Butts Kicked on Vermilion

2 boats, 5 guys looking for walleyes on Vermilion last weekend.

In my boat, lindy rigs pulled along the bottom in 20-25ft of water, sometimes with a spinner sometimes a bare hook, with either a leech or crawler on. We did this all day long, in numerous areas, for 1 walleye.

In the evening, we sat on a reef in 15 ft of water waiting for walleyes to move up hoping they’d hit our leeches hanging off slip bobbers. Nothing…

Not a productive weekend. I’m wondering if others had different luck and what their presentation was.

Did you mark many fish on your electronics?

We did,

fish holding at 20′ and deeper on a 25′ flat and around islands. We worked them hard to no avail.

We were also marking fish that were deeper ( 35+ ‘ ) but we didn’t fish that deep on purpose, only when I get off track trolling. With surface temps at 70 degrees, 35 +ft didn’t make sense to me.

Were you on the east or west end. Vermilion should be approached as two different lakes depending on where you are. I’ve spend most of my time on the east end which has more smaller fish. The west end has fewer fish but bigger.

My west end tactics are usually trolling this time of year, until ice up.
On the east end I’m usually jigging. Very rarely do I Lindy. By rarely, I mean I have gone years between dropping a Lindy rig in that lake. In June and July I usually get jiggy with it. After that I use a mix of jigs and trolling until fall where the bobbers “might” be added for an evening tactic.

There are a few spots where Lindys work for me but often times jigs will work just as well in those spots so then it is a matter of choosing your weapon of choice.

Bobbers are usually a Spring time only event for me on Vermilion.

My recommendation for people heading to Vermilion for the first time and want to be successful is to hire a guide for at least half a day to get pointers.

If you were planning to eat the walleyes I don’t see a reason not to fish those depths. I’ve caught eyes in 42′ the weekend after opener up there, (a couple weeks after ice out) using jigs.

If C&R, then yeah, pass on them.

Would like to know which side of the lake as well.

I do use lindys on both sides. About a week ago, everything was in transition, I think the leech bite (larger the better) was just starting but half crawlers were still the key. Slow as well .5-.8

Would like to know if it was windy and sunny or cloudy. We had a stretch of sunny days and the bite was good. the one cloudy morning and nothing was biting.

I find that a good 2 day wind great to find and pattern fish. No wind and it seems their all spread out.

Sunny and verrry calm on the west end out of HooDoo point working towards the casino. We started out a little fast when pulling spinners on our Lindy Rigs (1.2 mph), but slowed down to 0.6 – 0.8 mph once we went to bare hooks.

It sounds like we should have started on the east end, or at least gone over there once frustration started to set in.

It was my first time on the lake and it makes we want to go back… I want to beat the walleyes bad on that lake now.

No mercy, no quarter (following slot rules and not going over the bag limit of course;)

Woodshed wrote:

Sunny and verrry calm on the west end out of HooDoo point working towards the casino.

It sounds like we should have started on the east end, or at least gone over there once frustration started to set in.

Unless I forget, isn’t Hoodoo point on the east end (Tower side)?
Anyway, I felt your frustration. I spent a couple weeks up there (separate trips) a few years back and always started out good picking up a few and then nothing for the remainder of the trip. Furthermore, my butt-kicking included getting pounded to pieces, caught out in Big Bay when the wind picked up (big time). I still believe I’m luck to be alive!!

Your right… East side… Thanks now I’m really depressed.

Dont feel bad. Had my *** handed to me there as well years ago. Never went back.

Don’t be.
It’s a beautiful lake and sounds like the weather was nice. What’s not to like?

Vermilion took me a few years to figure out. I suggested starting with a guide as a way to speed things along. Cliff is in Pike Bay (actually the river) not far from Hoodoo and is great guide, and he also Lindys, I’ve seen him out there dragging lines with clients.

Definitely go back. I’ll try to get back there again next year after missing this year.

It’s definitely beautiful and I’ll go back. Like I said, now I want to beat them.

I’ve never fished it but have always been interested in doing so.
With that said, would trying shallow like 3-8′ have been an option to consider?
Just a thought as these damn fish seem to be in the opposite direction/depth as we sometimes think they should be

Three weeks ago on west end.

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jeff_huberty wrote:

Three weeks ago on west end.

Nice photos and nice fish Jeff! What I truly liked about the pictures was that everyone in every photo was wearing a PFD. Potentially the most important and overlooked piece of equipment! That’s a message I would like to see more of! Thanks for sharing.

Anyone fished the Vermilion river lately? Different dynamics there than the lake, just curious…

We had a cabin there for years. Don’t be afraid to go real shallow right around sundown. Rocky humps that top out in 3-5′ of water or wind blown shorelines. If you shine a flashlight on shore in the evening, you will often see numbers of crayfish.

