2021 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[schmitty3]

Pretty quiet here lately... hope that doesn't indicate some poor fishing!  Mayfly's still pretty prevalent? Expecting another big hatch? 

Headed up Thursday evening for a few day, will be sure to report back.  When we were up a few weeks ago we did well in shallow water (2-5'), my question is do you all see fish staying shallow year round?  Obviously only 1 way to find out, but seems like everyone overlooks a great shallow water bite once June hits.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

There was a large Mayfly hatch in Big Bay yesterday. Huge slicks on the downwind shorelines but the fish were still biting in a few areas.

Cliff

[james_walleye]

I've found the past couple days that those pods of fish that were tough to go in the mornings bit much better in the afternoon. I went out about 430 this afternoon and kept 4 nice 15-17" fish and let go a dozen smaller fish in an hour and a half. 

[james_walleye]

I took my nephew out about 1:00 for 3 hours this afternoon. We really got into a nice bite. We caught ~25 eyes and kept our 8. Not quite as high end on the keepers as yesterday as all 8 were in that 14-15" range. All crawlers for us.... leeches turned nothing. 

[chucker1101]

Fished June 30 - July 4, five of six days total, with a partner. Here's how it went:

Arrival Saturday, we afternoon fished, got 8 walleyes (four keepers in 12-15"), and a (really big) white sucker. Sunday, a tougher day, but still got 6 walleyes - biggest 15" though. Monday, it rained most of the day, but managed to get 5 walleyes and a rock bass late in the day. Huge may fly hatch overnight on Monday. Skipped Tuesday altogether (designated wives-in-Ely day :), then got back out on July 4 after the big storms passed. Got another 5 walleyes then.  Total for week: 24 Walleyes ( 10 keepers ), one rock bass, one sucker. 16" was the biggest walleye...also the biggest sucker   Trend has been consistent this year, not many larger than 16", but plenty in the 13-16" range.

Cleaning walleyes and examining stomachs, we found mostly mayflies. 3 walleyes had crawfish, and one walleye had a minnow. We fished entirely worms and leeches. Worms got more fish, leeches got bigger fish.

Morning bite wasn't good, again. I've seen others saying same thing, and i'm starting to agree more. I've had better luck in the noon-6 time frame this year, than in the 6:30-11:30am slot.

Big Bay still is producing best for me.  Put a lot of miles looking, but the reefs in/around Big Bay are outproducing other locations.

While I won't go into detail on where the spots are that are producing, maybe a little on spots that aren't producing (for me, at least). i'd say that there seems to be a shift between last few years productive locations and this year. Spots that have been fairly reliable over the last several years aren't producing very well this year...Moose Island hasn't been nice to me this year, neither has the narrows on the East side of Pine Island. Meanwhile, a couple of spots in Big Bay that haven't produced well in past years, but did well 8 years ago, are producing much better.  It pays to break out of older patterns and try some new spots.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2018 by chucker1101

[ANYFISH2]

Great report! Thanks.

[james_walleye]

The musky action hasn't been great but I got this 52" last night. Not sure what was up with my phone.... the pics are not great

[Wanderer]

Dandy!  Good job!

[ANYFISH2]

Nice fish!!

[Reid Saarela]

My dad had the hot hand this trip landing walleyes at 26.5 and one a hair under 30 (both released of course). We had a good bite most mornings catching tons of those 10-12 inch fish with a mix of some keepers too. Mud to rock transitions and windblown sand was best for us. 

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Found 2 dead muskies floating in Head of the Lakes Bay this weekend. An approx. 45” and a measured 54”. 

Wondering if they we killed on purpose or poorly handled?

[Wanderer]

I take it you didn’t see any particular injuries if you’re wondering what happened.  

Bummer.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

The smaller one was stuck under the dock and completely rotten. I fished it out to dispose of it but too far gone. It looked like the isthmus (below gill plates) was severed, but hard to say if it was cut or separated because of rot. The bigger one my F.I.L saw out cruising this evening, he said he didn’t notice anything, but doubt he investigated much. 

Edited July 9, 2018 by BRULEDRIFTER

[delcecchi]

The most likely explanation was hooking mortality.   For every 100 muskies caught a few will die even if handled using best practices.  For the average dude doing the handling, an extra few will die.   

My experience is more with Northerns.  I have released a few of those myself that looked a little iffy.   Add on the extra few minutes being held up for the photos, and even more stress on the fish.   It is actually surprising we don't see more floaters, or maybe they mostly sink and stay down if they last awhile after being released.    

[schmitty3]

Just returned from a few days of fishing on Friday - Sunday.  Started out Friday morning and really had a hard time finding some active fish, ended up catching a couple 10" and one 15" for the box in 30 FOW before going in for lunch. .  Went back out for the afternoon at about 4pm and we were on a great bite for a few hours, ended up putting a 3 man limit of nice eyes in the box for a fish fry and also got the 28 incher below.  We found these fish in 20-30 FOW over sand with some scattered rocks.

