Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports by Casey's Guide Service (Everything else too)

[Casey Sunsdahl]

If you want a new fishing report just ask right in here.

If you have questions or would like to post your report feel free...

I'm here to help.

I suppose now that it's June I should start my 2012 fishing report thread on here!!  I am supposed to maintain a thread on here as part of my duties with HSO so let's get after it!

There is a ton of good information on here regarding fishing on the V and cabins, restaurants, resorts, boat rentals and just about anything else you can think of. 

So if there is any obscure question about anything else like electronics, rigging, willow cats, bullhead fishing or what the current boat house count is in stunz bay... Let's have some fun and post it in here! I probably don't have many good answers but I will attempt to make something up!

Tight Lines!

Captain Casey

[GSP4ME]

Great to see you on here doing this. well I will be heading that way come tomorrow morning and staying on the west end at LOR. I really want to get into the Smallies and would not fight catching some eyes. What kind of depth would you recommend starting at for the smaliies. Start up shallow and work deeper. For the eyes should I be fishing rocks, sand mud

[Casey Sunsdahl]

I think you misread the note! The fish are where you find them. If I tell you where they are today youll waste the day tomorrow when they move! Smallies are on the first break off shore.. Caught one in 10 ft the other day but everything else was 3 4 ft. West end walleyes.. Weeds and rock I would concentrate on in that order.

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Unless they aren't there then you may have to check mud sand or gravel

[10,000 Casts]

We had good luck yesterday right up close to shore, anytime we would see a tree down, we would throw a leech or crawler over there and sometime we would get a nice smallie, we were around hinsdale island and grassy point area. We never could find a huge concentration of them. It is hot this weekend and the water temps up shallow were 77 so I don't think they will be up shallow for long!

Casey, thanks for the great advice on the shore lunch spot! My buddies 2 yr old caught his first fish, a 2lb smallie right off the dock and they got it on video, very cool.

Now some questions, where do the Muskies spawn? And have you ever had any success trolling open water?

Thanks!

[fishingdad]

Here is my obscure question- Having fished the west end almost exclusively for the last 10 years and starting to explore the east end last year & the plan is to do it again this summer where is a spot to beach the boat after fishing and have the kids swim or if nature calls for my wife or what have you. I know of 1 spot maintained by the sportsmans club on the east end but is there more? Just curious. Thanks Casey. ( By the way the spots the sportsmans club maintains on the west end & I'm sure the east end as well. GREAT JOB )

[Casey Sunsdahl]

I have musky fished an estimated 60 days only in the last 5 or 6 years.. I think I got to my second hand counting muskies that I have caught. 7 I think? Anyways.. Yes they can be caught trolling open water and so can big pike at times! And They spawn in generally shallow soft bottom areas especially near feeder creeks.. You can see

Them cruising the shoreline steady if you fish shallow early in the year. I watched the DNR pick up some of there trap nets last year.. Was pretty neat. They caught alot of fish!!

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Fishdad.. Check out the sportsman club website for a map of the shorelunch spots. There is one behind pine island and one in sweedtown bay. The north shore of the lake has many well known beaches behind pine island... Bare $@! Beach! There is also the new state park that has a dock and picnic site and much more to come..

[SkunkedAgain]

If someone in my boat needs a bathroom visit, I consider it a fair trade to belly up at one of the bar/restaurants. My passenger (or me) gets a clean bathroom and they get our business. Good trade.

I can't help you on the beaches

[10,000 Casts]

We had the kids with us last weekend and we stopped and swam on the sand at the Trout Lake portage. It looked like they were closed in the middle of the day and we had a great time.

[chucker1101]

There is also the new state park that has a dock and picnic site and much more to come..

Be careful in the new park area - especially in Cable Bay, there are unmarked rocks. Specifically, there's one halfway between the Northern point of Cable Bay, and the island southwest of the point. The people at Vermilion Houseboats have told me they get a couple of boats hung on that rock every year.

[53orbigger]

I'm fairly sure that rock used to be marked (more than 5 years ago). I wonder why they decided not to mark it any longer? Not to diverge too much, but does anyone know why the markers at the mouth of Pike bay that used to mark rock piles have been changed to channel markers? If you are not familiar with the lake you could get really confused in that area looking for the corresponding channel markers.

[shamrock7]

They ran short on hazard markers this year so they used some extra channel markers for the short term.

