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What a beautiful weekend it was!  We fished the Big Bay area all day both Saturday and Sunday, and had a blast!  Caught our best quality walleyes over the boulders in 2-6 FOW during the day right along with the smallies.  Fishing jerkbaits, most of the fish came within a few feet of the shoreline, seemed like we'd catch 1 walleye for every 6 or 7 smallies.  First smallmouth had to be about 4 lbs, otherwise the rest were in the 2 lb range. 

Jigged a rainbow/chub in the evening in 18-22 ft with great numbers, not great size.  Almost every fish was in that 12-13 inch range, but still a ton of fun to catch. 

Hope to get back next weekend, and see if the bigger smallies are moved up.

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Memorial Day weekend: Bite moved to leeches. Shallow water (4-17') still producing in Frazer Bay. Crappie also still biting in the bull rushes in upper Norwegian bay.  

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For the locals up there, how much rain have you received since Monday? The radar maps a few nights ago looked really bad for Northern MN including Vermilion

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One hard storm Tuesday night and a little on Wed  and Thur. Maybe a 1/2"

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Been out all week after walleye and with the warm weather couldn't put a pattern on em.  Casting after dark to wind swept ed shorelines caught a few, slip bobber with red hook and leeches in 20-30 put a few in during the day in smart and Frazer bay.  Anyone else got any tips, have a half day left and naybe tomorrow morning but it's been a tough week.

Edited by Spyder
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39 minutes ago, Spyder said:

Been out all week after walleye and with the warm weather couldn't put a pattern on em.  Casting after dark to wind swept ed shorelines caught a few, slip bobber with red hook and leeches in 20-30 put a few in during the day in smart and Frazer bay.  Anyone else got any tips, have a half day left and naybe tomorrow morning but it's been a tough week.

Have you tried crawlers?

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Yeah caught bass and northern on crawlers....no walleye....leeches seem to be the ticket.  

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Spyder,

We have been doing well using leeches under a slip bobber, 1/16 oz pink or orange jig and a small split shot added to balance the bobbers out.    Fish rocky, bolder, shorelines in 5' to 7' of water. Good to have a little wind blowing into or past the shoreline too!

10:00am to noon was our best bite period.

Cliff

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Stephen,

My family will be up there the week of June 16-23 as well.  But it is all of our first time on Vermilion, so we will be doing a lot of searching until we can find a pattern and right structure holding fish.  Its a big, intimidating lake for a newbie, with lots of interesting structure.  We are staying at Pike Bay Lodge, so figure we will be doing a lot of scouting around Ely Island and surrounding little islands.  Knowing mid to late June can be a crap shoot, I am trying to temper the family on expectations, but they are expecting ME to get them on fish and keep them entertained, so the pressure is on.  Was really hoping for a decent bobber bite, with 8 people and 2 boats, even if it was for panfish, or even Smallies up shallow, but with the quickly warming water who knows.  And I heard panfish are tough to find on the East end of V because of the Rusty Crayfish.  Even if I can get them on some aggressive Pike, at least that will keep them entertained.  But, for me, I will spend a lot of personal time Walleye hunting, as that is my favorite species.  My son will throw some monster baits, hoping for a monster V Muskie, none of us have ever caught a Muskie, so that would be the weeks highlight if he ever hooked into one.

Best of luck to you during your week, the better luck you have, likely the better luck we have, ha!!

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Fishing for walleye has been very slow for me the last few days in Frazer/Smart's Bay area. Been trying crawlers / rainbows on Lindy's and jigs at many different depths and structure. Also slow slip bobbing off the dock in shallow water. Hopefully when the rain clears out today, they will start biting!!!

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Nice fish there Cliff... I came up for the day and I had trouble finding size to the fish, finally found a few keepers on the calm side of an island... That wind really got ripping.... Has anyone noticed a ton of suspended marks at like 25ft over 33-35ft? I was over towards the east side of the lake and could not catch one for the life of me to see what they are.... Rigging leeches was the best.

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Cliff do you have any availability on either 8/5 or 8/6? I'd need to come to you. I'm staying on the west end while picking some kids up but it would be nice to get out and fish with you again!

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DLD24,

I have not seen those suspended fish in the area that I have been fishing.

Cooked fish look great!

Cliff

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Vermilionfox,

I still have both of those days open at this time.

