2023 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports

[SkunkedAgain]

Welcome to the forum MMG1458.

 

At this point with young kids, just find any dock next to vegetation and you'll likely be able to keep the kids happy catching pan fish all day. I wouldn't limit myself to only going for crappies. The kids don't care and hardly know the difference.

Edited May 24, 2023 by SkunkedAgain

[MMG1458]

Crappies still active except for Black Bay?

[Ike367]

Going to be going on a guys fishing trip June 7-11th. We've never fished Vermillion before (Pelican Lake by Orr is our usual "go to"). What tips do you have, what do you think the water temp will be, and will there be any fish still in the spawning stages or will it be the post spawn slump for most species? We'd like to target Bass, Crappie, and Walleye. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

[TomWehler]

Go have fun n explore. Just  Fish!

As I always say “If it looks fishy—-Fish it”

Be safe n have success - Good Luck!

[delcecchi]

4 hours ago, Ike367 said:

Going to be going on a guys fishing trip June 7-11th. We've never fished Vermillion before (Pelican Lake by Orr is our usual "go to"). What tips do you have, what do you think the water temp will be, and will there be any fish still in the spawning stages or will it be the post spawn slump for most species? We'd like to target Bass, Crappie, and Walleye. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

I think the "post spawn slump" is a myth.    However the fishies do move from where the spawning is to where the food is.   

[TrueNorth]

12 hours ago, Ike367 said:

Going to be going on a guys fishing trip June 7-11th. We've never fished Vermillion before (Pelican Lake by Orr is our usual "go to"). What tips do you have, what do you think the water temp will be, and will there be any fish still in the spawning stages or will it be the post spawn slump for most species? We'd like to target Bass, Crappie, and Walleye. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

What side of the lake are you staying? Do you have decent electronics? 

Edited May 27, 2023 by TrueNorth

[SkunkedAgain]

On 5/26/2023 at 10:43 AM, TomWehler said:

“If it looks fishy—-Fish it”

The best advice. It should be on a t-shirt

[chucker1101]

Fished for about 4-5 hours this weekend with the kids, all time in Big Bay. Had a mix of rainbows and pike suckers for bait. Rainbows out-fished pike suckers, and the small rainbows were bringing in fish. Caught about 12-14 fish, kept 8 for a fish fry. Biggest was 16". Limited sample says action seemed better in the morning than evening. Working 16-18' in the morning was our best run. Evening was slow. Didn't get to too many places, hit four reliable spots and caught fish in 3 outta 4.

[Feathers Rainin]

Thanks to all that have shared reports.

 

Please post water temps and general area of the lake from the weekend and throughout this week.  I am heading up this weekend and water temp will play a role in our tactics.  Thanks!

[Rivergroup]

We are heading up a week from Friday if anyone has walleye thoughts on the West end.

Thanks!

[redlabguy]

These ads are irritating. I’ve been delayed getting to our island; but health issues with my wife, my mother and my dog ( I hope that’s in the right order) but I hit the lake tomorrow. I’ll fish the next day and I promise temps and any tips ( I’ll be using rainbows) I can offer. 
RLG 

[StateofHockey]

Excellent report with Q&A video of Vermilion fishing over Memorial day weekend on the Everett Bay Lodge Facebook page.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0P6R367DVCXxuZN9LQmZo3ptHADXTbR7NewV2P4W8BouagdzmZ56RpSC6SP2KTjNhl&id=100031660668169&sfnsn=mo&mibextid=RUbZ1f

Good timely advice on walleyes

[Roseypike19]

Walleye Report: 

Just spent a week on the lake (East end).  The fishing was as hot as the weather with many, many 14-25" walleyes.  

Surface Temps: Consistently 70-72 with the recent hot weather.  Swimming was comfortable the past three days. 

Depths:  All caught in less than 10 FOW

Techniques: Lures - Plastics and jerkbaits.  We bought two dozen leeches but never opened them.  I do regret not watching a bobber dip below the surface.  

Tactics: Cast and retrieve lures in sandy bays, over main lake/secondary rocky points, across rocky flats, between sandy flats, and throughout silt/mud bays with shallow weeds.  A little wind and clouds helped but was not always necessary.  And we had lots of random fish. 

 

Advice:  Get out there and fish.  These patterns should hold for the next week-two.  The fish are aggressively feeding in the shallows where they are finding crawfish, shiners, etc.  A fast moving bait is getting hammered.  I literally can't tell you how many times I saw fish INHALE our presentations at the boat.

 

The population is healthy.  Catch and keep a few and let a bunch of them go.    

Good luck. 

 

Edited June 4, 2023 by Roseypike19

[StateofHockey]

Followed the advice I posted, slip bobbers w rainbows and crawlers in big bay on a dozen humps topping out at 6 to 12'. Caught a few smalles and a couple 12" walleyes. So not very successful but maybe didn't hit the right humps or lake was too calm or wrong time of day - 7:30 11 am. That's why they call it fishin'

[PSU]

Question for this knowledgeable group

 

I've noticed over the past two weeks at the lake that in certain areas there seems to be a ton of black "duck-like" floaters that seem to congregate by tons and stir up the water and then move to another area close by, stir up the water again and move again. I've seen them recently in Greenwood Bay and around Fectos.