[SkunkedAgain]

Out of curiosity, are the hazard markers paid for? Is it the LVSC, the DNR, or some other way?

[shamrock7]

St Louis County Sheriff's Department is responsible for the placement and removal and maintenance of the markers. Independent contractors do the actual placement and removal.

[trolloni]

Is the lake back up to normal level yet?How is the road work going between hoo doo ,mckinley and soudan going?And did you catch that kicker fish during the tournament, along rasberry island?

[Casey Sunsdahl]

The lake is about normal exactly from what I can tell? Very close anyway.. We have come a long ways! The horn is all repaved all the way around it's great!.... The big fish was caught on the East End in very deep water but not by raspberry... Although my partner caught a 27.5 down in that area a couple days prior to the tourney. He also got a 26.5 off the spot we won the tourney two days after.. Rediculous. Lots of pigs in the lake now adays... eyes looked like silver dollars down there I heard one guy say. I think there is a picture of a young man on my Facebook that caught a 27.5 last year and about 15 other walleyes on his first day walleye fishing ever.. Good times!

Captain

[Bigguyone]

Posted this (as has another person) on other threads but no feedback so posting here as it seems this thread is getting the most action...

have the smallies spawned? The females empty of eggs this week? Some still holding eggs?

Full moon was June 4th and headed up Saturday for a week so wondering if they already did their "thing."

Any insight as to where to focus the efforts Saturday would be greatly appreciated. Staying on west end at VDL. Thank you in advance.

[Casey Sunsdahl]

I think they are done but most the smallies will still be in 10 ft or less

[trolloni]

Thanks Casey had to ras ya a little about the rasberry !The slot limit has worked ,the dnr should be commended on this one!just my 2 cents though i think they should up the upper end of the slot to 30 inches, lets get em up in that 10lb plus range ! They are close now!I just cant fathom somebody knifen a 28 inch plus walleye ,but i know it happens ,way more valueable swimming in the lake ,instead of being in a freezer!

[TheWalleyeSlayer]

Hello Casey, just a couple questions on vermilion. My family is coming to the lake the week of July 4th, we are renting a private cabin out on birch point. Not looking for any spots or details, I know how that goes, but just in general how is that area of the lake that time of year, would it be better to travel a little from there? This will be our first time to the lake, we usually do lake of the woods but thought we would try vermilion this year. Just wondering if fishing deep by reefs is productive or other tactics are better. TWS.

[Casey Sunsdahl]

July 4 has been a date in my calander as the start to the solid reef bite every year.. Birch point has tons and tons of great water within 5 miles. You night not go to Lake of the Woods again!

Capt.

[TheWalleyeSlayer]

Thanks Casey!

[Casey Sunsdahl]

So this week I have got fish from 3 ft to 41.. lots of rain and wind and plenty of walters!! Lindy with leech was good early in the week but crawlers are now the clear winner. Leaders are 4.75 feet with glow green hook and a red then yellow then red bead. The beads need to be soft or the fish wont bite the rig. We did get a couple on a purple circle hook and a white soft bead and then a solid green bead, but those were on 5 and a half foot leaders. Lots of bait in the system... repeat of last year?

Capt.

[MarkB]

And you expect us to use your worms Everyone who knows anything about rigging knows you never ever follow a soft bead with a solid And also, stick with the garlic circle hook and save the purple for coho....

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[TheWalleyeSlayer]

How about bait shops in the area? Anything by the birch point area, maybe local resorts or would it be best to go to Tower for bait?

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Shamrock has the best bait now adays and friendliest staff! Vermilion FandF has taken a sad downward spiral since Dave left!! I was in there once and there was nothing and I mean NOTHING to buy. If you are looking to buy crawlers in bulk, give me a call. I have large quantities on hand.

Case

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I got a flat of crawlers from Casey the other day and they are truely sumo crawlers! Great condition and a very generous count!

Cliff

[MarkB]

Couldn't agree more Cliff..Casey dropped a flat by last night and I have never seen bigger crawlers! I think you could use 1/3 of one of these and get by nicely

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Couldn't agree more Cliff..Casey dropped a flat by last night and I have never seen bigger crawlers! I think you could use 1/3 of one of these and get by nicely

Good Fishing,

MarkB

I have done exactly that with a few of the crawlers!

Cliff