2021 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[StateofHockey]

As for the opener our group of five caught and released plenty of walleyes but they ran small 9"-14" Docks were good at sunset in 4-5 FOW. All the usual opener spots Cherry, Trout portage, Fectos, ... held walleye with our best success in 25'-35' FOW. All had a good time which is the most important thing, weather was great. Off to a good start in 2021.

 

[BigVTim]

Same here. Best weather I can remember on opener, just beautiful. Tons of little 12-15" walleyes in the deep holes, but didn't want to keep pulling them up from that deep past a few for dinner. A few nice small mouth off the rocks, black bay crappies seem to have slowed down for me. Couldn't get anything to bite on shoreline breaks. Water temps between 53-57 for the weekend depending on spot and time of day.

 

Tight lines

[gimruis]

20 hours ago, TimH66 said:

Like it or not, I think the larger crowds are here to stay.

 

I don't think that they are here to stay.  When the covid crowd realizes that life has returned to normal, pressure will be reduced in almost every aspect of the outdoors again. Additionally, when Canada is open for business again, that will also send some people packing.

 

I don't know when this will happen, but I personally am hoping sooner rather than later.  I fish and hunt to generally avoid being around other people and at times during the past year or more, I've run into people that I previously never have.

 

Give it 2-4 years and there will also be a surplus of used boats, RVs, and other recreational items for sale.

[DLD24]

We had a good opening weekend, 18-28ft was our best depths. The second day we found good fish on a subtle point near a deep hole. We spot locked and casted back to them, the livewell was full in less than an hour. Once it slowed down we ran around the lake looking for fish with zero success. So we came back to our original spot and the fish were stacked right where we left them so we pitched jigs again. We proceeded to wack good eaters when I set the hook and the rod doubled over. I couldn't move him off the bottom, a few long steady runs later I was sure it was a giant eye. Finally he gave in and up came a big 29 5/8, an awesome way to end a great weekend.

[SkunkedAgain]

Nice haul on that big lady.

 

I think that most people overlooked the fact that the warm weather and bright sun affected where the walleye would be on opener.

 

My fishing group was smaller than usual this year, but we still had a great time. We drank a few beers, exaggerated old stories, and played a lot of 500 at night. Good times as usual.

Edited May 18, 2021 by SkunkedAgain

[KingKapalone]

Any tips for catching walleye in the rain? We're going to be on the west side of the lake Thursday night to Sunday and it looks like there will be lots of rain and some storms. From what I've read/watched about spring walleye, we should try jigs and minnows in 6-10 feet of water. That huge one two posts up says differently though, but also not sure what the rain might do.

[DLD24]

Vermilion is a different beast, probably why I tend to struggle out there. We always try to find fish shallow, but just can't connect with them. The west end might be different, I've read there's weeds on that side. I would try and find those, walleyes love cabbage.

[CigarGuy]

We got our rear ends kicked this weekend. Four of us barely scratched up a crappie dinner. Only two slot walleyes. I think the bite in Black Bay might be over, hope I'm wrong. This is the worst year I've had there. Only 3 decent trips out of at least 10 times. Like Skunked said, lots of people fishing, not much catching going on. 

[SkunkedAgain]

On the plus side, I did collect many new slip bobbers and lures that made their way into Black Bay. My fishing partner even boated a plastic bag floating, which turned into my beer can bag for fishing opener. There is always a bright side to everything!

[delcecchi]

Makes me feel better about the various issues that kept me on shore.  It's always something,  if it isn't one thing it's another.  

[KingKapalone]

On 5/9/2021 at 10:45 AM, Raven77 said:

Head O' Lakes, Wakemup, and Niles bays have all been productive.  Use your electronics.

Should we be looking shallow or deep this weekend?

[DLD24]

20 hours ago, KingKapalone said:

Should we be looking shallow or deep this weekend?

Another tip I can offer is run side imaging if you have it. Especially in the mud the fish really pop.

[SkunkedAgain]

Good tip.

 

If you don't have side imaging (like me), use what you've got and crack a beer. It makes not having side imaging more bearable.

[Raven77]

Quote

Should we be looking shallow or deep this weekend?

Yes.

[Raven77]

Quote

We had a good opening weekend, 18-28ft was our best depths. The second day we found good fish on a subtle point near a deep hole. We spot locked and casted back to them, the livewell was full in less than an hour. Once it slowed down we ran around the lake looking for fish with zero success. So we came back to our original spot and the fish were stacked right where we left them so we pitched jigs again. We proceeded to wack good eaters when I set the hook and the rod doubled over. I couldn't move him off the bottom, a few long steady runs later I was sure it was a giant eye. Finally he gave in and up came a big 29 5/8, an awesome way to end a great weekend.

Congrats on a great day of fishing and a huge LV walleye!  I would like to understand though how you keep fishing when "the livewell was full",

[jim curlee]

We caught a pile of fish in less than 6' of water.

Water temps were in the 67 degree surface temp range.

We hammered the crappies too.

Jig & minnow, slip bobber & leech, jig & plastics.

That's all the info your going to squeeze out of me. LOL 

All of our bigger fish went back in the drink, we kept a few for a fish fry, and sent a few back to Wisconsin.

All in all, a great day on the water, except for the blackflies they drove us off the lake by 3:00.

They are terrible right now, I'd stay away if I was you guy's. LOL 

Jim

[SkunkedAgain]

Raven77 - I suspect that they were doing catch & release (CPR) fishing once the livewell was full, but I understand and appreciate you asking the question.

