2022 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[SkunkedAgain]

Let's get it started here.

 

I'll be the first to say that I caught zero walleye. Zero! Not even a nibble. As CigarGuy posted in another thread, the water temps were in the mid-to-upper 40s in the bigger lake basins and in the low to mid-50s in smaller bays. There were not a lot of boats out, presumably because nobody has their docks in yet. Of the boats that were out, I did not see anyone net a walleye. Craziest thing that I've ever seen. If walleye in the main lake were still in mid-40 degree water, they might not have triggered to spawn yet.

 

I did have better luck chasing some crappies and I caught A LOT of garbage, dock sections, and random scraps of wood floating around. Take a garbage bag in your boats when you head out there!

Edited May 16, 2022 by SkunkedAgain

[StillFishin']

Not the report I wanted to hear for the first one.  At least your honest as a lot of guys may not want to admit it!   Well nothing wrong with crappies.  We’re they shallow?  And what bait were you using?

 

Stillfishin’
 

 

[Raven77]

I will admit it.  Zero walleyes in two days of fishing.  We fished shallow and deep and marked a lot of fish in 16-20' and had a few weak bites.  A friend of mine caught 6 walleyes on Sunday but worked hard for them and he has fished the lake his entire life.  Got a few crappies in Black Bay.  I was shocked at how few boats were out, definitely a reflection of late ice out and how few docks are in because of the high water.  My fishing partner drove back to the TC on Sunday night and traffic was surprisingly light.  I'm guessing late ice out discouraged a lot of fishermen from coming north.  We need some warm dry weather.

[BWpineisland]

We had a pretty good weekend. There were two couples and we limited out both Saturday and Sunday. The eyes we kept were all 15-17”.  We caught many 10-14” eyes and one 26” which was returned to the water immediately. All on a variety of jigs in 18-35’ of water. As usual the women out fished both of us

[Tominator692]

Had a great opening weekend. Son and I boated 51 walleye between Saturday and Sunday. Plenty of small stuff but no problem getting some nice keepers. This is a pic of the best weekend fish for us. 

[DLD24]

We had a good opener as well we could have kept limits opening day, but just kept enough for a fish fry. Then Sunday had our little friendly tourney and everyone had a pretty good day. Pulling cranks and jigs n minnows caught fish.  

[Bbobber]

I had a great weekend the weather was decent and fishing was good. I caught 5 walleyes 21"-25", 4 northerns largest was 32" and a 17 largemouth opening day. 2 more walleyes, 2 crappies 2 northerns on Sunday all on jig and minnows.

[SkunkedAgain]

Well, I chose my screen name for a reason.  Congrats to everyone

[CigarGuy]

1 minute ago, Bbobber said:

I had a great weekend the weather was decent and fishing was good. I caught 5 walleyes 21"-25", 4 northerns largest was 32" and a 17 largemouth opening day. 2 more walleyes, 2 crappies 2 northerns on Sunday all on jig and minnows.

Nice job Bob! Fishing off the neighbors dock sucked for us. My gang is coming up Thursday night till Monday, this will be our opener, we'll hit it hard. It's a bummer my dock is mostly under water and the lift isn't in. Thanks to the neighbor around the corner for letting us park on shore at there place next weekend.

[ReefWhooligan]

Saturday we got beat up by the wind all day long driving around to the usual spots and didn't catch a thing.  Towards the evening we went in shallow and ended up catching 7 keepers in 6ft of water on slip bobbers.

Edited May 17, 2022 by ReefWhooligan

[Wanderer]

A co-worker reported they had some the best fishing ever on V last weekend.  Trolling 6-8 feet in the morning with HJ10’s.  Where the water temps were in the mid/low 50’s

[Fish Head]

I was up for opening weekend, but only fished Saturday morning. I had a limit by 6:30 so headed back to the cabin to get work done. In about an hour I lost 2 on the way to the boat, boated a 13" that I threw back, and kept a 14, 15, 16, 17. Nice size eaters. Jig and minnow in 15-20 FOW.  Water temps where I was fishing was 41. 

 

I have damage to 2 docks and several trees down. I hope this water level goes down soon! Good luck everyone. 

[SkunkedAgain]

We are high up on the hill so no worry of water damage, but our electrical box wasn't too far from the rising lake water. I hope that issue doesn't start hitting others as well!

