2021 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[CigarGuy]

This year has been the best bite for me on the west end of the lake in the 6 years I've had my place. Not great by any means, but at least I can go out and get a few fish every night. I have trouble finding fish durning the day, but from about 7pm till dark is when I have my best luck. Hard to catch a meal-all the walleyes are 22" to 27ish......nice problem. It did slow down a bit last wknd. There were a few mayflies out in Wakemup this past wknd. Crawlers and leeches were the bait of choice.

Edited July 9, 2019 by CigarGuy

[delcecchi]

yep, I have heard that things are better this year on the west.  And maybe worse on the east.   From your lips to God's ears.

[SkunkedAgain]

Two weekends ago, I boated past Woody's just before sunset and there were about seven boats working it. I think that the walleye patterns definitely change over time and we need to keep adapting to those patterns if we want to find the fish.

[Sorgy]

I have no doubt that there may have been some overharvest  that started the decline. Limits from shore were easy up until 15 years ago. I very seldom chase walleyes with slip bobbers on the west end anymore.

There has been a proliferation of sunfish, crappies and LM bass even and occasional bullhead. The young of the year survival of fry is a known problem. It is quite possible that the clean up of the bad septic systems has merit. It has been brought up with discussions about Milac's Lake as well. Is it global warming- I have heard about lots of walleye lakes in WI that are now bass lakes.

 

Now I have some guide friends that have done well on the West end- they are so good with the electronics that they don't fish them unless they see quite a few in an area. The amount of detail that they can see on their graphs is unreal. They are experts at reading and relying on their electronics. They use tactics such as jigging Rapala's, lead core trolling ect. I know for a fact there are walleyes swimming in many of the weed beds on the West end. No one is targeting them. I am primarily a muskie  and crappie guy. I need to learn new techniques for catching walleyes. Casting Jigging raps to weed edges Lidner's Angling Edge has done some work with local guides doing this. Casting big plastics 4-6" paddle tails on jigs Cast just like I do for muskies on weed edges.

 

I would recommend booking a day with any of the top guides on Vermilion to learn new techniques, learn the electronics and how the fish use the different basins. I have personally fished with Matt Siefert he is a multi species guide- primarily for muskies but his knowledge of walleye fishing is incredible. He is not on the lake much anymore. The Guides League has a list of guides who are long time guides on the lake. Make some calls and be up front on your expectations- do you want to learn electronics, lake spots, new techniques or just catch a limit? The connection you make with these guides can help you get back on a pattern next time you are on the lake. Tip them well and you may make a new friend.

 

Now days if there is a hot bite the word gets out and people have no hesitation to run the lake to get to the hot bite. I see this with Crappies - guy's make runs with a boat full and leave with full livewells. They return a day or two later with another boat and it builds.

 

Good Luck get out there and fish- Have fun doing it.

 

Steve

 

 

[james_walleye]

Steve are you able to stay on the west end crappies during the summer? 

[Sorgy]

I can find a few most of the time. But the motherload moves around. I have heard of large schools up towards Norwegian Bay in the fall that are deeper. Crappies are in some big schools around Head O Lakes bay.... Moving around. I typically start chasing them in August and do ok. My outings are very short and I have been known to leave biting crappies if I see other boats hanging around.

They are increasing on the West end. The last two whitefish netting seasons my dad has caught  at least one of them in his net. He has never caught one in his net before.

My typical setup is a bobber and jig with plastic- tubes, grub or Berkly Gulp. I move around and search out weed beds- most weeds on the lake will hold some crappies- timing is key. If they bite great. I need to diversify and try some other tactics once in a while. Still looking for a giant or two. The rod that is most fun with these bobber fish is a 9'  Berkley Crappie hunter. bobber twitches and you can set the hook as hard as you want. The rod takes all slack out on the hook set and they are fun to reel in total cost $35 at L&M with a reel. 

If you find them there can be some big ones. Last season I found lots of smaller fish. 2 years ago there was a big school of fish that got pounded by many boats over a 2 week period and almost every fish went into a livewell. 

Keep those 11" for the frying pan and let the 12+ fish go.

 

Pm  me if you need any more assistance.

 

Steve

 

[james_walleye]

I was just curious. Our place is on big bay so I really never get to the west end. It's probably the one thing I wish was different about the east end is a panfish bite. 

[james_walleye]

I was just curious. Our place is on big bay so I really never get to the west end. It's probably the one thing I wish was different about the east end is a panfish bite. Here's one of the nice eyes from last week. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by james_walleye

[Wheres_Walter]

Walleye still being caught on leeches, or are people seeing a switch to crawlers?  Got some nieces and nephews up this weekend, and would like to help them put a few in the boat.  Thanks, Matt

[delcecchi]

Anybody see results from the recent tourney on Vermilion?  

