2021 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[RoosterMan]

Might not be huge but He wanted a musky!  So....before I could get here yesterday afternoon.  He got one off the dock.  I cannot even explain the joy on his face when I got here.  Pretty cool. 

[mtheis]

I am coming up there Sept 5 and staying a week.  I can hardly wait!  I want to get in on the trolling bite before it gets too late.

 

[PSU]

Still a crawler bite for walleye, or transitioning to minnows? Coming up tomorrow

 

Thanks 

[LBerquist]

Bring it all and be prepared. Last weekend we put fish in the boat with crawlers, leeches, minnows, jigging rap, and lead core....

[JerkinLips]

Fished Saturday and Sunday with interesting results.  Y-store and Fuel-n-Food didn't have leeches on Saturday so I went with pike suckers, chubs, and crawlers.  Fishing was great in the mornings for about an hour (7am), but I caught only one walleye in the evenings.  All of the walleyes were caught on pike suckers that were on the larger size.  I couldn't get a bite on the chubs (which were on the small size) during the good bite.  I tried crawlers once when I had no action on pike suckers so I can't make a judgement on those.  Nice size walleyes for eating (14-18") and I did catch 21" and 24" slotters.  Water temp was 65-67°F, but the fallish-bite seems to be starting.

[PSU]

Thanks Jerkin!

[chucker1101]

I'm going all-in on minnows this weekend. I'll let y'all know how it worked out on Tuesday

[Wanderer]

10 hours ago, chucker1101 said:

I'm going all-in on minnows this weekend. I'll let y'all know how it worked out on Tuesday

 

Don’t forget the Rapalas!!

[RoosterMan]

What a great Labor Day week at the lake!  Fishing is very good right now.  I don’t think that needs to be said.  First Muskie for my boy, walleyes walleyes walleyes and he popped a 40” pike.  Water temps at 63-65 degrees. The bite is only going to improve.  No live bait for us.  All on the East end,  all on hard baits. Have a great rest of the season.  Back to school for our kids. 

[james_walleye]

Same story for us rooster! Really good walleye fishing. All lead for us. 25-30 feet. Fished 3 hours yesterday caught ~25 fish. Kept 8 real nice fish for one last fry for the year. Back to school. Fall baseball on the weekends. Docks are out. Labor day is usually the last hoorah for the year on V for us unfortunately

[RoosterMan]

James. You were definitely targeting deeper fish than we did.  We were primarily 16-20’.  Too bad about closing up shop.  I hope your shifting gears to the field for the fall. 

 

Also I wanted to give a shout out to Vermilion Gold for his cameo in the pike photo.  I know he pounded the fish this week as well.  

[james_walleye]

Rooster I'll definitely be in the tree stand when I can. I also pick up my new Lund this week! I'll get to sneak to the river now and then to in the new ride! 

[CFD200]

I did not have as good of luck with the walleyes this weekend.  Had to have brats in lieu of the fish fry.  But, I did catch my first Lake Vermilion Musky.

I also caught a couple of walleyes on a G-Loomis rod I caught with the lead core a couple of weeks ago.  I think it had been on the bottom for a couple of years. Replaced the handle, a new reel and it lives again.

[bassbouncer]

17, 18, 19, and 26” in an hour after work tonight. Leadcore 30’ deep niles bay

[chucker1101]

On 8/29/2019 at 10:04 AM, chucker1101 said:

I'm going all-in on minnows this weekend. I'll let y'all know how it worked out on Tuesday

Didn't make it out fishing this last weekend. Instead, new puppy! Back on Sept 20. Glad to see everyone catching fish. Looks like it was a great weekend.

[DLD24]

Vermilion is one lake that seems to have my number, I dont fish it a lot, but I seem to have more bad days than good when I'm out there. I have been trying to gain confidence with leadcore (complete newbie at it) and after reading your guys reports I thought I was going to be able to today. Not the case, we fished from the west side of Big Bay all the way over to Armstrong Bay with 0 walleyes pulling lead... We marked almost nothing on structure everything was off the edge in 25-35ft. Before we left we tried power bobbing for a little bit and a put few in the boat including a nice 25"er. One day I will catch a darn walleye pulling lead haha.

