2021 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[PSU]

Heading up Wednesday. For non-leadcore fisherman (walleyes) has it fully transitioned to a minnow bite or or some of you still using crawlers?

 

Thanks

[Tominator692]

It’s been jig-minnow for me. Boated 32 walleye today. Lots of nice fish up to 17”. But no slot fish. Caught everything in 22’ to 30’. East end. 

[JerkinLips]

Fished Wednesday and Thursday this week.  Fishing was pretty tough but I did manage to catch a couple of meals and 4 slot fish 22-25".  Didn't catch anything Thursday morning but the fish were definitely there Thursday evening, although they were biting very light.  Rainbow chubs had the best action, then larger pike suckers.  Did catch a 23" eye on half a crawler when I was trying different bait.  Leafs are changing fast now.  Should be peak in the next week, and I think fishing will pick up in the next week.

[BrianF]

My brother-in-law got his personal best with me last night.  Thought I’d share his happy moment. Released, of course. 

[Raven77]

Beautiful fish!  What did he catch it on?

[BrianF]

^^^caught on a swimbait

[StillFishin']

Nice!  Swim bait - is that a biggish plastic on a heavyish gig  and casting towards shore?  East end? Now deep?  Evening I bet.

[Pat McGraw]

Anyone have a current water temp report? Thx.

[Spearing Machine]

Mid fifties on main lake and continuing to fall. I suspect by weekend we'll be right around fifty. 

[Pat McGraw]

Thank you Spearing Machine.

[JerkinLips]

Fished Tuesday-Thursday this week with interesting results.  In 2½ days I caught a couple dozen walleyes, 11 of which were 21-26".  All the rest were under 14"; not a single walleye 14-20".  Also caught a 19" bass and 23" and 26" northerns for a good variety.  All fish caught on minnows on a plain hook; lively and large pike suckers and rainbows worked best.  Tried crawlers for a while with no success.  The second picture is my open water best this year (26", 5#-10oz), and the third picture is a slot fish caught today in 39°F drizzly weather; the wind definitely was cold in the evening and today.  Fall colors are peaking now as shown in the two pictures from the Stuntz Bay road today.

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by JerkinLips
Wrong picture attached.

[CFD200]

Nice catches.  What depths were working for you?

[JerkinLips]

4 hours ago, CFD200 said:

Nice catches.  What depths were working for you?

13-15 FOW.  Tried slightly shallower and deeper with no success.

[CigarGuy]

We got into the crappies today on the west end. Buddy and I probably caught 30ish total and 3 walleyes that were under 10" long. Took us 6 hours of straight fishing, a little chilly, but fun!  I'd post some pics, but last time I did, someone sent me a negative pm for keeping some fish.

[CFD200]

9 hours ago, JerkinLips said:

13-15 FOW.  Tried slightly shallower and deeper with no success.

Thanks. Caught a 16” off the dock just as I got to the cabin in 6’. I will try to find them in the rain tomorrow.

[Rick]

12 hours ago, CigarGuy said:

We got into the crappies today on the west end. Buddy and I probably caught 30ish total and 3 walleyes that were under 10" long. Took us 6 hours of straight fishing, a little chilly, but fun!  I'd post some pics, but last time I did, someone sent me a negative pm for keeping some fish.

Heck with the yo yo who doesn't eat fish. He's on the wrong site.

[delcecchi]

16 hours ago, CigarGuy said:

We got into the crappies today on the west end. Buddy and I probably caught 30ish total and 3 walleyes that were under 10" long. Took us 6 hours of straight fishing, a little chilly, but fun!  I'd post some pics, but last time I did, someone sent me a negative pm for keeping some fish.

Out the person, post the stupid pm.  Let the light shine on them.

[CigarGuy]

 

6 hours ago, delcecchi said:

Out the person, post the stupid pm.  Let the light shine on them.

