2021 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[Klinger]

Some of the best walleye fishing I have had on Vermilion this year. My wife, son and I caught 22+ fish between Saturday and Sunday last wknd and kept nice eaters in the 14-18" range both days.

Many fish in the 14-18" range and quite a few smaller ones in the 8-13" range as well which is great to see for upcoming years. Great to see many anglers around us throwing those 11-13" fish back and being more selective, not just trying to get their limit, but taking what they want to eat that day or next.

We caught all of them on Lindy rigs with either red hook/red bead or red hook/white glow bead tipped with rainbows or chubs. White glow beads seem to be a little more productive on triggering bites. Rainbows seemed to be a little better too (tough to get right now, but I have a source that traps them).

Caught a bulk of them in one spot off the rocks in 32-36 FOW near deeper water trolling very slow in the .3-.5 mph range. Tough to see them on the graph as they were laying right on the bottom, but bites kept coming every 10-15 min or so. Never fast and furious, but a nice steady rate of bites.

We will soon switch over to leeches and crawlers with longer leaders to get those eyes that are off the bottom feeding on the mayflies. For those new to the lake, I would strongly suggest a local guide to get you in the game. It really will teach you a lot about the lake, structure, boat control and just plain how to fish the walleyes on Big V. Plus, a bunch of great guys to fish with to boot !!

Back up to the lake in a couple weeks to drag some crawlers around !!

[redlabguy]

Crawler days are here again. My wife and I did well this AM bofore the wind kicked up and the chores couldn't be put off... She used minnows and I tied her with crawlers. Lindy and bottom bouncers.Fished eastern Big Bay in 25-35' near humps. 4 fish per hour which is a good rate for me! I live on Frazer but can't find the fiah here so we've been heading to Big Bay.

RLG

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Leeches outfished crawlers for me the other day.. Small leeches are best.

[Finnish Flash]

Friday evening caught 8 walleyes trolling raps, with the largest one coming in at 26". Went to the same area last night and only got two, with the largest coming in at 17". Found them in 8-9 feet of water. The water temp was 67 degrees on Friday evening and last night was 72 degrees.

[delcecchi]

That's amazing. We spent the last week fishing etc on Quetico lake. Had absolutely gorgeous weather all week. Swimming was comfortable. By the time we left the surface temperature in open water was over 73 degrees.

Did all the stuff that we could see off to the south get you guys?

neener neener, missed us.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

I was up and stayed at Voyegurs Cove resort, and fished the afternoons and evenings Wednesday and Thursday! What a beautiful lake. First time I fished it, and I rented a boat so I didn't have a locater but I got into some dandy walleyes in about 15' or less west of Norwegian Point.

Here is a 23"er

[muskie-mike]

Got 10 walleyes to 24 inches and 4 jumbos to 12 fishing 6-8 ft of shoreline rocks with a 1/16 oz. power grub......sure beats fishing in 40 ft of water..

[10,000 Casts]

Quote:

Got 10 walleyes to 24 inches and 4 jumbos to 12 fishing 6-8 ft of shoreline rocks with a 1/16 oz. power grub......sure beats fishing in 40 ft of water..

awesome and I agree on the 40 fow vs shallow shorlines, were you in the wind?

[james_walleye]

Mike why werent u musky fishing?

[muskie-mike]

I was not fishing in the full wind...was too windy for that

[MarkB]

The past 5 days or so have ranged from so-so to spectacular. After my report from the 5th, the walleyes got scarce for a couple days. We went from 20+ fish days at the beginning of last week to scrambling for 10 fish days at the end. We started fishing shoreline breaks and shallow water rock piles the past couple of days and bingo..we've found them again. The wind has been a major factor in location for us and, actually, forced us to fish areas that I might not have otherwise put the necessary time into. By shallow water rock piles, I mean topping out at 5' with the deepest adjacent water being 18' mud flats. We've caught 8 walleyes in the past 2 days from 20"-24.5" and several in the 16"-18" class. The constant wind has them right on top of the rocks and snags are more common than hits. It seems that the walleyes in this area are mostly slot walleyes with a few higher end eater size mixed in. These fish definitely prefer leeches to minnows. We fished a 21' shoreline break this morning and caught 12 out of a school before they just disappeared. These fish wanted only minnows. The wind then forced us to plan B and after the move, we caught 17 more drifting leeches before we ran out! There were several 10"-12" walleyes but about every 3rd one would be 15"+ Tonight we have a big fish fry for our guests. Tomorrow, it looks like we'll be fighting a steady 10-20mph wind..again. Water temps are all right at or just above 70 degrees. I'm seeing a mayfly here and there. Lastly, I crossed Big Bay today from Cherry Island to Moose at around 11:00 and that SW 25mph wind had things pretty riled up

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[FBMH]

Fished all week. Very good bite on 3in zoom mimick minnows on a 1/8oz yellow/orange jig in shad or crab colors. All fish were in 10fow or less. DONT tip your plastic with any meat. Most fish come on rock shores or transition areas.