 

Are these cormorants? Are they stirring up the water by fishing?

 

Thanks

[Feathers Rainin]

Those are cormorants and they are aggressive fish eaters.  I saw more last weekend than typical on vermilion.  Pretty common  on the east end but I don’t usually see much of any on the west which is where we were.  They eat a lot of fish and surprisingly large fish for their size so they aren’t great for the fish populations.  
 

I can’t believe how fast the water warmed up.  We were seeing up to the high 70’s last weekend.  Typically mid June is mid to upper 60’s.  The Muskies didn’t seem to be too fired up with the quick warm up.  The ones we moved were lazy and would not go in to the turn.  Hopefully some more normal temps this week help.  

[Rivergroup]

Heading up early Saturday morning. Going to be a short, discombobulated trip this year. Starting with 4 of us but one has to leave to watch his son play in state (WI) baseball tournament on Tuesday. Rest of us are only there until Wednesday. Kind of disappointing but I'm thinking we'll have to make a trip in September as well. 

 

Forecast calls for wind!

[SkunkedAgain]

You'll appreciate having less guys in the boat if you need to drag raps.

[Lunderfull]

short weekend but going to try to fish this weekend instead of working the whole time. sounds like its going to cool off a bit wonder how that will affect things.

 

[JerkinLips]

Finally made it up to Vermilion this summer.  Between opening our place in Soudan and entertaining the wife and dog I only made it out on the lake 1½ hours Wednesday evening and 3½ hours Thursday morning.  In those 5 hours all I caught was a 10" perch.  I had 3 other light bites and that was it.  The wife caught two 8" eyes Wednesday and didn't get out Thursday morning with me.  Vermilion Fuel and Food didn't have rainbows, and their chubs were very small and pike suckers were too big (they did have a river-mix that looked good that I should have tried).  I did see a few mayflies on the surface so I will blame all of those factors on my lack of success, although my lack of fishing skills factored in also.  Many others fishing around us and I only saw one other fish being landed so maybe I wasn't the only one struggling to catch fish.

 

Water temp was 65°F in Stuntz Bay and the water level is running 13" lower than last year at this time as shown below.  Good luck fishing and enjoy the lake.  It was beautiful out there.

 

[SkunkedAgain]

It's amazing how much the water level is dropping. It looks like we've been getting enough rain to keep the forest hydrated but not enough to fill the lake.

[Badgervet]

Hi there,

We are going up tomorrow and will be staying on the West side.  Any updates on how the fishing has been since the cold front came through?  We are looking to target walleyes with jig/minnow/leeches in the shallows early/late and then use the Helix to find sand/mud transitions in the 15-20 feet range with Lindy's and cranks.  Primarily fish Wakemup Bay and Norwegian Bay though I've known to wander to Niles Bay.  We got an email from one of the resorts that the fishing has been great this year compared to past years though they might must be trying to fill up the resort!  Thanks all!

[Shulsebus]

Was at lake June 3-10. Saturday- Tuesday we couldn’t keep bait in water. Caught pretty much everything on bobbers with jig and leach. Best bite was 6-10 in the morning and 7-10 in the evening. Caught enough walleye Sunday to feed eight guys and had plenty left over. Caught the occasional northern off of the bobbers as well. A lot of 17 plus inch smallmouth with a lot of smaller ones. Main thing is time on water. If you aren’t fishing you can’t catch them. Fishing did slow later in the week. Overall a great trip. Already have next year planned. Luck for me I already have been to Lake Erie this year and going to lake of the woods in two months. Hope you all enjoy the beautiful lake.

[TrueNorth]

any mayflies yet? 

 

[Mark1973]

How is the water level so far this year.  Been hearing that it is a little lower than normal.  Thanks

[redlabguy]

There are some mayflies, but not the big clouds yet and water level is a little above normal- 3-5” -not an issue. Bait is an issue. I tried Shamrock and the Y today. Crawlers only. I have about 10 leeches. I’ll sell them for $5 each- actually no I won’t. One caught me a 26” walleye today. If you are coming up, bring your bait.

RLG

[SkunkedAgain]

Remember how easy it used to be to find leeches?

 

-from Stand By Me

[ONLY WALLEYES]

On 6/12/2023 at 10:09 AM, TrueNorth said:

any mayflies yet? 

 

Bump.

Anyone seeing swarms of Mayflies yet?

[mbeyer]

Still no mayflies to speak of in Moc point / Grubins area. Walleyes….have been elusive for ghe last four days. Plenty on smallmouth to be caught…..

[Rivergroup]

Just got back. Caught a ton of smallmouth and largemouths using slip bobbers and leeches.