2021 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[MarkB]

Didn't receive any e-mail. My e-mail is: [email protected]

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Cliff Wagenbach]

JT,

Welcome to HSO!

Cliff

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Rub it in marks retired! What an email...And a Muskie eating a walleye story on the same day as me to boot! MARONE!

What an incredible lake though.. These 12 hour shifts are a bummer!! 4 days in a row without fishing.. Not fun. Like a prison sentence.

Capt.

[redlabguy]

Time for more reports! Let's help holiday fishermen and women- saw a boatload of young (compared to me) women fishing today. Tell us what's working abd what's not. Had a good morning today.

Caught dinner this morning and lost maybe my lifetime big fish, maybe. I must've horsed her a little when she got close to the boat. 25-35' off a mid lake hump. 1/2 crawler, red hook and bead. 1 oz. Bottom bouncer, slow, slow, slow. Rock/muck bottom.

RLG

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Boated 20 today while fishing with a woman client and her two young boys.

Got about half of them on Lindy rigs with leeches or 1/2 crawler in 22' to 26' of water.

Anchored on a 16' deep reef for about 2 hours around 11:30 am and they boated 10 more using slip bobbers and leeches.

One of the boys landed a nice 24-1/2 inch walleye on the slip bobber rigs.

The bite has been good all week!

Cliff

[MarkB]

I'm not real sure that I can add much to what's already been said regarding the current fishing conditions...but, I'll try . The single most important fact is that the walleyes are still biting well and nothing, up to this point, has slowed them down much, if at all. Wind kept us in a few days this week, but we did manage to get out a few times including today. My wife is getting a bit edgy with the snaggy spots I've been fishing, so I've had to revert back to more hospitable bottom structure. Early this morning, we found walleyes just off of a 16' flat in 22'-28' of water. Unfortunately, they ran on the small side(10"-14"). There were big marks down there but, if they represented big walleyes, we couldn't get them to hit. First spot: no snags; lots and lots of walleyes; no size. Plan B involved similar bottom composition but deeper water. Second spot: no snags; lots and lots of walleyes; 15"-18" was the average size. It was a beautiful morning catching lots of fish, enjoying a perfect drift breeze out of the NE at ~5mph, and very little boat traffic. Water temps were 72 degrees and I saw only the odd mayfly here and there. I am seeing more and more "bait balls" just about everywhere I fish now, and as I have previously said, the walleyes that I have cleaned have been eating lots of these tiny ~1" perch minnows. In addition to walleyes, we are picking up the ocassional jumbo, smallmouth, and northern.

Although we continue to catch lots of fish, we aren't catching nearly as many slot walleyes this season. Normally, slot sized fish make up ~20% of our catch and that's way off this year. About the only areas of the lake where we consistantly catch slot walleyes, are those areas with maximum depths 20' or less. In those types of areas, leeches definitely outfish crawlers, for us anyway.

May and June of this year has been as good as my wife and I can ever remember for sheer quantities of boated walleyes. Hopefully, the fabulous fishing will continue.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[airnuts]

Sounds like typical walleye fishing pattern barring potential mayfly hatch around the corner. Heading up on the forth for 5 days, hopefully the weather will cooperate. Hotter than heck down here in Chicago, looking forward to some humidity releif. Some weather reports are showing storms up by the Canadian border all week.

Any fishing suggestions appreciated. Planning on picking up a pound of leeches and crawlers on the way up!

[james_walleye]

Amen air. 95 here in SE MN this whole week. Cant wait to get up saturday for 9 days!

[delcecchi]

92 in Wakemup Village this afternoon. Don't know if it will cool off much.

[airnuts]

Come on guys, last fishing report was on June 30th. How are the mayflys? Leaches on rockbars?

Thanks!

[tbetts1000]

Friday evening caught fish off mid-lake humps in 23-30' of water. Marked a bunch but the bite was slow and patience was needed. Saturday PM fished same spots with similar action. Loss a monster with a few dinks and eaters. The fish were there but getting them to bite was tough. Sunday AM the reef was full of fish with a fairly consistent bite but nothing real hot. They would be moving around and we caught them in 16' to 38' with a hot bite as a school would turn on for a short time. Went out today and fished a bunch of spots and structure. No fish, tough bite and few fish marked and totally different than the past few days. Fished half crawler, leeches, even tried minnows with very little action.