[Netman]

A buddy and I fished the lake from June 5-9 and did quite well using a half crawler presented on orange hooks with a couple of orange beads. The vast majority were caught in the evening with 8:30 to 9:30 being a time of "hand over fist" action. We concentrated on 10 - 4 feet moving shallower as the night got darker.

[Capt. H (Ret.)]

FBMH Great pictures!!!!

[Captain Acorn]

I was up on the east end on the 8th though the 11th. Couldnt get much to bite on live bait and the fish we did get were biting pretty light. Caught a bunch on crank baits. The crank bait bite was particular. We would get about 5 fish on one crank bait then they would want a different color so we would go though the tackel box and find a different one that worked. 10ft deep was our best depth trolling 2.2 to 2.5. # 5 shad raps were the best for me. As far as color, everything seemed to work at one time or another. Hope that wind calms down for you up there

[redlabguy]

It's still windy! We've been fishing mornings and evenings when its a little calmer. We are finding pockets of nice 14-16" walleyes on windward drop-offs at about 18'. Lucky today- caught 12 in an hour at 7 AM. 1/2 crawler or leech. Lindy with 6' leader. Red hook, red bead.

RLG

[MarkB]

The wind that's been howling the past week finally let up this morning and we are having an absolutely beautiful day here on the lake Variable west winds and scattered clouds, 6:00 AM surface temps(where we were fishing) 65.9 degrees, and mayflies were more numerous this morning but certainly not even close to a major hatch. Our company left this AM after spending a fantastic week fighting the south wind and enduring drizzle and rain(yesterday). Fishing has been fantastic with a very reliable daily bite. The two "Dad's" and myself went out this AM(before they left)and caught several nice fish up to 20". Everything, for the past 5 days or so, has been caught on leeches. Minnows may still be working, we just didn't try any. Generally we fished out of 2 boats and we had days catching 20+ walleyes/boat. During the week, we caught the occasional smallmouth and northern. The best bass was 18" and the northerns were <30". The fish were all related to structure of some sort or another, be it rocks, weeds, etc. With the constant south wind, north shorelines was where the action was and the 20+mph winds had them up fairly shallow. During the week, we caught walleyes no deeper than 19' and as shallow as 5' . If I were to guess, I would say 12'-16' was the optimum depth. Floating jig heads, red hook/red bead silver spinner, and floats all worked depending on structure and boat speed. I varied our boat speed every day until we found what worked and then adjusted the rig to fit the structure(weeds=spinner; rocks=floating jig head). I would assume that nitecrawlers would have been equally effective and we plan to start using them along with leeches starting next week.

Fishing has been phenomenal so far this spring and, according to my journal, we have caught twice as many(total) walleyes in 2012 as we did during the same time period in 2011! I have noticed, during the past couple of days, trillions!!! of tiny(and I mean tiny) minnows just under the surface in almost all of the areas we have been fishing. We will have to wait and see how this might affect fishing as summer progresses and these little guys grow larger. I have nightmares when I think about last August

Here are a few pictures our guests and I took during their stay...

My friend's best fish from this morning:

My cousin's 15 yr old son and his first Lake Vermilion walleye:

My friend's son and his best walleye of the trip:

Occasionally a smallmouth beat the walleyes to the leech:

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[redlabguy]

Looks like you had a great outing today. Those young guys, and the old guys, too, will want to keep those pictures. Try as I might, I couldn't quite identify those shorelines in the background!

RLG

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Way to go Mark.. nice seeing you the other day.. we put the hammer on them during the afternoon monsoon!!! About 35 fish for my boat that day. This afternoon found most all our fish on more traditional main lake structure 15-29ft.. slam dunk fishing and caught some nice slot fish! I agree on the numbers for the year AND the Minnows!! ... (Rainy lake here we come??)

crawlers have taken the cake since the monsoon BTW.. 2-1.. don't know why but the numbers don't lie.

Capt.

[GSP4ME]

just got back yesterday from 5 days of fishing the west end. The first thing I can say is who would have thought of all of those bluegills in 20 feet of water. I could not use crawlers because of them but we still put 16 fish in the boat on Thursday even though it was raining and blowing nonstop all day, Wed was the big fish of the trip though 25.4 inch Walleye

[trolloni]

Were them gills decent size ?

[GSP4ME]

one out out of about 60 were. Most of them were the little things you see down in the cities. Really strange

[muskie-mike]

Cannot find any decent gills mid lake anymore,all the size of Pringles.The muskies ate them all..............

[james_walleye]

Caught fish yesterday pre cold front. We caught nice eaters on the breaks in about 16 feet on fkoaters and leeches. Caught a few casting cranks to rock. I took my son to look for northerns and caught a 19" and 22" walleyes in the cabbage in 5 feet. I went out after the front last night and caught a few 16-17" casting cranks around sunset. This morning though.....wow it was frustrating. Marked alot of fish and not a fish to show for it. Marked alot of suspended fish mixed with clouds of baitfish or mayflys I assume. I even tried pulling cranks through the suspended fish with nada. So now it will be three weeks til im up again.

