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I have just returned home from fishing Vermilion for our first visit of the year. When we arrived on May 28, the weather seemed normal and the fishing did not! shocked.gifSmall walleye were the norm for the first week or so. I had difficulty catching anything over 13 inches and everything we caught ate minnows. The entire first week was spent on Vermilion and we had our best luck fishing the deepest water we could find between Potato and Cherry Island. I switched to crank baits exclusively during week two and picked up some nicer walleyes. The bite was pretty much dependent upon clouds and wind and we had no trouble getting all of that we wanted wink.gifMy lure of choice was a Husky Jerk(2 hook) with silver sides and black back trolled at approx. 2 mph in 8-14ft of water along rocky shorelines and points. One evening I caught a 48 inch musky in 8 ft of water. I was able to measure the fish alongside the boat BUT no camera mad.gif Less than 15 minutes after releasing musky #1, musky #2 whacked the same lure less than 400 yards down the shoreline! This fish gave me quite alot of trouble and I had trouble with it at the boat. I finally got the hooks out but could only guess its length. I know one thing for sure, it was bigger than musky #1! I was very careful with these fish and handled them only in the water close to the boat. The season was not open and my camera was at the cabin. Both fish were very heavy and were of the clear variety. Fish #1 allowed me to measure her, fish #2 was having none of that and was gone as soon as I was able to free the hooks. I'm not sure if you can even bring one in the boat for a picture before the season opens but I will always have the memory of two wonderful trophy fish that are still alive and well.

On Friday of week two (June 10)my wife and I went to Trout Lake. I pulled into a spot that I fish when I'm there and the walleyes were at 18ft and hungry smile.gifWe caught everything on leeches, 5ft leader and red #4 Gamakatsu, 1/2 oz bottom bouncer. The smallest walleye caught was 21" and the biggest was 23". Phenomenal fishing and frequent double fish. We made the 11:00 shuttle back to Vermilion. Vermilion fishing picked up after that and better fish were found where I normally find them. 20-30ft of water and leeches accounted for 30-50 fish days for my wife and myself until we left. Average fish were 13"-15" and patience was rewarded with some really nice 17"-20" walleyes. On June 13 we went back to Trout Lake and found the walleyes again. This time ,however, they were scattered. All fish were caught in 18-25ft of water on rocky points and reefs. The fish were more varied in size (18"-26")and all preferred leeches. In addition, we caught a 35" northern pike on a leech. One point: my wife COULD NOT get a hit on a Lindy "no-snag" and was successful only after she switched to a bottom bouncer.

We fished Vermilion smallmouth a couple of days and found fishing far inferior to previous years.

I hope this information can be of some use. I look forward to our 2 week return at the beginning of August.

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Great update as always Barney! I thought you spent most of your trips in Trout... We head into Trout this Sunday for the week. Do you remember any water temps. We have been going into Trout for a week, for the last 12 years..man I love that lake. I'm not asking for any secrets but if anything comes to mind that may help our trip I'd love to hear from ya.

Take care.

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Barney,

Sounds like you had a great trip!

I'm jealous. By the way, do you stay at Forest Lane Resort?

I noticed where you're from and it sounded familiar.

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Water temps on both trips started at 57 and warmed to 60 degrees. If you have been fishing Trout Lake for any length of time then you have fav spots also. The Trout Lake walleyes are ready to go and simply fish where you've caught em before wink.gifOne thing I would add, however, we found NO walleyes on trip #2 where they were on trip #1 confused.gifSecondly, I saw no fish caught by other fishermen (2 boats)on trip #2( I saw no other fishermen on trip #1). I am totally convinced that the bottom bouncer presented the leech the way they like it and my wife proved it. Also, speed is a very very important element when fishing Trout Lake walleye. My wife caught her best fish sitting still while I was boating another fish! If I didn't know that lake at all, I would look for a rock pile reasonably close to shore(at this time of year)that comes up shallow out of deep water. Fish the 18ft break on down adjacent to those rocks!

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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