The fish caught in the past few days were full of little perch. Will try it again this evening.

The weather is plain HOT and its a tough day in the boat.

Maybe time for sunnies??

[delcecchi]

Check Cliff and Casey report.

Water is 79 to 80 on surface. Great for swimming. I didn't catch much this evening, a couple of smallies while rigging a leech on west end. Could be me or it could be that attempt at a storm that came through last night.

[10,000 Casts]

Got out last night with my wife and 8 mo old son after the storm and got a couple slot fish and a couple eaters on slip bobbers and leeches in 9 fow on the west end. What a beautiful evening!

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Great photo John!

Cliff

[airnuts]

Yesterday morning managed a 17 and 20 incher on slip bobbers and leeches in 16 FOW on the rockbar. Managed one last evening same way on 20 foot bar. All hits were pretty solid.

[airnuts]

Took a stab at afternoon fishing. Managed 3 slot and 1 keeper in 18 FOW on leeches. Best was my 22 incher. Pic enclosed.

[airnuts]

Caught this 26 inch hog this morning off Island 36 in Frazer Bay. 20 FOW leech on slip bobber. At first I thought I had caught the anchor rope because it wasn't budging! Only walleye we boated today!

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Nice fish!

I went out by myself this afternoon and only boated 4 fish. Released them all as they were small .

Cliff

[fjd]

Just got back from a week of very hot weather.. I am afraid the wife won't be going back if ac is not available. The smallmouth and largemouth didn't seem to care and I know my son and I caught in excess of 125 bass in 5 days of fishing. Wakemup area for the largemouth was fantastic. The other nice piece of the story was the size. Several fish in the 3-4 lb range. Musky were super slow. Had 4 follows and seen a couple of more fish moving off of docks.

[delcecchi]

The very hot weather you experienced is pretty unusual. Right now at 11 am it is 73 with a breeze out of the NW.

[airnuts]

My brother-in-law caught and released this 23 incher on leeches and slip bobber Saturday. Again on 20 foot rock bar in Frazer Bay.

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Nice pictures! there are still a ton of fish being caught out on the lake and some very nice ones! Just bounce around reefs until you find them.. Still beautiful fresh lively Casey's Crawlers availaible. Call me direct (218)750-4510 or Try Shamrock Marina, Fortune Bay Marina, Spirit of the Wilderness in Ely(limited supply), or Skube's in Ely (limited supply).. ASK FOR CASEY'S CRAWLERS and make sure you get the best! Or ask your favorite bait shop to keep them on hand!

Capt. Casey

[urban cowboy]

Check Cliff and Casey report.

Water is 79 to 80 on surface. Great for swimming. I didn't catch much this evening, a couple of smallies while rigging a leech on west end. Could be me or it could be that attempt at a storm that came through last night.

Surface temps are that high? What are the temps generally peaking at during the day out in the bays, mid 70? If so, how long have they been this high? Any info would be appreciated.

[delcecchi]

today on west end, about 75. cooled off slightly with cooler weather. Temps are around 80 during the day, high 50s at night. breeze out of north. My success has dropped off with presence of grandchildren.

Scattered musky fishermen but nothing like a few years ago. So far this year has been best fishing in past several.

[Big Country]

Leaving for a short family vacation to include a day fishing the east end out of tower. Never fished Vermillion. Wife loves fishing for eyes and thought we would launch out of Stuntz bay and try Armstrong with the kids for a while then focus on islands before that for the evening bite. Does it sound like I'm in the ball park or wasting time in those places? Thank you. BC

[urban cowboy]

Thank you Del. I was hoping you would respond. Your always spot on with temps.

[delcecchi]

No problem, that's one thing the 334 on the console will do reliably.

Today, no wind. yet. forecast low 80's.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

82.6 degrees in Pike Bay. 76.6 degrees in Big Bay today.

Cliff

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Leaving for a short family vacation to include a day fishing the east end out of tower. Never fished Vermillion. Wife loves fishing for eyes and thought we would launch out of Stuntz bay and try Armstrong with the kids for a while then focus on islands before that for the evening bite. Does it sound like I'm in the ball park or wasting time in those places? Thank you. BC

Most of my fish have been caught on the rocky reefs in Big Bay lately.

Lindys or slip bobbers with crawlers or leeches. 16' to 29'.

Cliff

[schmitty3]

So how's the fishing been. Still able to go put a limit together in a few hours?