[james_walleye]

DLD when I pull lead im no where near structure. Im targeting fish that are roaming the big mud flats. You will see the fish and bait balls on the graph. 

[RoosterMan]

DLD.  We started pulling lead on Vermilion about 12 years ago.  I can tell you from my perspective.  Just cause you see em doesn’t mean there gonna bite.  Pulling lead is fairly simple if you can be consistent. Have good line counter reels. You definitely have to have your speed right, amount of line back right,  size and color can make a difference day to day. The ability to replicate what caught the last fish is very important.  James is right that big expansive mud can be great. However a lot of the spots we pull are near a lot of snaggy structure.  I still get my but kicked most days by my buddies on the V so I keep trying to improve my skills too.   I am probably done trolling for the year from here on out guessing jig rod will be in my hands next time I get up. Just my 2 cents.  

[DLD24]

Ya I think I just need more practice at it.. I'm a structure fisherman through and through haha... I felt that our baits were in the strike zone and we were cycling color and profiles so it was getting very frustrating... I'll try and get my redemption later this fall

[Fish Head]

You are definately right that just because you went over fish doesn't mean they are going to bite. There are many times I see them, but they don't bite. Ideally when pulling cranks you run your bait past many more fish so putting the odds more in your favor.  However always let the fish tell you what they want. I can assure you the crankbait bite isn't over. I'll pull cranks until Oct. 

[tarpon6]

Up from Florida, been here since Monday (East side).  Smallies are on fire.  Quality fish too, larger overall than my first two trips.  Was near a muskie spot, thought what the hell.. Threw a medium - large silver / black spinner and had a lazy follow from a huge fish, tossed it a couple more times- nothing.  Went back 10 min later tried a larger spinner, glide, and large prop, nothing.. Ate a sandwich, went back with a brown / copper spinner got a charge and follow about halfway. Threw it again got it all the way to the boat and in a figure 8.  The fish stopped looked at me, said that figure 8 ain't good enough and swam under the boat and out of sight.  That got my heart pumping.  The adrenaline got the best of me though..  My figure 8 was too small and too fast..  Never met face to face with one that big.  Hope I get another chance.

 

One thing that has not been great is the pike fishing.  Last couple years if I could find reeds and cabbage I could count on some medium size fish.  This year there seems to be more cabbage,  but only two hammer handles so far.  Not sure whats up?   

[Quincy]

I started lead core trolling a couple of years ago.  I dont do as much fishing as I would like so I am no expert.  It works but some days I have better results than others for sure.   One thing that is bit difficult in my experience is that you have 130feet of line out or so and it is hard to feel if the lure is running right.  It can get fouled by hooking stuff from the bottom, leaves etc. I dont know how many times I have reeled the line back in for a line check to find a small 6-8" fish on it that I have been dragging along for who knows how long.    So there is  a lot of line checking, reeling in and letting line out in this process.      

[Quincy]

Tarpon,  Thats a good day of Musky fishing!

[mtheis]

The fish are biting! I am exclusively trolling with lead core and its working. I get my limits each day, with a few bonus lunker perch thrown in. I even managed a couple of big crappies in the evening. I spend a lot of time on the water each day to do this however.  I am getting them around 23 ft. With 90ft of leadcore. #5 flicker shads are working but I have used other baits too.  The weather has been cold and rainy. The water temp when I started was about 63 deg. Now it is hovering around 61. I have a couple of days left, I hope there is breaks in the weather for me to fish.

[fishingdad]

mtheis  are you on west end' , east end or both ?   that is great to hear.  I have some guys coming up in 2 weeks  very inexperienced fisherman & it would be nice just to put the leadcore in the holder & let them catch some.  

[mtheis]

East end. I have transitioned to using Rapala Jointed Minnows now and I am catching a few more fish. Firetiger. Look for fish above the bottom and try to keep your baits at that depth. Good luck! It is cold here and the wind doesn't stop.

[Sculpin]

Can anyone tell me the current water temps ?

thanks very much

[mtheis]

61 degrees by Ely Island. 59 degrees in Pike Bay.

[side_laker]

61 on Wednesday did real good fishing. Thinking about going this afternoon again 

[muskie-mike]

Good leadcore bite on Saturday but  nothing on Sunday...was it the wind switch or what??