2021 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[MarkB]

This morning definitely felt like fall. It was 49 degrees at my house when we left at 8 o'clock. I wear a fleece pullover to take the morning chill off and still have it on as I write this. Ground foliage is shriveling in places and some of the poplars are already shedding leaves. Water temps this AM were 70 degrees and the wind was NW 5-10mph. 5 minutes after my wife and I dropped our baits we had a double with mine a 21" walleye and hers a 22" . Unfortunately, those were also the day's highlights and we ended with only 5 walleyes boated and 2 additional lost beside the boat. I had something happen this AM that is new for us. I got a hit, a really good one, and caught the fish. It ended up being a 17" smallmouth. When we went back over the area, we got a second, this time 19" Over the next 1/2 hour we managed 6 total all between 17"-19". All were caught on 1/2 crawlers fished exactly like we fish walleyes. Catching the occasional smallmouth while fishing for walleyes is common for us, especially this time of year, but, the "new" part is that I really don't ever remember fishing the bass like a school of walleyes and catching them like we did. It was an absolute ball. All fish this AM were 19'-24' and all were caught on 1/2 crawlers. I'm marking quite alot of fish that won't bite. I assume they're gorged on 3"-4" perch minnows. In the very near future, we are going to go to larger bouncers and tie on a 6' leader with no. 7 floating Rapalas in perch, black/silver, and gold/black. I definitely will NOT use worms with the Rapalas because the worms definitely WILL affect the way the lure runs.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Just a piece of crawler front hook..

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Mark,

I also have caught a lot of large smallies mixed in with the walleyes this week!

Wed. we caught 12 walleyes and 8 small mouth that were 16" to 19" on a small reef.

Today we fished that same reef and boated 16 walleyes and 15 smallmouth!

All of the small mouth were 16" to 19" again!

All were caught on lindys with an orange float and 1/2 crawler.

Cliff

[MarkB]

Cliff

Your clients couldn't ask for better fishing than that Cliff. One thing I'm noticing is that, while most all of the reefs are holding fish, not all reefs are producing fish, for me at least. My wife thinks 10:30 is the magic hour lately. The point being that, on certain occasions, the biters are getting active for short specific time periods. We are also finding that a bonanza for us on a certain day certainly doesn't spell continued success in the same area on succeeding days.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Mark,

I have been finding that the late morning and noon bite has been the best bite also on most days. You are also right about a spot being great one day and a bust the next day!

I think that it will not be long before the bite turns into a minnow bite again.

Cliff

[MarkB]

Today, my wife and I fished a little differently. We pulled crankbaits Lacking traditional gear such as, leadcore line, downriggers, etc., I, more or less, Jerry-rigged a means to get the lure down and keep it in the zone. I used a couple of barrel sinkers above a swivel and tied on a 6' leader with a crankbait attached. I then kicked the motor into troll mode( ~2.6mph) and let out line until it touched bottom while moving. After placing it in a rodholder, I was free, most of the morning, to eat donut holes, sandwiches, crackers, an orange, juice, pop, etc. We managed 5 beautiful walleyes. one 22" and the rest 16.5"-18". I discovered 2 things this morning: 1st, I am not a crankbait fisherman: 2nd, crankbait fishing is going to accelerate an already expanding waistline. I get absolutely no excitement out of dragging around two rods in rodholders and, then, pulling one out of the rodholder and handing it to my wife to reel in My hat is off to pros like Casey who have refined this method to a fine art I am a bait fisherman pure and simple. I enjoy dragging around a crawler, leech, or minnow and "feeling" the pick-up or hit. It's the only way I'll fish from now on...............maybe

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Casey Sunsdahl]

I agree.. Except sometimes

[shamrock7]

Mark, my wife would get along great with you. Hates down-rigging or long lining and I will agree it is pretty boring but......it is a great way to get to learn an area and to see where the fish are hanging out and put a fish or 2 into the boat.

[Tominator692]

, I am not a crankbait fisherman: 2nd, crankbait fishing is going to accelerate an already expanding waistline. I get absolutely no excitement out of dragging around two rods in rodholders and, then, pulling one out of the rodholder and handing it to my wife to reel in I am a bait fisherman pure and simple. I enjoy dragging around a crawler, leech, or minnow and "feeling" the pick-up or hit. It's the only way I'll fish from now on...............maybe

Good Fishing,

MarkB

Amen!!

[Klinger]

Regarding cranks......caught a 21, 24 and 26 all on cranks this wknd......fought the 24 and 26 for over 5 min each with 3-4 big runs. What a blast!!

Also, the other advantage to cranks on big fish is they almost never take the hooks deep and are easy to get hooks out cleanly providing a successful release.

I will post a couple pix when I figure out how....

[MarkB]

Good job, Joe! I hope you didn't misunderstand me concerning crankbaits. Crankbaits catch fish period.. It's the nature of the beast that I'm talking about. I much prefer "feeling" the hit instead of watching it. I like to think I caught the fish instead of the fish catching itself. And I usually don't gut hook BIG walleyes with bait because most of them are so lightly hooked.. ..I lose em. Seriously, if the walleyes continue to be finicky concerning bait, I'll use crankbaits again because they certainly will catch fish. On another note, did you ever get up to Little Trout this summer?

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Klinger]

Ya Mark, I know exactly where you are coming from, and I agree that there is much more finesse in "fishing" walleye on live bait rigs. I am just saying that I really had a blast with my buddies reeling these big girls in and it was fast and furious too with many 17-21's thrown in there as well.