Not going to call him out. Went out today in the windy rainy conditions and caught over 20 in 4-1/2 hours, only kept 6 to make up for what we ate. Caught another walleye under 10", that's 4 in that size range, nice to see some smaller walleyes on the west end!

[outdoor1]

Wow!  Those are nice!!!!!!!!!!

[JV Ham Lake]

We closed the cabin yesterday for another year.  The forecast for next weekend just looked too cold!  We decided to sell our Tracker and look for a new boat this fall/winter.  Anyone have opinions on a Lund Crossover 18 1/2' versus a Crestliner 1850 Super Hawk?  

[mbeyer]

I helped close the cabin, too, last weekend. Some tough weather , wind, rain, cold. But we did have a few windows of opportunity and caught fish near reefs/rock piles in Big Bay.......25 ft of water. Nice fish....

 

Tried some proven spring spots north of Pine Island in 10-15 ft of water with limited success. Also, fished the Dells area and saw BIG bait balls and fish but did not get them to bite.  30 ft of water. There was fish there......

 

52 degrees of water when we left on Sunday.

 

[chucker1101]

12 hours ago, JV Ham Lake said:

We closed the cabin yesterday for another year.  The forecast for next weekend just looked too cold!  We decided to sell our Tracker and look for a new boat this fall/winter.  Anyone have opinions on a Lund Crossover 18 1/2' versus a Crestliner 1850 Super Hawk?  

 

Both are good boats. I think the Lunds fit and finish are better than Crestliner. But you pay for it. I'd consider the Alumacraft Trophy 185 as well. IMHO, a better boat for the money than either of those.

[chucker1101]

Did a Sat/Sun fishing first-week-of-October trip walleye trip with three others, total of four in the boat over the weekend. Weather was difficult - got blown off a couple of spots i wanted to fish (if you fished rock piles on Big Bay this weekend, i applaud your fortitude ) - but we managed to put 8 hours each day on the lake in South/West wind-protected locations.

 

Got 38 total fish:  30 Walleyes, 7 Northern, 1 Perch.  Three slot walleyes: a 24" and two 22". Had a good fish dinner and each guy left with some fish for the family. Northerns were all small this year,  22-27" range.

 

Everything was on pike suckers with Lindy rig. Long snells, short snells, beads, no beads, didn't seem to matter. Saturday fish were in shallower, 16-18' range, on Sunday they were deeper 20-22'. Overall, a consistent weekend, though we were a bit beat-up by the wind and rain at the end.

 

Next week I close the cabin for the winter. Might have one more afternoon of fishing in between chores.

 

[Pat McGraw]

Quote

Cigar Guy, Were the crappies in the weeds or open water?

 

[CigarGuy]

Both, caught more along shorelines. When the sun came out for any length of time, bite slowed way down. Good thing the weather sux most of the time!

[outdoor1]

Caught a limit of nice 14”-15” fish (walleye) on Wednesday. Pulling lead core on big bay. 20 to 25 feet #5 rap at 2 mph. Took all afternoon but nice fish. 

Edited October 11, 2019 by outdoor1

[Tominator692]

In spite of the weather the fall bite has been outstanding. On a typical 3 hour outing I’m boating 10 to 15 Walleye. 70% are 14” to 17” with the occasional slot fish. Strictly jigging with minnows in 24’ to 30’ of water. Two more weeks to go before cabin closing. Hoping for some decent weather. 

[Bbobber]

Nice job CigarGuy! We got out Saturday

evening. I was looking for your cigar boat,

but didn't see you.We did find some crappies.

We will be going up next weekend to close

up the cabin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CigarGuy]

We were out from around 11 to 430. I was looking for u, caught them in the same areas we're always working. We left when it really started to downpour. We were using a "Bob" rig. We'll be up Thursday night, boat is pulled, might not get it out. Only wknd to winterize it before deer season.

Edited October 12, 2019 by CigarGuy

[muskie-mike]

Wish I could find some crappies in the Fectos pt area...