[SkunkedAgain]

1 hour ago, jim curlee said:

We caught a pile of fish in less than 6' of water.

Water temps were in the 67 degree surface temp range.

We hammered the crappies too.

Jig & minnow, slip bobber & leech, jig & plastics.

That's all the info your going to squeeze out of me. LOL 

All of our bigger fish went back in the drink, we kept a few for a fish fry, and sent a few back to Wisconsin.

All in all, a great day on the water, except for the blackflies they drove us off the lake by 3:00.

They are terrible right now, I'd stay away if I was you guy's. LOL 

Jim

Nice photos Jim. You definitely made out well.

 

I spent last Sunday on the edge of a swamp doing some work, and then was cutting a trail through the woods. I had to be covered head-to-toe because those little biters were everywhere. I easily pulled 100+ ticks off of me. All but one were wood ticks with one being a deer tick. All but three were still crawling on me with only three that decide to bury their heads in my sand. It looks like another bad tick year in the woods.

[jim curlee]

SA;

 

We have only had a couple dog ticks in the last week, deer ticks all the time.

My dog was getting them every time it warmed up a touch, never had a break from deer ticks all winter long, that sucks!

 

We use a lot of Permethrin around here, including putting it on the dog's face.

We also feed the dog Bravecto, that stuff works.

The dog gets bit, the tick dies.

The only bummer is that there are dead ticks all over the floor of our house. LOL

 

Jim

[SkunkedAgain]

How does the Bravecto taste?? I might have to give it a try! 

[Raven77]

Quote

Raven77 - I suspect that they were doing catch & release (CPR) fishing once the livewell was full, but I understand and appreciate you asking the question.

Would like to hear an answer from DLD.  Sorting after you have reached your limit is illegal.  Sorting at all IMO is unethical.  In my boat, once a fish goes into the live well it counts against your limit.  Continuing to fish, sort, and release contributes to death loss.  I'm not accusing DLD of anything, just asking a question.  We all need to work together to preserve the awesome resource we have here on LV.

[delcecchi]

4 hours ago, Raven77 said:

Would like to hear an answer from DLD.  Sorting after you have reached your limit is illegal.  Sorting at all IMO is unethical.  In my boat, once a fish goes into the live well it counts against your limit.  Continuing to fish, sort, and release contributes to death loss.  I'm not accusing DLD of anything, just asking a question.  We all need to work together to preserve the awesome resource we have here on LV.

I am pretty sure that culling is against the regs in Minnesota.    Is continuing to fish once there is a limit in possession legal?   Not sure about that..   And if they were one fish short of the limit then they were ok, regulation wise, although "party fishing" rules are something I haven't looked at.   

[mulefarm]

Annual trip this week. Pretty tough fishing. Got a 24.5 this afternoon. Noticed a lot of cormorants, could they be hurting the walleyes like they did on Leech?

[james_walleye]

More than 1 time I've stopped 1 fish short of a limit so I could continue to catch and release

[DLD24]

20 hours ago, Raven77 said:

Would like to hear an answer from DLD.  Sorting after you have reached your limit is illegal.  Sorting at all IMO is unethical.  In my boat, once a fish goes into the live well it counts against your limit.  Continuing to fish, sort, and release contributes to death loss.  I'm not accusing DLD of anything, just asking a question.  We all need to work together to preserve the awesome resource we have here on LV.

We were completely legal kept 7 in the box. I'm not going out and dealing with 10k people to just catch 8 fish and go in. Also no disrespect, but just cause that's how you do it in your boat doesn't mean I have to run my boat that way. If I had some crappy livewell I wouldn't cull fish, but fish stay very healthy in my boat's livewells.

[Raven77]

Your original post stating "the livewell was full in less than an hour" is a bit different than your latest post saying "we were completely legal kept 7 in the box".  You must have a tiny live well if it only holds 7 fish, or an exaggerated opinion of the word "full".  Which was it?  

[FishinCT]

17 hours ago, delcecchi said:

I am pretty sure that culling is against the regs in Minnesota.    Is continuing to fish once there is a limit in possession legal?   Not sure about that..   And if they were one fish short of the limit then they were ok, regulation wise, although "party fishing" rules are something I haven't looked at.   

Culling is not against the law most places in Minnesota. Raven nailed it above by saying that you can cull as long as you haven’t reached your limit. This is not legal on certain lakes, but vermilion is not one of them. 
 

Once you have reached a limit you can still continue to catch and release. 

 

We can debate the ethics of both, but the regs are pretty clear. 

[DLD24]

3 hours ago, Raven77 said:

Your original post stating "the livewell was full in less than an hour" is a bit different than your latest post saying "we were completely legal kept 7 in the box".  You must have a tiny live well if it only holds 7 fish, or an exaggerated opinion of the word "full".  Which was it?  

So your saying 1 fish is the difference between truth and exaggeration? I'm not gonna argue with you man this isn't fishing minnesota on Facebook. All I know is we had a fun weekend. I figured I'd post a report for people going up, not anymore.

[BigVTim]

Ok back to fishing, how’s it been this week? I’ve seen lots of action on Instagram from some of the guides. This upcoming cold front may shut em down a bit but looks like this last stretch has water temps up to ideal levels. 

[Fish Head]

Just to be cystal clear on this so we all know... culling is leagal as long as you don't have your limit yet. Once you reach your limit, you can no longer trade fish. This is true on all inland lakes other than Mile Lacs.  Also it is legal to continue catch and release after you have a limit.