2021 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[Greg Clusiau]

Good job guys, NICE fish!

[Klinger]

Action was good this morning around 9-11a. Boated 9 walleye with 5 that get a free 375 degree oil bath. One at 21" and a few smaller ones that went back to fight another day. Leeches and crawlers produced about the same. Mid-lake reefs in 18-21' on the end of the reef. Lindys with 3-6' leaders. They are starting to run out of mayflies to eat. Stomach's were pretty empty.

Tight lines!

[james_walleye]

Same story here. Kept 5 and a jumbo, put back 4 little guys. Lindys and leeches for us.

[james_walleye]

Another decent morning. Kept 6 eyes. My father in law cpr'd a 37" pike as well.18-21'. Lindys and leeches. Having chartruese hooks or beads helped us.

[Klinger]

Another good morning on midlake reefs. Caught 10 all in the 14-16" range between 9a-noon. No slotters. Lindy's with red hooks. Only caught them when locating many in a school. Some light bites, but a few attacked which is a good sign they are turning on a bit more. Leeches had a slight advantage on worms, but not much. Slow troll .3-.6 mph.

Weather has been UNBELIEVABLE!

Happy and safe 4th to all!

[Klinger]

James/others - Any suggested areas to get Pike? My father-in-law would like to catch a few and I am not much of a Pike fisherman. Thanks !

[james_walleye]

The pike came accidentally. Not familiar enough with the lake to suggest pike locations.

[MarkB]

My wife and I have fished 4 mornings of the 6 days since my last report. Water temps have risen to a fairly steady 71+ degrees warming to afternoon mid to upper 70's! The weather has been cooperative for us. Mayflies are definitely on the downswing and are totally absent from Daisy Bay now. Big Bay still had some huge slicks on the eastern end yesterday but were noticeably down from earlier in the week. Maybe a couple more days and the effects of the mayfly feast should show signs of wearing off. Fishingwise, we have had fairly steady fishing throughout the hatch, especially on slot-sized walleyes. A good day for us is 10 walleyes with 4-6 being slot fish. We aren't used to catching boatloads of walleyes at any time and, although we've had to work for the fish that we've caught(and released), we have had good fishing most of the time and great fishing on a couple of occasions . We have had a fairly even split between leeches and crawlers, although, we had a couple mornings where they definitely preferred one over the other. I have found that the active fish are seeking the shallowest water. For example, if fishing a hump that has fairly consistent constant depth with even a 2' rise here and there, that's where we have found them, especially if it is close to the deepest water. We haven't had a great deal of difficulty locating fish, but enticing the bite can be time consuming. If everything else fails, my go-to areas have been the very tops of the reefs . I have lots of tackle and don't mind re-tying(sp?) if it means I can get hits.

If the DNR ever sees a need for collecting and studying gull s..t, I have found the sure-fire method: simply go out to Potato Island and throw out a drift sock. You don't even need to be close! The other morning, I had the brilliant idea to try Potato. My wife was getting tired and it's kinda on the way home . Well, anyway, I arrive and motor out to my selected start point. Upon heaving my drift sock overboard, it appeared that someone had set off some sort of device on the island, because the gulls literally ALL lifted and headed straight for the boat, busily crapping the entire way. We had gulls swooping, hovering, dive-bombing, all but landing on the boat! Well, as you might imagine, when I heard, "can we go home now", we did. I just hope I haven't forever lost one of my favorite spots.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Stizo]

I'm sorry, but that is a funny picture you just painted Mark. Thanks for the chuckle

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Nice! gotta hit er up on a north or west wind and CREEP IN other wise F(@%%$... lol

[MarkB]

Nice! gotta hit er up on a north or west wind and CREEP IN other wise F(@%%$... lol

Actually Casey, I think they figured I threw some guts and s..t overboard when I threw out my drift sock . When they saw the mostly submerged sock in the water and the orange float, it was game over. I have never seen so many birds at close range with loose bowels at one time in my life .

Good Fishing,

MarkB

[Casey Sunsdahl]

I'll remember that tactic when it becomes open season for wingshooting out there!

[TUGBOAT]

Been steady but slow (my fault), in and around Daisy. Crawlers a week ago, now seems even up with leeches. Bobbers and jigging were both effective. Did see some mayfly slicks cruise by, as well as two ducklings that thought my pontoon was their mother! Cute enough to take home but thought if they were loons I'd end up spending the rest of the season in jail! We went to fish another spot and when we returned they were gone, but there were two eagles sitting on top of the tree looking pretty happy!

[TylerS]

Alright, I'm chomping at the bit for my week at Big V. Someone please give me good news. I can't take another fishing drip where the first words I hear out of some guy's mouth at the landing are "boy, you should have been here a week ago!"

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Tylers,

The good news is that the Mayfly hatch is finally over!

The walleye bite should now pick up!

Cliff

[TylerS]

Tylers,

The good news is that the Mayfly hatch is finally over!

The walleye bite should now pick up!

Cliff

Well that IS good news. Thanks Cliff!

[Klinger]

5 fish in the boat this morning. 3 keepers, one 20", one 22". Beautiful fish and quite healthy looking. 25-28 FOW off reefs. Had to work for them. Marked many on graph and the ones that hit really attacked.

Try again tomorrow if we can take the heat!! Ugggh

[iceranger792]

Oh man that heat!!! Too bad we couldnt catch em goin 20mph

[Cliff Wagenbach]

The walleye bite has greatly improved the past 3 days now that the fish are off the Mayflies and are now eating the young-of-the-year perch!

Cliff

[PSU]

Any updates on the water temps?

Thanks

[shamrock7]

Saw 76 this morning in our lagoon

[delcecchi]

73 on west end

[Klinger]

Skunked this morning...... Marked a bunch hanging on reef at 21 FOW but only one hooked and lost it to fight another day. Thick fog. Be careful out there guys.

[Klinger]

73-74 degrees surf temp on big bay.

[redlabguy]

One. One tonight. That's it. Nice fish, but just one! 1/2 crawler at 18 off a rock pile. Just returned from nice walleyes and sm in Pine and Trout, but one. Just one in Big Bay tonight.

RLG

[lkvrmln-NilesBay]

a couple last night and a couple this morning before the storm arrived...yellow hook, half a crawler...lindy style. Let's get the power back on so we can get the boat back in the water...!!!

[Captain Acorn]

Heading up to vermilion this coming weekend and just curious if any one is having any luck up there. If so is there any certain presentation working better. Any information would be greatly appriciated.

Thanks

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Chaunceye,

The walleye bite has been slow but you can still get them if you fish hard.

We are averaging around 10 fish in 1/2 day. Have had to fish many spots using many different presentations to get bit!

Today a 3' lindy with 1/2 crawler with a small green float worked better then anything else that we tried.

Cliff

[delcecchi]

If it is that slow for you, Cliff of the East, I may as well go bass fishing.

[Captain Acorn]

Thanks for the info Cliff, Hopefully it picks up before the next weekend. Any luck for anyone pulling cranks ?