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Hey all... will be up on the West end next week. Historically the walleye fishing is real bad for us during this annual July trip, but we continue to come because we absolutely love Lake Vermilion. Just wondering if anyone has advice on what the walleye's are feeding on right now and any other walleye fishing tips you feel like giving.

...thanks.

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

We fished 6 hours today and boated 23 walleyes. Kept my clients limits of 12. Largest was 20 inches.

Cliff

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Yea it's pretty decent .. I don't know what cliffs average is but we have to be similar in the 15-30+ fish per four hour trip just about thought the year.. Size and numbers fluctuate by the day.. That's usually 3-4 people fishing.

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..just lobbing this out there again as no hits on it yet.

------

Hey all... will be up on the West end next week. Historically the walleye fishing is real bad for us during this annual July trip, but we continue to come because we absolutely love Lake Vermilion. Just wondering if anyone has advice on what the walleye's are feeding on right now and any other walleye fishing tips you feel like giving.

...thanks.

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Well Jason, let me know what you come up with next week as I will be up there the following week with my family on the West end as well.

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Jasonlville - I don't know much about the West end but you may want to venture over to the East end (Fraser Bay or Big Bay) for numbers of walleyes. I know Casey has done well on some bigger walleyes on the West end but not quite the numbers of eaters.

Read the posts from Casey and Cliff (both guides on Vermilion):

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/19/1/Vermilion_Pelican_Lake_Chishol

They have some good advice on tackle and recent general conditions to catch them (rocks near deep water, crawlers, leeches, etc). I would also strongly suggest hiring a guide for 4-6 hrs to learn the lake and you WILL catch fish and it is well worth the money. These guys catch them even during slow times..... Personally, I have fished with both Cliff and Casey for walleye and they are both great and have their own spots and tricks of the trade. If they are busy, I am sure they will recommend other guides as options.

Maybe try your luck at Musky as well, they are catching some nice ones as of late. I know that the bass fishing on the West end has been good as well.

Good luck and enjoy beautiful Big V !

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I haven't been out much the last few days, but they were actually biting some on the reefs in 16 to 20 feet. I have also heard that there is some sort of a weed bite but no details, and it is hearsay.

If walleye fishing isn't good, there is excellent small and largemouth fishing. In fact, there is some speculation that the increased largemouth population might be affecting the walleye fry survival.

Eat more largemouth, the other other white meat.

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Well Jason, let me know what you come up with next week as I will be up there the following week with my family on the West end as well.
Will do!
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I haven't been out much the last few days, but they were actually biting some on the reefs in 16 to 20 feet. I have also heard that there is some sort of a weed bite but no details, and it is hearsay.

If walleye fishing isn't good, there is excellent small and largemouth fishing. In fact, there is some speculation that the increased largemouth population might be affecting the walleye fry survival.

Eat more largemouth, the other other white meat.

In the last year I've learned to use my fish finder (like for real use it). So hopefully with this and some good advice we'll do better for Walleye this year - of course we always find ourselves saying we'll do better than last year!

We actually tapped into the large mouth a few years back on the west side, and now we usually fish those during the daytime hours now. (PS don't tell anyone we come this far north for the largies!!!)lol

We camped on the east end last year at McKinley and caught a few slotters there. Fish or no fish caught, we love Vermilion and will always be coming back. Thanks everyone for the advice.

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My wife and I had my Dad for a fishing companion this past week and we thoroughly enjoyed having him with us in the boat. He went home yesterday after a fantastic 5 days of fishing whistle. We generally fished 4-5 hours a day and we caught ~90 walleyes during the 5 days. A couple of the days were unreal with the quantity of 16"-18" walleyes that we caught. This morning my wife and I went out and we boated 24 walleyes in ~4 hours of fishing. Once again, we caught lots and lots of 16"-18" fish. When we are fishing C&R, we either miss or lose lots of fish that we would have otherwise caught if we were going to keep them. Trying to keep them from swallowing the hook makes for missed and lightly hooked fish. My wife lost the last 3 walleyes she hooked right at the boat and we missed or lost countless others cry.

This morning we tried a reef that had produced well when my Dad was here, but all we got there was 3 dinks. We moved to a reef that I haven't fished at all this year and it really paid off. Today the fish weren't up in the rocks and the adjacent 25'-27' water was snag-free grin. It was a pleasant morning fishing the mud without the constant hassle of snags, re-baits, re-ties, etc. eek Two problems have arisen this past week: the walleyes have been hitting the crawler short resulting in many missed opportunities and crawfish have been a constant problem slow trolling the crawlers in the rocks. I've adjusted the rigs to include both a floater and a "stinger" hook and both problems have all but vanished. The perch minnows are balled up in the areas where the walleyes are congegrating but, the fish that I have cleaned this past week, have been empty! Casey's crawlers are the only bait we are using now. Today, water temps were 75 degrees, a fairly stiff breeze out of the SW, and mostly sunny skies. We were the only boat fishing the area where we fished.

