Lake Vermilion Fishing Report by Cliff's Guide Service

[Cliff Wagenbach]

The wind and cloudy/hazy weather today greatly improved the walleye bite for me and clients.

Got most of our fish shallow, (8-15 feet), using lindys with CC crawlers.

Largest was a 23 incher. Kept 9 and threw back about 20 smaller fish.

Cliff

[Spalj]

The wind and cloudy/hazy weather today greatly improved the walleye bite for me and clients.

Got most of our fish shallow, (8-15 feet), using lindys with CC crawlers.

Largest was a 23 incher. Kept 9 and threw back about 20 smaller fish.

Cliff

And here I thought it was the skill of the clients and guide!

[Steve Foss]

Mayfly hatch mantra: Half a crawler, half a mile per hour.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Greg,

That also helps!

Thanks again!

Cliff

[Cliff Wagenbach]

8/26/13

The May fly hatch seems to finally be winding down this week!

Now the walleyes are targeting young-of-the-year perch. That is ok because they become a little more aggressive because they actually have to chase their dinner down now!

My go to presentation is still a bait rig with a 1/2 crawler as bait.

Some days I have to add a small float next to the hook to keep those nasty Rustys from eating the bait off the hook as fast as I am able to get it back down to the bottom!

Reefs and shoreline breaks all have walleyes on them now.

The Small Mouth bass bite is still going strong on the rocky shorelines and on the shallow rocky reefs. Almost any presentation will trigger them now.

Good Fishing!

Cliff

[delcecchi]

So Frazier Bay is now working? Or further east is necessary?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Del,

I fished Frazer Bay area one day last week and we boated 9 keepers walleyes by Fectos Point in 12' to 16' of water.

Only fished there the one day because of heavy winds.

The rest of my fishing has been in Big Bay.

Cliff

[delcecchi]

Thanks, good enough for me, I'll take a shot sometime when the weather is favorable.

[airnuts]

Only 1 walleye caught in 2 days fishing rock bar top in 20 fow. Any suggestions on depth and/or technique?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

airnuts,

I have been doing very well using Lindy rigs baited with 1/2 crawler in 12' to 26' of water. Depth really depends upon where you are!

First and foremost, look for walleyes on your electronics! They are easy to spot now! I do not even bother to fish a spot if I do not see a fair amount of walleyes in a small area.

Cliff

[airnuts]

Am I to assume you talking on the mud flats?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Am I to assume you talking on the mud flats?

Not at all! The mud flats have been "the dead sea" this summer!

Reefs, shorelines,bay mouths, points, and islands are where it is at for me this summer!

Cliff

[airnuts]

Thanks for the info Cliff. Unfortunately the fish locator we have is quite old and use it strictly as a depth finder! What would you suggest as a replacement?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I have a used X510C Lowrance that still works great that I will sell for $200 if you are interested.

Cliff

[airnuts]

Thanks for the offer Cliff but we only have a couple of days left. I think I will put it on my Xmas list this year!

[airnuts]

Caught 4 keepers and 1 slot tonight on bar 20 fow slip bobbers with leeches. Made my day!

[Cliff Wagenbach]

12/7/13

Time to start my winter fishing,ice conditions,snow depth, etc. reports again so here it goes!

I finally got out on the ice for my first trip on Nov., 30.

Ice conditions were perfect! There was 6-1/2 inches of solid clear ice with about 1 inch of cover snow on it.

We fished close to a sand reef in 27' to 31' of water.

We used both jigging spoons and tip-ups baited with chubs, shiners, and pike suckers.

The early and late day bites were definitely the best times.

The walleyes had a preference for just the head of a chub or a small crappie sized minnow on the jigging rods.

The tip-ups produced about 1/2 of our fish. They either had a plain pink hook or a gold/perch colored Eye Dropper jig on them. Shiners were the best bait but the pike suckers caught the largest walleye, a fat 25 inch fish!

We iced 23 walleyes the first day!

Day Two. 12/1/13

A much slower bite today!

Fished until about noon by myself and managed to keep 4 walleyes and 2 perch for supper. Delicious!

Day Three. 12/2/13

7 inches of ice today.

Had about 8 people with me today.

A very good bite early in the day but it really tapered off by 10:00am and most of the guys left.

We did manage to ice 17 walleyes, 5 perch, 1 pike, and a nice whitefish though.

Day 4. 12/3/13

Still 7 inches of ice and starting to snow.

Fished with a fellow guide, Doug Knoer, this morning.