[redlabguy]

Great Father's day! Both daughters called. Once chores were done (I think I pulled all the thistles), my wife suggested fishing (that's really reallyvrare!). Caught plenty for dinner and gratefully released a 24". Frazer Bay, 18-25, crawlers, red hook and bead, slow, slow, slow. Talked to my 89 year old dad, And now I get to watch the US Open! Great day!

RLG

[MarkB]

My wife and I got back out this AM after taking a few days off after our guests left. The walleyes were still biting good and Casey's crawlers outfished leeches 3:1. We decided to keep a few(3) for supper and when cleaning them, I discovered that they are feeding heavily on those mysterious little minnows that I have been observing flitting around just under the surface. This morning, I noticed "bait balls" in the areas where I was marking fish I hate to forecast less than ideal scenarios but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the fishing gets pretty tough in the next month or so as these minnows( young of the year perch) get bigger. Presently, we are dealing with a somewhat sporadic mayfly hatch. I'm seeing mayflies just about everywhere I go but not any numbers yet. The big rafts should start showing up in the next week to 10 days. In the meantime, the walleyes are still quite catchable and I would assume minnows, leeches, and crawlers will all work. One word of advice, if you get a hit, catch a fish or mark fish, stick around and work the area. Sometimes the bite that seems slow will pick up over a short period of time. I've seen this especially true in late morning.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Casey Sunsdahl]

I have had 8 days in a row of great walleye fishing... One more tommorow before day off!!

[MarkB]

Worked a Trout Lake trip in this week. I would give it a separate post but there's really not much to say. My friend and I went over and spent a really beautiful day away from all the summer traffic. Water temps were 63 degrees at 7 AM and warmed to 67.5 degrees by mid-day. We marked quite a few fish in traditional spots but only managed to boat 5, including a 22",20", and a 19.5". All leeches, 24' of water. The on again off again mayfly hatch has had zero effect on the walleye bite on Vermilion. This week we have caught fish in 8' of water fishing "through" a film of mayfly carcasses and we have caught fish in 34' of water fishing through a similar film. Every depth between 8' and 34' has produced for us at one time or another. Shallow and deep depths have been mud, with the 15'-25' depths having rocky bottoms with lots of snags. We are having problems with hook snags where we are finding numbers of fish and, today, if you added a float, no hits! So we suffered through lots of snags and had great fishing. Casey would love to have all of his customers(crawler customers) fish this type of area because every single pass produces at hit or a snag or both. I think I went through 4 dozen crawlers and re-tied 8 times! I'm very pleased with the range of size we are catching now. The last few days have produced lots of walleyes from 12"-18". I lost 2 really big fish today but it's tough to expound without pictures or hands on examination. Suffice it to say, they were big. I would guess the main hatch on Big Bay will start next week and by the first week in July, we'll MISTAKENLY think that all the bite "stoppers" for the year are over

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[MarkB]

My wife and I celebrated our 45th anniversary yesterday fishing the same reef we fished on our honeymoon The past 2 days have been nothing short of fabulous! We have caught over 50 walleyes and have left feeding fish on both days! It seems that the really big ones keep shaking the hook, but we have caught lots and lots of 16"-18" fish. Today, they ran a touch smaller on the average but still plenty of 16" fish Yesterday, we stayed with the rocks and waves and stayed mostly in that 25' contour. Today, we left the snags and fished the mud adjacent to the reefs in 30'-33'. Everything has been caught on Casey's crawlers for the past week or so. I would advise anyone coming in the near future that, with this bite, you might want to contact Casey regarding ordering a flat of crawlers. A flat has ~500 crawlers and my wife and I have used 20+ dozen the past 3 days! The advantage to a flat is the price! Today, my wife had a HUGE musky grab a 15" walleye about halfway to the boat. It ripped off enough line to scare my wife and she handed me the pole. The fish held on and it came up right beside the boat before letting go. I was able to tease the big fish into sticking around for a minute or so. We don't see alot of muskies so compared to a 16" walleye, this was enormous! It was long, thick across the back, and really really deep!!! Exciting to see and watch. I had mayfly casings hanging on my line most of the morning. I still see no evidence of a major hatch but this warm spell should finish it off over the next several days. So much for mayfly hatches affecting the bite. The baitballs that I referred to in previous posts are becoming more and more prevalent. The walleyes that we have kept and eaten are full of crawfish. Today the weather was fabulous with a slight breeze out of the east and the surface temps were 71 degrees. The lake was flat calm when we left for home at 1:00 and the walleyes were still going strong

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[JT_AZ]

MarkB:

This is a little off topic, but I'm new to this forum and not navigating it very well. I tried to send you a private message re: Danielson's. Not sure if you got it; or if you even replied already and I just don't see it. If it's not verboten (I assume forum moderator will let me know)and you don't mind, please send me a regular e-mail so I can communicate with you about Danielson's. my address is jim_forums "at" jimscouch.com

Thanks JT in AZ