fishing reports Summer 2016 Vermilion fishing reports, Etc.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Despite all of the Mayflies and young-of-the-year perch clouds in the water column the walleye bite is still very good!

I have gone to a 1/2 crawler,and orange soft glow bead, and a #4 hook on a 4' bait rig exclusively now.

Most of our walleyes are now on the sand bars and sand reefs. 16' to 30' depths.

Getting a good mix of nice eater sized fish and an occasional slot fish.

We boated 20 fish yesterday morning with 4 of them being slot fish.

Here is our best one. A fat 25 incher!

Cliff

 

[Frank Boling 41]

Cliff,

Very nice looking fish and lady!...I plan on fishing that lake this summer or fall...I will drop you an e mail when I figure out the dates...Happy 4th!

Frank

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Thanks Frank!

It will be good to see you again!

Cliff

[james_walleye]

I have found the walleye fishing to be pretty good since I first went out Sunday morning. My report pretty much mimics Cliff's last report. Half a crawler on a 4-5 foot Snell. Depths from 19-24' have been most consistent but this morning it was more 26-29'. Sand has been best. Nice mix of size. No troubles finding 13-16" fish. For us evening has produced more of those 15-16" fish. I had the biggest Vermilion walleye that I've had in my boat  on Sunday morning taping out at 29.5". Just a tank of a fish. I'll be up until Sunday so maybe I'll see some of you on the water. 

Edited July 5, 2016 by james_walleye

[SkunkedAgain]

It sounds like it's a crawler bite. Are the walleye biting on anything else right now? My inner-fisherman woke me up around 4am this morning and told me to go pick crawlers in the light rain. I usually find a lot but only picked up about a dozen, although my vision might have been a little blurry. I kept picking up skinny sticks laying in the grass - but I never lost one!

[Tominator692]

I have been catching all my crawlers for fishing in my yard and neighbors yard on Lake Vermilion. 10PM is perfect after a rainy day. Mosquito spray is a must. Usually catch about 5-6 dozen in less than an hour. 

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Skunked,

All of my walleyes are being caught on crawlers.

Leeches usually work best on bobbers at this period.

[PSU]

Hello Friends,

Coming up Thursday-Sunday and wondered how everyone is doing for walleyes. We live and fish in Smart Bay / Frazer Bay area. Are crawlers still the ticket and curious on the depth? Was up last weekend and dealt mostly with our power being out on our island and didn't fish much.

Thanks

 

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Crawlers are still working best on the East end. 16' to 26' average depths.

Cliff

[FishinCT]

Coming up Monday to Wednesday finally. They still out on the sand? Hopefully wind isn't too bad so I can get out on big bay!

[Cliff Wagenbach]

They are still out in the sand!

Cliff

[delcecchi]

Any info about niles bay?  It is closest place to me that supposedly has waleye.  Smallie filets are ok but walleye would be better.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Del,

I do not fish that end of the lake but look for reefs that top out at around 15' to 25' and then look for fish on your graph on them. Most of my fish have been located right on the outer edge and slightly down the sides of the reefs.

I do not even fish unless I find at least a small pod of fish!  By small pod I mean 5 to 10 marks close together.

The bite have been very tentative so you will need to go very slow and keep the crawler right on bottom and in their faces!

The best bite for me has been from 7:00am to 11:00am. I usually do not fish the evenings but that is probably also an option.

Cliff

[bassbouncer]

This has been one of the better years of the past 5 for eater walleyes in Wakemup. There aren't fish on every reef but have caught enough for a few meals this summer. Same as Cliff says top outer edges

[delcecchi]

Thanks, guys.  I'll give it a try.   All I was getting before was bass but I was on shalloweŕ  humps.

[BartmanMN]

What an amazing week of weather my family enjoyed up there last week. We could not have asked for anything better. I managed a few nice fish.  Maybe someone knows how to rotate images for me. 

[Wheres_Walter]

Some nice fish, Bartman.  What was the bait/presentation of choice?  Any particular structure/depth?