Good Fishing,

MarkB smile

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Awsome! My group did very well also on Wed morning.. I've been camping since with barely any fishing frown smallies and little sunnys for my son and his new rod and then he said dad... let's go catch bigger fish.. so we went and got a couple slot walleyes... then he said let's go get ice cream, so off to Moosebirds we go! Well.. you get the idea.. how can kids swim so long without wrinkling up to nothing? he should look like a pug... back out on east end tomorrow...

Capt.

full-19099-22200-ianeye.jpg

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Good times Casey....enjoy, they grow up waaaaaay tooooooo fast !!!!! cya next wknd on the water !

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Well my week is about over. I've caught 3 skis, biggest 45". Had 6 others hit or on. Seen a couple giants. We have hit the lake the past 2 evenings for eyes and its been fabulous. About 20 fish each night in the last 2 hours. 17-23'. Half crawler on a lindy. Only 2 weeks and i get to come back yet again for 9 days!

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Well my week is about over. I've caught 3 skis, biggest 45". Had 6 others hit or on. Seen a couple giants. We have hit the lake the past 2 evenings for eyes and its been fabulous. About 20 fish each night in the last 2 hours. 17-23'. Half crawler on a lindy. Only 2 weeks and i get to come back yet again for 9 days!
...dumb question of the day here -- when someone says they're using lindy's, does that assume they are trolling with them? Does anyone not troll with a lindy and just simply cast with them? Doesn't seem like it would make sense, but you never know what people will do...
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Jasonlville,

That is not really such a dumb question!

Most of the time we are slow trolling or drifting with a lindy rig but I have had very good success casting a light 1/4 oz. lindy and slowly retrieving it back to the boat. Works similar to a split-shot rig.

Cliff

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Fishing was great this evening... Biting like crazy. Hard to hook them though until I snelled a second hook.. Got that tip on here wink

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Any tips on structure or depth? We were out for our first evening of our week long vacation, and couldn't buy a bite. Couldn't ask for a better evening though, absolutely B A U tiful.

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First off schmitty, I would suggest reading posts from the last couple of weeks as things haven't really changed much. During the past 3 days since my last post, my wife and I have had non-stop fabulous fishing grin. 20+ fish days for 2 of us fishing ~4 hours/day(too hot to stay out much past noon eek). Yesterday, we fished for only an hour, and caught 12 walleyes, 10 of which were 16"-16'5"! Structure: mud. Beautiful, snag-free, mud. There are some weeds down there but not enough that will show on your sonar. Depth: 22'-27'. Bait: Casey's crawlers(1/2 at a time). Rig: bottom bouncer, 4' leader, bead, floater, hook(make your own rig), stinger hook if the hits are short and you have trouble hooking the fish.

How do you find these spots? Easy..do any of these 3 things: 1st get a "Hotspots"map at a local baitshop( I think the "Y" store on 169 has them). Fish the areas marked on the map for this time of year. 2nd, venture out into BIG Bay any morning and go to the floatilla of boats that are usually located in two or three popular summer "spots"(marked on your new map). 3rd, if you still don't catch fish, give Casey or Cliff a call and book a half day. You will for sure catch walleyes using this method wink.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Good Fishing,

MarkB smile

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It would appear, from the results of our fishing this morning, that nothing dealing with depth, structure, bait, etc. has changed much this past week. Fishing is still fabulous wink and we had an absolutely fantastic morning! We started out at ~7:30 and, initially, the walleyes were running ~14". As the morning wore on, the bigger fish became more active and the 16"-18" fish became the average. For us, two minor things have changed over this past week: the fish are scattered over a larger area, and the bite is light in some instances. I was forced to go back to my "stinger" set-up and that remedied the short bite problem. While we are still marking "lots" of fish, they appear to be moving around and "sitting" on top of a bunch wasn't as easy this morning as it has been. I threw a marker on a bunch that moved 100 yards in less than 1/2 hour! Stragglers hang around, however, and several of the fish we caught this morning weren't seen on the sonar. I kept a few fish to eat and my livewell had a perch minnows floating around. When I cleaned the fish, they were relatively empty. I was waving red flags a month ago concerning balls of perch minnows and, last year, the fishing didn't get really tough until late July through most of August due to the perch. Here's hoping that my fears don't materialize and we can continue to enjoy "blue ribbon" shocked walleye fishing. Water temps are running 76 degrees and, today, we had partly cloudy skies and light south wind. Weather is fantastic and it starts getting hot around 11 o'clock. On the way home this past week, we were treated to front row seats as a couple fishermen fought a big musky close to Comet Island. I was really impressed with how these guys handled that fish. From the time the musky was in the net, the guy who caught it wetted the measuring board, fell over backwards lifting the fish to get a picture, measured it, got his picture taken and released it in what I would guess was no more than 2 minutes! whistle It never ceases to amaze me how these guys can cast until their arms fall off, then when they actually catch one, they work twice as hard trying to get it back in the water. They measured the fish at 50".