[james_walleye]

Which tourney was that? 

[delcecchi]

Carpenter's North Star Walleye Classic   July 13

 

Big fish was 7.6 pounds and some guys from Bemidji won.  That's all I can find out .

http://northcountrycarpenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-Carpenters-North-Star-Walleye-Classic-Flyer-and-registration.pdf

 

Saw a sign alongside the road while driving to 
Tower for groceries..

 

[james_walleye]

Ya I looked and couldn't find any results either. 

[bassbouncer]

It was ugly

[james_walleye]

Wow that is ugly for sure! 

[delcecchi]

I wonder if there is any connection to the fact that when the dnr guys pull their seine on my beach they get 150 or so nice perch? Run up to 4 or 5 inches.

 

They seine at a number of places around the lake 4 times every July and have been for many years.   This is way above what I can remember as typical.  And that is without the young of the year which are still too little to show up much. 

[chucker1101]

Tale of two days this last weekend. On Saturday, couldn't pull a fish out of the lake. On Sunday, had a four fish walleye limit by 11am, with a bonus perch as well.

 

Graphed fish on Saturday, just couldn't get 'em to move. On Sunday, went back and no fish to be found. Decided to get out of my comfort zone, so i started working spots that i hadn't been to in two years or more. 2nd spot i tried had 'em stacked. Not huge, but consistent 12-15". Good size to keep.

 

My take-away was get out and try some spots you haven't been to in a while.

[DLD24]

What kind of structure did you have luck on Chucker?. 

[chucker1101]

7 hours ago, DLD24 said:

What kind of structure did you have luck on Chucker?. 

Should have put more that post

 

Found fish on flats near deep water. 20' was where I caught them on Sunday. Caught fish on both worms and leeches.

 

Both days it seemed following the wind worked (even if i didn't get anything to move on Saturday). On Saturday with the west wind, fish were concentrated on west-facing shorelines. On Sunday with the North wind, found fish on the North side of a shallow reef.

Edited July 23, 2019 by chucker1101

[DLD24]

Thanks for the info, heading up tomorrow to visit some family, hoping to get on a few walleyes.

[DLD24]

Marked a lot of fish on midlake humps, a lot of inactive fish, but the ones that did bite were pigs in 3 hours we got 2 29s,26,24. Man are those fish crazy fat. The 29 was my new PB.

[chucker1101]

14 hours ago, DLD24 said:

Marked a lot of fish on midlake humps, a lot of inactive fish, but the ones that did bite were pigs in 3 hours we got 2 29s,26,24. Man are those fish crazy fat. The 29 was my new PB.

 

 

That is a nice fish! Congrats on the PB.

[bassbouncer]

22 hours ago, DLD24 said:

Marked a lot of fish on midlake humps, a lot of inactive fish, but the ones that did bite were pigs in 3 hours we got 2 29s,26,24. Man are those fish crazy fat. The 29 was my new PB.

Nice fish!! Shallow or deep humps?

[leech~~]

23 hours ago, DLD24 said:

Marked a lot of fish on midlake humps, a lot of inactive fish, but the ones that did bite were pigs in 3 hours we got 2 29s,26,24. Man are those fish crazy fat. The 29 was my new PB.

 

Nice fish. But, do you know what happened to the last guy who took a picture with a boob showing! Your going to pay for that! 

[chaffmj]

21 hours ago, leech~~ said:

 

Nice fish. But, do you know what happened to the last guy who took a picture with a boob showing! Your going to pay for that! 

 

For a minute there I thought I was on the Frisky Friday thread by mistake looking at something D2E would post! 

[bassbouncer]

Well I fished the AIM tournament today out of fortune bay. Ended up in 9th place. Also caught a 30” fish Saturday morning prefishing. The bite wasn’t hot but we caught some nice fish. The maximum fish per boat was 5. We had a 27-1/2, 27, 23-1/2, 22, and a 12-1/2. Lost a nice fish 1/2 hour before the end of the day. 

Edited July 29, 2019 by bassbouncer

[JerkinLips]

Congratulations bassbouncer.  How do they score the 20-26" slot fish when you can't possess them?

[roony]

That's a heck of a good question

 

[bassbouncer]

Catch, picture, release. They have a chart that gives the weight for the fish that you catch. The picture of the fish needs to be with it laying on their ruler which they give you at the start of the day

[bassbouncer]

At the start of the day each boat gets a blank SD card, a ruler, and a couple scorecards to keep track of the fish. Pictures of the left side of the fish are taken on the ruler and the right side of the fish while someone holds it. We needed to bring a digital camera with