During the day, if you aren’t getting bites in the first 10-15 minutes on fish move. They are biting somewhere. You might have been pulling leeches and crawlers around schools of tulipe that were feeding on insects.

Vermilion is a relatively sterile lake. It doesn’t have a lot of food, so walleye will typically bite if you find numbers. Did you trying anything more aggressive like jigging raps?

“Did you trying anything more aggressive like jigging raps?”

Nope, we pulled stick baits, lindys, and bobber fished water that probably wasn’t shallow enough.

Beautiful lake though.

The only thing I didn’t care for is what seems to be a common thing on that lake last weekend, crowding, particularly from the Muskie fisherman. It’s an awful big lake, but a surprising number of boats came ripping onto the structure we were working, close enough to hit our boat with their lures, only to make a few casts and rip out of there again at full throttle.

I get that I don’t own a piece of structure. But it happened so often last weekend, despite there being plenty of room on that structure to not crowd another boat, it seems there’s something a little off about the culture on the lake.

Maybe it was just a bad weekend.

We used to call it the “Lake Vermilion two boat rule”. If there are two boats on a spot, there will be 10 in no time. If the fishing is slow, lots of people are lost and pull up to anyone fishing. You can just look out on the lake and see if the bite is good or bad, if people are running, it is a tough overall bite. If people are hunkered down, it is likely the fish are on the chew.

That said, there are lots of areas to find your own fish if you want to. If you are alone and on fish, it is best to reel in fish with your rod tip in the water so people don’t see you catching!

Sounds like it would have a been good time to bust out the cranks

Or drop a marker buoy 100 feet from where you really are fishing.

Jesse Krook wrote:

Sounds like it would have a been good time to bust out the cranks

I was tempted by a couple of the boats that whipped in.

Was even considering which kind to bust out, if you know what I mean. Then I decided to just enjoy the limited time I had up there fishing and say things like “you won’t catch one over there”, then say “told you so”.

If that sounds familiar to anyone, yep it’s me;)

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful lake and most, well about half, of folks were a real pleasure to be on the lake with. I honestly don’t think the other half knows any better.

Niles bay has a great weed edge that drops of at 10-12 into 15-20. Trolling the deep edge in evening and moving right on top of it as it gets darker.We typically catch walleyes in shallow waters when most are fishing the deep basin rocks.

My 1 Vermillion experience went something like this.

6 guys, 3 boats, 1 houseboat. Fishing was fairly tough and hours between bites. Day 2 after a good swim in cooler, deep water we were moving the houseboat so decided to toss out a couple SR5’s from the tied on boat. Probably the best fishing of the trip. We could not duplicate that bite. Provided a meal or 2 and salvaged an otherwise dismal bite.

Beautiful lake with unlimited water to figure out.

Flydog-we are going to the V. River next week, any tips?_We would like to catch as many different species as possible.
Thanks

Couple things I’ve learned about Vermilion. Hook color can make a huge difference. I know some people don’t believe in this and it’s no skin of my back. I’ve also found the style of weight im using while rigging can make a big difference. A couple weeks ago a 3/4 oz bottom bouncer killed everything else. Right now a simple 5 foot snell to a colored hook with a half a crawler should turn plenty of fish. Coming into august i start to dabble more with spinners and a half crawler and really start pulling lead core alot. Again, mess with colors….both with cranks and blades. August is my favorite month up there. It’s been the most consistent bite of the year for me in the 6 years we’ve had a place up there.

Forgot to add….i fish the east end and i never put a line in until i mark a pile of fish. If they are tough to go leave them alone for a while and come back. It’s amazing on that lake as well how fast the eyes on that lake move up and off structure. You can graph an area at 8 am and its bare and come back at 9 am and its loaded for half hour and they are gone again. Be mobile.

tim hurley wrote:

Flydog-we are going to the V. River next week, any tips?_We would like to catch as many different species as possible.
Thanks

I’m hearing with all the rain everything is in flux. The latest is the northern bite is very good… smallies and wallies are sporadic. I’m there the week after you, so please give us all an update or send a pm with what you learn.

-Fry

Thanks FD, will do

I went up to vermillion for the time ever Friday morning. We stayed at fortune bay and fished for bass most of the day and walleyes at night. Friday fishing was really good. Caught around 25 bass and then fished a reef in the evening for walleye and caught 11. All fish were 12 to 15 inches. Saturday went to same reef and only got 2 walleyes and only caught about 10 bass. Sunday morning went out from 8 to 11 before we went home and caught 7 more. Friday the fish were in 14 to 17 feet. Sunday they were in 21 to 24 feet. I outfished my buddy 7 to 0 Sunday. I was using pink hook gold bead with a crawler he was using lindy with a red hook and no bead and never got a bite. CRAZY!!! I will definitely be back. Was an awesome lake!!!