Good Fishing,

MarkB smile

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Bump....bump

Heading up tomorrow to Vermilion after work for some R&R which means lots of Fishing, little golf and few adult beverages.

Been fishing Big V for many years and I have many spots that produce nice walleyes but for me I seam to catch one or two and then have to move to another location and then get one or two again and have to repeat.

I usually start in Big Bay of Spider Island using a lindy rig with crawlers. Speaking of crawlers can anyone tell me what is so special about Casey’s Crawlers?

Also any other tips are much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!

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Very large crawlers,lively, and the most I have ever got in a flat. I think many crawler vendors peel a few out of each flat to retail. Casey gives you the whole 500. Fair price,too

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Thanks Mike, 500 crawlers is a little overkill for a four day weekend. We are golfing at Wilderness and I heard at the Marina for the casino they sell them there. Gonna have to grab a container and try them out.

Very large crawlers,lively, and the most I have ever got in a flat. I think many crawler vendors peel a few out of each flat to retail. Casey gives you the whole 500. Fair price,too
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Very large crawlers,lively, and the most I have ever got in a flat. I think many crawler vendors peel a few out of each flat to retail. Casey gives you the whole 500. Fair price,too

What does a flat cost? What are the approximate dimensions of a flat?

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For us it seems like since the begining of July, The walleyes have been more scattered, I suppose it's just seasonal and they are moving alot and it's a big lake. I fish Walleyes about once a week so I don't stay on top of them like Cliff, Mark and Casey do so I will only fish a spot after I mark a fish or 2 on my Humminbird. We have been having a blast with the slip bobbers so I have been anchoring and dropping them down with a 1/2 crawler (marks suggestion and it works) single hook, color doesn't seem to mater and wait for a bite, if we don't get anything in 15-20 mins, we leave to the next spot. So far we have been pretty successful.

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Flat is like 12x12x5 I also sell halfs and dozens.. 65 for a flat unless you buy wholesale or multiple flats

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Come on guys...I was hoping to hear all about everyone’s experiences catching walleyes, most posters aren't looking for specific locations or what size hook to use. I've fished Vermilion enough to go out and catch them myself. Was hoping to hear more about what times, numbers of nice keepers, stories of the big one that got away or even better, was landed and see some nice pictures.

This forum averages around 100 viewers at any given time yet only adds a dozen new post each day.

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Today, my wife and I left the house at 7 o'clock. We got our first bite around 7:30. I lost the fish beside the boat. It appeared to be about 16". Around 8 o'clock, I landed a 15" walleye. My wife missed 2 bites during this same time period and finally boated a 14" walleye at ~8:15. We kept neither of these fish. At ~8:30, I had a real boomer of a hit. Setting the hook, the huge fish thumped the rod all the way to.....halfway to the boat, and got off. I would rate the 14" as a not-so-nice keeper and the 16" fish as a nice keeper. The bite was slow for us this morning and the fish were scattered over a huge flat. Marked fish were anything but easy to catch. I do have an explanation, however. When I purchased my last flat of CASEY'S crawlers, I opted not to buy the "guaranteed" crawlers. cry The "guaranteed" crawlers outfish the cheaper variety 10:1! wink

Good Fishing,

MarkB smile

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Thanks Mark!

Perfect.

Today, my wife and I left the house at 7 o'clock. We got our first bite around 7:30. I lost the fish beside the boat. It appeared to be about 16". Around 8 o'clock, I landed a 15" walleye. My wife missed 2 bites during this same time period and finally boated a 14" walleye at ~8:15. We kept neither of these fish. At ~8:30, I had a real boomer of a hit. Setting the hook, the huge fish thumped the rod all the way to.....halfway to the boat, and got off. I would rate the 14" as a not-so-nice keeper and the 16" fish as a nice keeper. The bite was slow for us this morning and the fish were scattered over a huge flat. Marked fish were anything but easy to catch. I do have an explanation, however. When I purchased my last flat of CASEY'S crawlers, I opted not to buy the "guaranteed" crawlers. cry The "guaranteed" crawlers outfish the cheaper variety 10:1! wink

Good Fishing,

MarkB smile

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Lol! We did OK this AM but worked hard for decent fish.. Estimate caught 20 kept 5 17s threw back a 18.25 and lost a couple of slot fish half way up ( plus a few other smaller fish or keepers) .... I would definately consider a crawler harness when fishing this summer.. Two hooks are helping keep fish hooked up when they are biting light... Caseys crawlers were good for us.. Maybe you were like Dave and wearing perfume Mark?? That will do it grin

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