[Shulsebus]

We will be up for our yearly trip June 4-11.  Just seeing if it's the usual baits so far fishing.  Anyone bobber fishing?  Lindy rig?  I'm assuming the water is told cold at this point for Leeches. Thank fellas. 

[CigarGuy]

On 5/19/2022 at 1:17 PM, SkunkedAgain said:

We are high up on the hill so no worry of water damage, but our electrical box wasn't too far from the rising lake water. I hope that issue doesn't start hitting others as well!

Looks like your neighbors old pontoon is in some trouble, only a couple inches of the motor is above the water.  

[MikeG3Boat]

Any new reports from this past weekend?  Heading up Thursday for a long Memorial Day weekend. Looking for a place to start. Going out of Bayview RV resort. First year fishing vermilion. 

[Leroyboyisthatu]

Was out the last 2 days.

Saw some Crappies caught in warmer bays.

Not much action outside the mouths of bays today. Hoping it picks up this week. Trying to learn this lake over the summer.

[Wheres_Walter]

We were up this past weekend.  We got cold but did ok.  We caught around 40 walleye.  Most were 12-14" a handful of 14-16".  Good activity and a full fry pan, but no bigger fish.  Frazer and Smarts bays.  All Jig and minnow.  Mornings we found them at 24-26 FOW.  Evenings in 7-10 FOW.  Water temp was 50-52.

[ReefWhooligan]

1 hour ago, Wheres_Walter said:

Mornings we found them at 24-26 FOW.  Evenings in 7-10 FOW.  Water temp was 50-52.

 

You did a lot better than us...  Did you mostly catch them in mornings and evenings or were you able to catch them mid-day also?

[CigarGuy]

Our group of 6 guys did pretty good. From Thursday evening to Sunday caught a bunch of crappies, 4 walleyes that were to big, a handful of pike and sunfish. One sunfish was 11". All on the west end.

[Pat McGraw]

Sizes caught matched most recent survey very closely - a lot of 12-14" fish with a few 15". Three to six feet of water against rocky shoreline at dusk was very productive. Fish still discharging milt. Should continue to be great fishing for next couple weeks along shoreline. 

[SkunkedAgain]

On 5/23/2022 at 10:48 AM, CigarGuy said:

Looks like your neighbors old pontoon is in some trouble, only a couple inches of the motor is above the water.  

Yes indeed. We actually bought it together. We wedged the pontoon boat into that lift last fall and hoisted it out of the water. Unfortunately the water came up so much this spring, the pontoon couldn't float with the rising levels. There wasn't much that we could do opening weekend except wait for the water to drop and then assess the damage. It's mainly a garbage hauler so no big loss for a $500 boat/motor.

[Zdell]

Heading up to crane Lake area. How are conditions and any tips / pointers? 

[delcecchi]

On 5/25/2022 at 8:54 PM, Zdell said:

Heading up to crane Lake area. How are conditions and any tips / pointers? 

Very high water.   Be careful   Basically a flood along the Rainy Lake watershed.   Call your destination to check on how they are doing.

[partyonpine]

Memorial day was really successful.  Caught bigger fish shallow but the dock bite was there all night,  my kid caught a 25.5 inch walleye in 4 feet Sunday.  Hoping the water goes down so I can use my smaller dock next week.

[CLOTAGAMES]

Caught some real nice west end fish last week.

[StillFishin']

Wow , nice fish!  That’s a trophy Crappie.  How deep and what were you using?

[MikeG3Boat]

It is always nice to hear that people are catching fish and in many cases very nice fish based on the pictures.

 

Has anyone been out this week during the week?  Are the fish still shallow?  Heading up tonight for the weekend and hope to catch a couple for the frying pan.  I am fishing on the east side of the lake I am staying near strawberry island.  Any help would be appreciated.  Tight lines everyone.

[jaydogg]

Went up with my dad for a few hours during the nights this week.  Each night was a few walleyes, biggest was 27 inches in 15 ft of water at 5 PM before a rain storm also caught some great keepers.  Lots of issues including both of us getting sick so we didn't get to spend as much time fishing as we wanted but the fishing was ok.

[Shulsebus]

Headed up from Northern Illinois in the morning for a week! Also have people from west coast coming! Super pumped and ready to do some fishing! Hopefully a good report to come!