I have a group of family up at our place on Frazer bay this weekend, and had about 20 fillets to do a fish fry.  I say "Had" because when the power went out a couple weeks ago we lost the food in the freezer, so we have to start from scratch on Friday morning to try to feed 8 adults and 4 kids (the rest of the little kids don't like walleye.....yet)

So any tips are appreciated.

[BartmanMN]

Humps.  Two caught on slip bobbers at Dusk (7pm to sun down) with a crawler and the other caught with spinner rig with a crawler.

The first pictured fish (20 inch) was caught on a piece of structure that I found that came up to 16ft from 22ft and had lots of boulders and structure.  That one was caught on the spinner rig.  The self timer picture was a Fat 25 incher that came on a hump in 8ft of water with a slip bobber and crawler.  The small one was caught in the same spot as the big one.

The smallie was caught with a slip bobber and leech in a completely different spot in 16ft of water with deep water nearby.

 

I wish I had a better picture of the big one, but my son got sick that night so I had to run him in before I caught her.  That was my first attempt with a self timer and I didn't want to keep her out of the water longer than necessary.

[MNBIGBEAR]

Has anyone been having any success with the trolling bite?

[VermilionGold]

Yes, made a few pulls last weekend and found the bite fair to good.  Should be getting better with each passing day.

[FishinCT]

Was up with the lady last 3 days and found the fishing to be phenomenal! We fished from 1-6:30 or so Tuesday and Wednesday and they were hitting hard the whole time. 

Highlight of the trip was our slot fish double. She hooked into a nice fish so I set my rod down to grab the net and when I looked back at the rod it was doubled over! Set the hook into a nice fish. Netted and unhooked her 20" with one hand while fighting mine. She released hers and then netted my 25".

What an awesome few days. Could not ask for better weather!

As for a report...do EXACTLY as Cliff said in his last post. You will catch fish!

[james_walleye]

Got up today for the start of another week on Vermilion.  When it gets to august i always start with pulling lead.  I got out this afternoon for a while.  The first area i tried we only got a 20". I checked a few other areas and was pretty frustrated at the lack of activity on the graph.  Finally we found a flat that had some activity.  We got 6 nice 14-16" fish in an hour.  20-21 feet. Pretty promising start to the week.  

[james_walleye]

Well this morning did not disappoint. I took a couple kids with and they had a blast. We caught around 25 and kept 12. The area we fished last night was pretty vacant this morning.  We fished another big flat in 21-23' and the fish were loaded.  Now the boys want to spend time trying to connect with the muskys. 

[JerkinLips]

Good weekend of fishing for me considering that I don't do very well in the summer.  Caught 17 walleyes, all were 12-15" except for the 24" and 9" eyes pictured (my last 2 eyes).  Had a difficult time keeping the crayfish and small perch off of my line.  Caught 30-40 of each.  Also caught about 15 bass (one 16"), and a couple of them were puking up crayfish.  One of the walleyes I caught puked up a 3" perch.  Most of my fish were caught on half a crawler on a plain hook.  I caught 2 eyes on leeches.  16 FOW.  72-74°F surface water temp.

[james_walleye]

Well the musky fishing has been tough.  But i did connect with this 53" last night.  Just an amazing fish. 

[Fish Head]

Congrats James!  Awesome fish!!

[delcecchi]

Nice fish.  Seems a little skinny though....

[RoosterMan]

Was able to sneak out Saturday evening for a pull and found the fish to be very cooperative.  Nice average size on them.  Found the fish anywhere from 12' to 16'.  On a rock to sand transition.  Should only get better from here on out.  I won't be back to the lake for a few weeks so keep an eye on the fish for me.

[james_walleye]

Still finding the trolling bite strong on the east end.  I have 3 areas I've been trolling.  They are all in that 20-23' range.  Every day has a different area that's going.  Different colors have had their day to.  Name the color and is had a stretch that's been good this week.  Pretty decent size.  Half of the fish are in that 14-16" range.  Not much for slot fish.  Had a 20" and lost one near the boat about 24". I'm really surprised to not see more people out trolling. Usually i see more people doing it.

[Wakemup52]

James,

What speed range have you been targeting for trolling walleyes? Appreciate your posts and info you've shared!