Saturday morning we again found these fish out on the same spot, but not quite as active.  Ended up putting 4 more keepers in the box in a couple hours of fishing along with numerous fish under 12".  Ended up going in for lunch around noon and never did make it back out to the main lake with that wind blowing right into the bay we were in.  After sitting around for a few hours we thought we might as well just cast the shorelines in this bay for whatever was willing to bite... turned out to be our best walleye fishing of the weekend.  We must of caught around 50-60 walleyes and 20-30 smallies between the 5 of us from 3-10pm.  Casting jerkbaits in 2-6 FOW was the ticket, and also had luck on the lighted bobbers as it got dark.  Never would have thought we could have that kind of fishing available within 200 yards of the cabin, meanwhile we're out running the entire main lake .

Another great weekend up there, and again found our best and most fun fishing in less than 10 FOW...

 

Edited July 9, 2018 by schmitty3

[guideman]

Handling Muskies in warm surface temps like we have now can be very deadly, even if you know what you are doing. Early morning and late evening or fishing at night can lower mortality rates however it is better to just avoid handling them during the warmest time of the summer. 

"Ace"  

"It's just fishing man"  

[roony]

I am a firm believer that all fish that are going to be released should be unhooked at the side of the boat and not handled. You might not have a picture but you still have the memory and you know the fish has a much greater chance of surviving. Just my opinion FWIW.

[DLD24]

What are your guys favorite presentations this time of year? When I come up I've mostly rigged.

[Wanderer]

On 7/13/2018 at 11:45 AM, guideman said:

Handling Muskies in warm surface temps like we have now can be very deadly, even if you know what you are doing. Early morning and late evening or fishing at night can lower mortality rates however it is better to just avoid handling them during the warmest time of the summer. 

"Ace"  

"It's just fishing man"  

Ace, honest question here with no intent to debate, just learning more about muskies.

What surface temps do you consider to be too warm for handling muskies?

[james_walleye]

DLD I'll keep rigging as long is I can keep catching good fish but entering into August I'll start to pull leadcore more.

[FishinCT]

5 hours ago, Wanderer said:

Ace, honest question here with no intent to debate, just learning more about muskies.

What surface temps do you consider to be too warm for handling muskies?

I looked up the Mille lacs hooking mortality study on walleyes and it started to dramatically increase around 65 degrees. About 5% mortality at 65 degrees but about 25% at 75 degrees.

I have to imagine the numbers are higher for muskies given an extended fight with a large fish, having to take more care to not get cut up or hooked yourself while unhooking the fish, temptation to take lots of pictures, etc. 

Here's the study if you're interested http://mnmuskie.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Reeves-and-Bruesewitz-2007_factors-influencing-hooking-mortality-of-walleyes-Mille-Lacs.pdf

[guideman]

Typically temps over 70 degrees are considered dangerous for handling Muskies. The length of the fight and the time you take handling the fish will make a difference. That is one of the reasons we use heavy line and big rods, you don't want to battle the fish to the death. Skip photos on smaller fish and remove the hooks with the fish in the net, in the water, not on the bottom of the boat.

"Ace"  

"It's just fishing man"  

[delcecchi]

What do you think of the "cut the hooks" method of dealing with Muskies?   Small bolt cutters to make the process fast.   Just wondering.  

[Wanderer]

Thanks for the feedback.  

We have the time from hookset to release pretty short I think.  I read earlier this spring the average fight these days lasts 90 seconds or less.  I’ll admit I was amazed to hear that but after a half dozen muskies that have come to net this year, that’s no bull.  We usually have em netted on the first pass by the boat.  My 48 inch net allows one to do all the handling in the water while the other gets the bump board laid out and phone ready for a pic.

A quick measure and quick pics and back in the water they go.

Thats about as much as we can do. 

70 degrees is lower than I expected to hear.  We were seeing those temps on opening weekend in Ontario.  We didn’t like seeing 80 last Friday on Leech.

[Wanderer]

8 minutes ago, delcecchi said:

What do you think of the "cut the hooks" method of dealing with Muskies?   Small bolt cutters to make the process fast.   Just wondering.  

We had to cut the hooks on one of my fish this year.  Caught on a Cisco Kid, 2 of 3 sets of trebles in the fish.  Just by how they were twisted, the leverage made removal by pulling very difficult and the fish would thrash when I attempted to work them out.  Made the decision pretty easy to cut the hooks.

I’m honestly considering going barbless on everything.  Half the time the lure shakes free in the net anyway so the pressure is what keeps them buttoned until netted.  The plus is if one of us gets one in the hand when working on a netted fish, it won’t hurt so bad getting it out!

[PSU]

Coming up tomorrow for the rest of the week, and changes in the fishing patterns for walleye? I assume still leeches and crawlers? 17-25 feet

Thanks

 

[Cliff Wagenbach]

PSU,

Lindys, bobbers with leeches and crawlers.

Trolling with cranks and spinners are now good also.

Cliff

[BartmanMN]

21 hours ago, Cliff Wagenbach said:

PSU,

Lindys, bobbers with leeches and crawlers.

Trolling with cranks and spinners are now good also.

Cliff

Thanks Cliff. I am coming up for my week of paradise tomorrow as well.

[roony]

Is the water starting to recede on the lakes East of Orr? I heard it was really high on Myrtle. We're coming up to Black Duck in a week or so, just wondering if things are getting back more towards normal. 

Edited July 20, 2018 by roony

[delcecchi]

Vermilion might be down a little, but not much.  Your lakes might be different.