Call or e-mail me and I will reserve one of them for you.

Will be fun fishing with you again also!

Thanks!

Cliff

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Toddrun,

I totally feel you on the big lake aspect of Vermilion. Our old cabin was just east of pike bay lodge, you’ll see the new owner has a big circular barrel type sauna up front now. Growing up I found it a lot easier to work with by breaking the lake down into sections on what I would like to accomplish for the day, otherwise I get out their and do more scouting than actual fishing.I literally have a few maps all highlited out with my spots (decided to show you a pic of the water damaged set), as you will find the depths maybe a little off, and certain gps chips show a lot more detail where I have found a few “secret” humps that are not on others. To this day I have not done much fishing past the Frazier bay / Hoyt island area, beside my one trip to life o Reilly resort on the way northeast end. Haven’t really had to other than for exploration. I was playing with the idea of taking up MarkB on his offer to pm him on a few tips as I know he was over that way more often than I but I’m not sure he logs on that much anymore. We always have to troll Pike bay one as it was my dads mainstay, but as him and the old owner Jim Kivela have said the fishing in the bay has not been as good as it once was. Digging through the old post all the way back to 2011 (I do this once a year it seems) I found that the walleye classic winning weigh in has gone up over the years quite a bit  however, since Casey was the winner, still sad he doesn’t do his weekly YouTube updates. I think the progressive upgrades on sonar over the years has surely helped out the average fisherman, heck I’m sure I would learn a lot if I would stop being so cheap and hired cliff for the day and had him let me pick at his mind for the day on such topics and presentations. On that note I see he has been hooking into some bigger walleye which is a good thing in my eyes, I alsways like to get a few in or above the slot over a weeks time. We will be in the old pike master boat, if you happen to see us don’t be shy to say hi, we will be staying at the hoodoo point campgrounds. 

Good luck, look forward to all the updates from everyone!

Pike Master

 

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Edited by Stephen L Johnston Jr.
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Thanks Stephen, for the information and insight.

I think I will take one of your suggestions and run with it.  I am going to focus on the areas around Pike Bay, and stay localized.  Unless I get totally skunked and am forced to widen my scope.  I have gotten enough good intel, that I think I can do my best to find some fish.  Maybe not Walleye, but possibly Bass, Pike, Panfish, whatever will bite.  I will just enjoy the scenery, and fish, and if the fish cooperate and bite, so much the better.

I will post a report when I get back.

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Toddrun,

Pike Bay is mostly an early morning late evening walleye bite now.

Concentrate your search in Big Bay for daytime fish!

If you do happen to hit a large bug hatch switch to hammered gold spinners and 1/2 crawler!

Cliff

Edited by Cliff Wagenbach
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One time on Winnie after a couple of good days on the Bena Bar a bug hatch went off heavy. Switched to bottom bouncer and hammered gold/ crawler and still couldn't get them to go. Water was boiling with fish all over. While cranking in my line fast to plot my next stategy I lifted the rig out of the water and saw 6 walleye chasing it. Dropped it back 10', used the electric motor and got my limit. They were up high on the emergers. This was over 27' of water.

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Pro-V, That opens up a potential new dimension in approach. Thank you.

I'm looking forward to hitting Frazer this weekend with my brother-in-lay and nephew and providing a report next week.

Thanks again.

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I'm heading up with my wife and two little boys this weekend. We will be there for 4 days. We are staying at Everett Bay Lodge. I really want to get my boys on some fish. We'll try walleye a little bit but I was thinking if I'm looking for more consistent action I may have to go for bass. Anyone know if they're spawning and up shallow? The weather looks a little dicey this weekend and I'm also wondering if the cooler temps will push any shallow fish a bit deeper. Any general advice would be appreciated.

I should have reserved a day with  Cliff. I'm sure you're booked now though......

Thanks!

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With all do respect to Cliff, even if he is booked there are a lot of guides that you can call through the guides league. Cliff is just one of the few on this forum, which we are all very thankful for!

Fishing can often be better as a new system approaches!

Edited by SkunkedAgain
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I will be up to the lake Saturday. Making some Lindy rigs. Is there a certain length or hook color that is working right now?

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  • The title was changed to 2020-21 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports
  • The title was changed to 2021 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports
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