Lake Vermilion Fishing Q&A

[james_walleye]

Interesting, because when I was up memorial I had three seperate conversations with locals who just hated the muskys and said the same thing, they are eating the walleyes. I know better. But these guys insisted that if I ever caught one that I kill it. It made me sick hearing that. This big misconception that the muskys are beating up the walleye population is rediculous. I think it's possible the muskys alter the walleyes positions and patterns and then when people fish memories and can't catch a fish they assume the walleyes arent there. The one fellow says he doesn't catch them off his dock like he used to. Its a short window rather than all night. Well.......short windows at dark are nothing new in walleye fishing.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

X1!!! I agree also!

Cliff

[MarkB]

First off, here are journal entries from the first week of June 2002(10 years ago):

June 1- 10 walleye(wife 7 of them, 3# biggest); 9 northern (wife 6 of them-8# biggest); 3 smallmouth; 3 perch

June 2- 14 walleye (8 me); 3 northern; 2 perch

June 3- 9 walleye(wife 6 2#-3#); 11 northern; 2 perch

June 4- 11 walleye; 9 northern; 3 perch; 1 smallmouth; 1 musky(spotted)

June 5- 10 walleye; 9 northern; 1 smallmouth; 2 perch; 1 musky(striped)

June 6- 5 walleye; 10 northern

June 7- 31 walleye (12-3#&4#); 10 northern; 5 perch

It would be a stretch to claim that, for us, fishing is better today than 10 years ago, but I can guarantee you that if given the choice of any time period in the last 50 years, I would hands down take the fishing we have right now. Our methods have "evolved"(did I use that word?)over the years and, as a consequence, we catch only the occasional northern or musky.

Regarding technology, I can remember when Danielson(sp?), past owner of Clover Point Resort at the far west end of Daisy Bay, used to drag an anchor around to find the reef off the NW corner of Comet and mark it with a clorox bottle for his clients. He wouldn't even have imagined in his wildest dreams where technology is today and it's ability to pinpoint fish, spots, etc. To be able to give GPS coordinates to a "honey hole" and have friends or family come to a lake and catch fish by following their GPS was incomprehensible not that many years ago.

Make no mistake, muskies eat walleyes. So what, so do I. To state that muskies are the "cause" of a walleye population decline is just not so. Lots of people fishing leads to "slots" and lowered limits. When things get out of whack because of a combination of factors, such as comorants, people, invasive species, etc, then I believe we have to pay attention to people who know how to fix these problems. I believe that the people managing the resource are doing their best to make the fishing as good as we want it to be.

Lastly, if a novice angler is having trouble catching walleyes on Lake Vermilion, then it's time to bite the bullet and let one of the great guides that are available "show you how it's done." I would bet that the novice anglers problems would end in pretty short order .

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[trolloni]

yeah its good right now ,but why did we go to a limit of 4 now that its so good, and just 4 years ago we could keep 6 when it was mediocre? The message that the powers that be is very confusing!This thought crossed my mind this spring when there were pictures being posted of the hatchery and some statistics of the amount of fry that they had,what if all the fry they collected went back into the big v instead of being sold to other fisheries in the state?think about that for a minute,ill bet some west enders would love to see em ,sure there gonna have nothing but trophy walleyes in a couple more years[lots of mid 20 inchers now]they like to eat a few though to, I say we should stand together and say hey you can operate youre hatchery on our lake as long as you put every one right back into it ,if not were gonna blow it up!Those fish spawned in that lake way before any of us were around and they will way after were gone, quit messen with em!

[Casey Sunsdahl]

I think it started in 2006! Year after I started taking guide trips.. So this will be our 6th year of a slot.. The slot was put in place because the two years creol survey previous to 06 there were many thousand pounds more walleyes being harvested than what is considerd to be a safe number. If I remember right safe harvest is 60,000 area and 04-05 there were around 90,000 pounds taken each year.. Fishing was as good then as it is now but the size structure was different.