The walleyes were snapping with the storm front moving in! We had steady action on our jigging rods and tip-ups until about 11:00am when I got a call from my wife saying that our water heater had sprung a bad leak!

That ended that trip quickly!

We iced a total of 15 walleyes, 1 pike and 2 perch and kept our limits of walleyes along with the 23" pike and the 2 Jumbo perch.

The snow storm increased that day and dumped about 10" of snow on top of the ice in the next couple of days.

12/7/13

Managed to get out and check ice conditions today and found some slush close to shore but dry ice out past that. Hope that it stays that way!

10 degrees below zero last night with below zero weather predicted all week.

Hope to get my permanent houses out early next week if we get a couple more inches of ice and no more slush develops.

Cliff

[CigarGuy]

Thanks Cliff for the detailed report. Will ATV's work or do we need the sleds?

[Cliff Wagenbach]

CigarGuy,

I saw ATV tracks going out from McKinley but it looked like they were struggling all the way out! Sleds are probably a better option now.

22 below here this morning!

Cliff

[Cherokee Ref]

Good report. I remember Doug from his days out of LOR. Great guy!

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I checked the ice again this morning.

Same conditions close to shore,(slush under the snow for about 30 yd. to 40 yd. out from shore, then dry under the snow after that).

I found 9 inches of ice where I checked it today. The bad part is that when I drilled the holes the water ran out on top of the ice and under the snow!

When that shoreline slush freezes up I will be putting my houses out!

22 degrees below yesterday and 30 degrees below today! Hard to believe that that much cold does not make it through 8" to 10" of snow to freeze that slush!

Cliff

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Lake Vermilion, 12/20/13

The walleye bite has picked up a little again after all of those cold fronts moved through.

Travel conditions are still very tough because there are a lot of slush pockets scattered every where. Ice depths are ranging from 9" to reports of 16". The best Ice that I have found is around 12 inches.

Snow depths are around 10 inches average on the ice.

The snowmobile travel routes have been staked also.

There are a couple of roads plowed out of McKinley Park that trucks have been using.

Most of our fish have been caught in 26' to 28' of water. The best bite has been mid-morning and late evenings.

Shiners, chubs, pike suckers and rainbows are all getting hit by the walleyes and perch.

Set lines are accounting for most of the fish.

Good Fishing!

Cliff

[Frank Boling 41]

Cliff,

Folks are really driving out on the ice in their trucks??...I had not heard much info as of late...As you know I was planning a trip up there soon,but not sure now with all the bad conditions on the lake... And I'M mighty tired from doing many hours of hand-holding'So to Speak' with one of the energy comps in Superior.

Frank

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Frank,

Quite a few venturing out from McKinley Park. Roads are fine but you can run into some nasty slush if you leave the roads , and who knows how much ice is really under that mess!

Sounds like it is time for you to take a break and come up here fishing!!

Cliff

[Frank Boling 41]

Cliff,

Its almost 1am and I'M still @ work...Working on a plan to head up to tower later today or Monday maybe!

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Call me if you get time to do some fishing!

Cliff

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Lake Vermilion, 12/31/13

Last report for this year!

The walleye bite has picked up the past few days after it got frigid cold out again. Go figure! Very poor bite during the warm spell that we had.

Jigging spoons with a minnow head and set lines baited with a shiner or a pike sucker are both working well.

The bite is an early morning and late evening bite only for me.

26 feet to 30 feet depths are best.

Travel conditions are slowly improving on the lake also. Still a few bad slush holes out there though. There is finally a decent road plowed out as far as Birch Island.

Still very little snowmobile travel happening on the lake,which is surprising as the groomed woods trails are in great condition.

Good Fishing!

Cliff

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Lake Vermilion, 5/31/14

The walleye bite the past week has been very sporadic for most of us. Some days have been very good and some days have been very bad!

The bite has been mostly on minnows. Lindy Rigs and Jigs have been the best presentations for me.

The deep water bite, (26' to 45'), has produced the largest number of fish but the majority of these fish have been to small to keep. The shallow water bite,(6' to 24'), has produced more of the eating sized walleyes. I had caught very few slot fish last week!

Yesterday I switched to slip bobbers and leeches fished in shallow, rocky areas and did much better on nicer keeper sized walleyes and even landed a few slot fish and a giant 20-1/2 inch small mouth! This change in location/ /depth/ and bait preference of the fish makes sense because most of the surface water on the lake has now risen into the mid to upper 60's. The crawler bite is probably not to far off now either! It pays to carry all of these baits with you during this transition period!

Good Fishing!

Cliff

[Capt. H (Ret.)]

Thanks for the report, Cliff.

Mike