 17" smallmouth   19.5" smallmouth
    • leech~~
      Well, since they both say Propane on them.  Not propane QT++ their probably both the same gender!  🤭
    • Wanderer
    • Brianf.
      What an amazing extended weekend. The fish were happy and cooperated nicely.   We also had the unique experience of fishing under Northern Lights each of the last three nights in pristine weather conditions.  I wish everyone could have that experience, even if just once.  The pics below don't do it justice, though you get the idea.  The walleyes are putting on the feedbag and some are getting rather plump.  We caught mostly slot fish with several 'overs' in our bag.  Our two biggest weighed 8lbs 5oz and 8lb 3oz.     The crappies were active at dusk and beyond.  Almost all of the ones we caught were 14" or bigger.  The biggest we caught was a bit over 15".  We lost two muskies at the boat and caught a 38" pike after dark - quite surprising.   Every fish we caught was immediately released btw.  Water temp 54/55 when we left.  All-in-all, another great fishing experience on Lake Vermilion - for which I'm so incredibly appreciative.        
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