Capt.

[Shulsebus]

Anybody gettting walleye? I havent been getting any. I think it's my methods though. I must be doing something wrong. I'm at forest lane resort. Did decent on the sm and pike though. Been using a chub with a slip bobber in weeds. For some reason they were hitting it. I think I need to go out earlier in the day or later at night for walleye. Is live bait best? LIndy rig? Bottom bouncer? Jig? Thanks guys!

[Cliff Wagenbach]

The walleyes have been biting very well this week.

I have been using a lindy baited with chubs or 1/2 crawler.

Jigs are also working.

You may not be fishing deep enough.

Most of our fish are coming out of 29' to 40' of water.

Have caught fish almost all day the past 4 days.

Cliff

[Shulsebus]

Thanks for the info. I went out tonight and actually got one with a bottom bouncer. We are going to try again tomorrow deeper like you said.

[DGTAYLO]

Arriving on the West End this weekend. Wondering what kind of live bait are the eyes preferring? Usually bring Leeches and Crawlers. Any recent water temps?

Thanks to all for your postings.

[Klinger]

My father in law is coming with me on my next trip to Big V. He loves to go for the elusive pike. Anyone know of some good starting spots (bays, etc) to try on the East end ??

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Klinger,

Try Pike Bay, Everett Bay, Stuntz Bay, Armstrong Bay, Mud Creek Bay, and the North side of Pine Island.

Cliff

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Dont forget Greenwood!

[Shulsebus]

I was up last week fishing Vermilion. Did pretty well on the northern in Everett Bay. Caught them mostly on the weed edge with a slip bobber and minnow. My boat was close to shore to find some shade and just cast out about 40 feet for some reason the northern liked it. Caught some good sized perch there also. Also caught northern on spinners, weedless anything. If you fish this bay at least when the weeds are like this seems like you will hook into a northern. There are also some good bass in there and I'm guessing a lot of other fish as well. Did well on northern, bass and panfish in a certian part of mud creek bay. I would be more specific but I just don't know the area well enough. Mostly caught everything on a slip bobber and minnow. As for walleye the best time for me seemed to be from 8-10 pm. I used basically a lindy rig and minnow. Trolled it at about .8 to 1 mph. Caught them around strawberry island. I hope this helps some of you out there. It was my first time up to Vermilion and I will go back for sure. It is a great lake! Took me a few days to learn to fish it but it's a big lake. Good luck to everyone and stay safe on the water!

[Klinger]

Thanks for the "Northern territory" hints Cliff. My Father-in-law loves catching those slimers. They are fun to fight though !

[northriver]

Was wondering what facility or resort would be a good place to look for overnight parking for my truck and trailer on the west side. Was looking to do some night fishing and anchor out overnight and sleep on my boat. I didn't want to leave my truck and trailer at a public boat launch for security reasons. Don't mind paying a fee as well, looking for some input. Thank you.

[GSP4ME]

I would talk to Rock at Life of Riley The up side there is that the publc launch is just around the corner from him

[guideman]

Unless you are Muskie fishing there really isn't much of a night bite on Vermilion for anything else.

JMHO

"Ace"

[james_walleye]

So im fishing today and in a couple areas there is screenfulls of marks suspended. Most of them 10-15 feet down over say 24 feet. I assume no matter what the marks are, that some walleyes have to be mixed in. Anyone ever target suspended fish on V? I love taking the family out with a spread of boards but not sure if its a waste of time? I know ive heard of people trolling parts of the open basin later in summer but I think thats fish relating to bottom?

[delcecchi]

They could be Ciscoes or Whitefish. There are a lot of them, at least on the west end. Later in the summer they will be splashing on the surface from time to time, feeding I guess, and can cover quite an area.

A few years ago there were big marks about 25 feet down over 40 feet north of Schmidt's Island. Fished for them but never got a bite. That was before I had a camera, so still don't know what they were.

