Where are you staying?
we are staying at my hunting shack in melrude (about an hour south). we will just make the drive every morning and fish the day. its a big lake but we are open to all areas of it, just want to see if we can land a few walleye and maybe get into some smallmouth fishing too
Where are you staying?
Hey Steve, give up your honey hole!
Well, for starters the west side of the lake traditionally has larger fish while the east side of the lake has better numbers. That is something i personally have experienced and the DNR nettings will give you the same info. Focus your efforts shallow with jigs, lindy rigs, slip bobbers, or crank baits. Not exactly sure what the conditions are right now but i will be up there tuesday night and scouting a few days prior to opener. Saturday morning i am guiding for governors opener on vermilion but saturday afternoon and surely sunday i’m free for guiding if you guys are interested. Keep that in mind and report back how you do.
vermilion-walleye.jpg
thank you AJ for the info! if we have decide to get a guide you will be the first one i call.
If you let me know where you plan to launch (and if it is on the east side), I can give you some areas to look at.
One word of caution, depending on weather/wind and other factors, if you get a late start or get off the water early, you might miss the best bite.
Bigger fish should be on shallow shorelines with some structure early and late in the day. Smaller fish should bite in the deeper water (25′ or more) all day long.
Vermilion used to be root beer colored and the shallow bite would be good all day. In the recent years, the water is much more clear and the light can impact the fishing.
Also, keep it simple. Lindy and a red hook or jig w/ fatheads or rainbows are all you will need until mid-June for walleye.
One thing to keep in mind is the low water this spring. If you are planning on fishing the West End think about using the larger public access by the Vermilion Campground on the East side of Wakemup Bay.
There are shallow rocks outside of the landing by the Landing. Big rigs may have problems at that launch.
Fishing patterns-
1) Slip bobbers on shorelines and points early and late should always produce some fish. If the wind is blowing into the shore all the better.
2) Shallow trolling with Raps produces some fish- some bigger fish will be moving out off of deeper structure than the shallow spawning areas. Will there be any 15″ fish to troll up? Last year on the West end we did well on large fish but only 1 in every 15 fish was under the 18″ protected slot. I did catch some very small 10″ walleyes late spring-but not many. All on live bait.
3) Shallow saddles- pulling rigs and jigs with live bait. Should be productive as well.
4) Deep water areas- Walleyes feeding on bugs in the soft bottom areas. Always produces fish- many times more numbers but less in size.
Every year is different. move around- Remember “EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM”
I think this will be a great slip bobber opener. With the chance at some really solid Lake Vermilion Walleyes.
Good Luck Everyone, Be Safe and courtious
Steve
I will be fishing the Big V for Opener as well. My GF’s family has a cabin on Birch Point in Big Bay so we’ll be staying there from Fri-Mon. I have never fished the lake for Opener or before late June so I’m interested to see how things differ. I’m more of a bass guy and haven’t figured out the Walleye’s in that lake yet. We just got a Humminbird 899ci so the Side Imagining will be a huge help in locating the structure of Big Bay and other bays!
If the walleye fishing is that tough, I will just have to go and target the nice Smallies of Vermillion – which sounds like a blast to me as well!
thanks for all of the great info you guys! this will be very helpful.
Mitch, right off Birch Point you will find numbers of small fish you can sort through to get a meal. In the evening, the south side of Pine Island across from Comet Island will be good around sunset from the big rock to the west.
We had a place just west of Bayview, that whole shoreline produced well in the evening too.
There is a “Lighthouse” on the west end of Cauffield Bay and the deeper water close to shore will hold some good fish all day long just west if there along Pine Island.
We also like the area from Bystrom Bay to St Marys Island just on the north shore. Big females spawn in Bystrom and slowly move out. There are lots of small points that hold males, the occasional females and a musky or two.
All of those areas should be a relatively short boat ride from you.
Thanks a lot for that information DaveB. This is a very helpful thread! I’m starting my packing and can’t wait to hit the road Fri around lunch.
Mitch i’ll be leaving work the same time. If you see a Silver Jeep Cherokee hauling a Lund Pro V give me a honk! Good luck fishing and thank you to all that gave some pointers, it will help us that are new to the lake put a few in the boat so the hope goes. Other quick quesiton, if im driving from the south and probably launching on the south east side of the lake where is the best place to get bait?
I heard the “Y” Store has a good selection. I usually stop in Harris at Fish Lake Bait. That way if I get up there and don’t like my choices I am covered. They are alway stocked up.
I heard the “Y” Store has a good selection. I usually stop in Harris at Fish Lake Bait. That way if I get up there and don’t like my choices I am covered. They are alway stocked up.
Exactly. We usually call the Y Store and see if they have rainbows, if not, we grab some at Fish Lake Bait.
There are bait shops in Tower that are OK too, but out of your way.
If you are looking for a ramp, Everett Bay is nice, protected from wind and close to good fishing!
We are leaving Friday, any reports?
morning guys,
well the fishing opener didnt exactly go as planned. due to the weather and some boat issues we skipped vermilion and went to a local lake in eveleth. we caught a ton of smallmouth and had a good time but no walleye. best of luck to all heading up there, it was windy and cold last weekend. reports on the radio stated guys were doing good opening day and then the bite shut down a bit as the weather went south and the east wind picked up
I saw a pic of Sorgy on Facebook with a nice eye from the opener. Haven’t talked with him as far as numbers though. Maybe he’ll report.
there is the walleye tourney up there this weekend.
Follow up on the opener report. Trolling raps was our best bet. The main lake areas were still a little slow. Only a few fish were caught on slip bobbers.
8 guys caught a nice batch of 17″ class walleyes and a few smaller slot fish on Saturday AM.
The slip bobber bite was very slow Saturday night. Sunday morning was really slow. I manage 1 fish early and 1 at 11:51 AM on a slip bobber near the main lake at 25 1/4″ for the big fish of the weekend.
Good Luck
Steve
The main lake area was at 51.5 degrees on the main lake. once we hit 55 degrees the main lake rock areas 10- 15 feet deep will produce some really nice fish on the live bait and slip bobber presentations.
8 guys caught a nice batch of 17″ class walleyes and a few smaller slot fish on Saturday AM.
Don sent me the photos, nice stringers!
Thanks!
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