We really had to try many tactics, depths, lures to get the right combo too, that is where I really enjoy the challenge and where "some" of the fishing comes in. I saw you zip by us on Sunday as well, about 20 min before I caught my 26".

No luck on getting to little trout this year, would love to try next spring when things are hopping again. Cya on the water this wknd most likely.

[tjo]

Any shape of crank working better than others? I've got reef runners that can get down deep, but not sure if they want the banana style lure. Can also run stick baits with some snap weights to get em down. Perch color working I'm guessing? Thanks

tjo

[airnuts]

Been hitting my usual reefs the last 3 days slip-bobbering with Caseys crawlers. We are catching nothing but sm bass 17-19 inches with only one small walleye. I have been fishing up here now for the last 10 years and have never caught so many bass. Mainly fishing the reefs rising to 15-25 FOW. Been thinking of trolling some cranks but this would be new for me at the depths I have been reading about. I have some deep divers but not at the depths reported. Any suggestions on some easy tactics on my live bait poles? Thanks!

[Klinger]

Hopefully this will work....these were a couple of the bigger ones we landed.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Klinger,

Very nice fish!

Cliff

[Cliff Wagenbach]

airnuts,

Today I tried using pike suckers on my lindy rigs. 24' to 29' depths.

We boated 12 walleyes and kept my two clients limits of 15-1/2" to 17-1/2" walleyes in 4 hours!

Good alternative to cranks!

Cliff

[airnuts]

Thanks Cliff!

[tjo]

Any word on if the muskies are moving? Or should I just go swimming today in this heat. Is there any algae bloom on the lake?

Thanks

[clKiekhafer]

airnuts,

Today I tried using pike suckers on my lindy rigs. 24' to 29' depths.

We boated 12 walleyes and kept my two clients limits of 15-1/2" to 17-1/2" walleyes in 4 hours!

Good alternative to cranks!

Cliff

Hi Cliff,

Was this the first time that you switched over to minnows or have you been trying them before. I see that you seem to use more lindy rigs than jigs, is there a special reason for that other than it works the best?

[MarkB]

Fishing this past week has remained excellent . Our go to bait remains crawlers and we continue to target reefs and the adjoining deeper water depending on the time of day. Crankbaits, though not my preferred method, is a steady producer and gives my wife's arms the needed rest that allows her to fish with me on a regular basis. Bait is producing the numbers for us although the average size runs smaller than the fish caught using crankbaits. A typical mornings catch with bait would include a fairly wide range of size from ~10"-20"+. In contrast, crankbaits would produce fewer fish but the average size would run 16"+-18" with a higher percentage of slot fish. However, if I had to choose between the two methods as to which would produce the GIANT walleye, it would be bait hands down. Wind has been the determining factor as to which method we use on a particular day. Some of the areas we use crankbaits are more protected plus, by using the big motor, boat control is never a problem in a brisk wind. In checking my journal over past seasons, it appears that we have done quite well fishing shoreline structure during the period coming in the next week or so. Our crankbait fishing experiences so far seems to indicate this movement.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[james_walleye]

We headed out between showers and in pretty short order had 7 nice keepers in the well. Cranks in about 20-21' was our method.

I've spent a bit of time musky fishing and I've found it much slower than a couple weeks ago. I've mustered 2 very lethargic follows although they were both large.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I have tried minnows periodically all summer but with out much success until the other day. Sorry to say though,I have not caught many with minnows since! ????

We boated 41 walleyes and 2 jumbos in 5 hours today using a lindy/float and CC crawlers! Don't leave home without them yet!

I prefer to use jigs but have found that day in and day out lindys will usually out fish jigs and are easier for most of my clients to master.

Cliff

[tjo]

Do they have CC crawlers at the gas station where 77 goes north (turn towards casino)? Any other places coming from Virginia?

Thanks.

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Shamrock and Fortune Bay marina only.. or give me a call I am in Soudan

[tjo]

Thanks Casey. I'll check out the casino marina as I'll probably launch out of Everett bay tomorrow.

[SkunkedAgain]

It sounds like they need to offer CC's with the mail delivery on Vermilion

[MarkB]

I invited a friend over today for a morning fishing trip. My wife had town business so it was just me and him. We started at an area that has been producing fish on a somewhat steady basis. Today, things were different. We immediately got a 17" and a dink(12"). That was it for the next 1.5 hours or so. I decided to try an area that I have not fished since last year at this time. We got zero hits and I saw nothing to convince me that fish were even there. By this time it was ~11:30 and, if it had been me and my wife, I would have gone in, especially since I was looking right at my docks from across the bay . But...things are a bit different when you are, in a sense, "hosting" an outing with a friend. And so, I tried spot #3, a shoreline area that is wall to wall cabins, docks, boatlifts and boathouses that has produced for me in the past. There is nothing special structure-wise except that the 13'-23' contours drop off relatively sharply and the bottom transitions from pebbles to sand. It was absolutely phenomenal! The fish were strung out along the 19'-22' break and we boated 14 beautiful walleyes in ~ 1.5 hours. Included were 3 fish 20'-22" and he kept his limit of 17+" walleyes! All of the fish were 15" on up! The action was fast and furious and we quit with the fish going strong. I accidentally stumbled on to this "spot" decades ago while staying at a resort in the area. As I said in a previous post, I have found that some of the walleyes move to these areas this time of the year obviously following the food supply.

All in all it was a really great day!

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[PSU]

So is the general consensus still crawlers number 1? Still not biting minnows?

Thanks, coming up today

[PSU]

For walleyes, that question is for...