[fishinjosh98]

any good fish up in stuntz bay?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Stuntz Bay has a variety of fish in it. It is a shallow, 3' to 8', deep mostly weedy bay.

It has bass,perch, blue gills, a few crappies, pike,musky, and at time some nice walleyes in good numbers.

Cliff

[fjd]

Ace:

Any musky night tips for first week of July (structure wise)? Do you fish all night?

Staying at Spring Bay on west end.

Thanks

[Esox_Magnum]

Ace:

Any musky night tips for first week of July (structure wise)? Do you fish all night?

Staying at Spring Bay on west end.

Thanks

Steve at Spring Bay will point you in the right direction...

[urban cowboy]

Ace:

Any musky night tips for first week of July (structure wise)? Do you fish all night?

Staying at Spring Bay on west end.

Thanks

Fish the same spots you see fish on during the day.

[neptune]

I'm heading up tonight, any new reports of what's work for walleye and if the muskies are out on the rocks yet? I plan on fishing for a bit of everything. Probably start by looking for active smallies in the morning, possibly switch to muskies when the wife and kids go visit the inlaws and then walleyes in the evening. I might have to throw out the smallies in the morning if the wife wants to get up and fish for walleye though.

[Casey Sunsdahl]

I would personally fish walleyes Mid day and muskies late afternoon and evenIng! Casey's crawlers.. All you need

[guideman]

Hey everybody,

Sorry I haven't been on the board much the last couple of weeks. I have been very busy and haven't had a lot of time for the computer. Like was said above you fish the night bite for Muskies in the same places you're seeing them in the daytime. I fortunately don't have any trouble catching them in daylight so I don't normally fish for Muskies at night, unless it's too hot during the daylight hours. Topwater and bucktail presentations are typically the best after dark, however nothing is writen in stone as Muskies don't read the In-fishermen.

The Smallmouth bass are primarily on a soft plastics bite bright now. You can get them on cranks and spinnerbaits at times, however tubes and senco style worms are probably going to be much more effective, especially during the day. The dock bite has been very good the last couple of weeks but there are other options to explore.

Saddle areas between multiple island groups, especially those with grass or boulders on them can be very good. Deeper rock piles in the main basin can be fished with a jig or a drop shot rig. You can typically find much larger fish in those areas. Don't forget the swimbait as they can be stone killers when other more traditional presentations aren't working.

Raised 11 fish on Monday in deep cabbage and on mainlake points, especially those out in the wind. Bucktails, Glittertails and topwater presenations have been by far the most productive for me the last couple weeks. I haven't had much trouble getting action during the early morning and evening hours. Even the midday action hasn't been too bad lately. Isolated reedbeds with deeper water close by have also been active early in the day. One of my clients boateed a 52 incher on Thursday in a small reed bed in less than 4ft of water.

Just go out and cast until your arms fall off, that always works for me.

"Ace"

[Netman]

You have no idea how much I envy you after reading that post

[neptune]

I've heard you guys talk about using red or green beads and red hooks but you never mention a spinner. Is there a time and place for using a spinner? Also, what length snell seems to be working right now? And my wife and i were discussing whether or not we need to using a crawler harness for crawlers or leeches...any thoughts? Can you use a single hook or do you miss too many.

And lastly, I was fishing walleye on the 23rd during the Denny's Super 30 bass tourney and saw a bunch of boats go flying into our bay. I assumed they were going to fish our docks but to my enjoyment when I headed home they had all cleared out and I figured I would toss a tube under our big dock and caught this 4lb. 3 oz. largemouth. That would have helped some team’s bag.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Neptune,

There is a time and place for spinner rigs. Now is NOT that time! Simple is usually the best approach right now. I have not been using beads on my rigs the past week with better results. I never use harness rigs only single hook rigs.

Next month spinners may be the best presentation in many spots.

Cliff