Labor Day Trip (Where to go)

So planning a fishing trip for this Labor Day weekend. We did Kab last year and did not do good. I was thinking about Vermilion. Never been on it. We like to lindy rig, jig and slip bobber mostly. Would take recommendation for other ideas. We will only have a long weekend so didn’t want to pick anything to big that could keep us on shore for a day or more if the wind is wrong. I know a couple of you guys fish Vermilion and would love some ideas, I was looking at the west side but have no clue about the lake. Oh looking for mostly eyes and crappie.

John Rasmussen wrote:

So planning a fishing trip for this Labor Day weekend. We did Kab last year and did not do good. I was thinking about Vermilion. Never been on it. We like to lindy rig, jig and slip bobber mostly. Would take recommendation for other ideas. We will only have a long weekend so didn’t want to pick anything to big that could keep us on shore for a day or more if the wind is wrong. I know a couple of you guys fish Vermilion and would love some ideas, I was looking at the west side but have no clue about the lake. Oh looking for mostly eyes and crappie.

Vermillion is going to fish very similar to kab. I love Vermillion and amd debating on taking the boy up there to camp at mckinnley. Fish always work for us on the tower soudan side of the lake.

Vermillion is hard to beat. Lots of areas to get away from guys if its tough. Things could be booked pretty solid up there already though.

Green Bay over Labor Day weekend is normally a good time for big walleyes. Trolling the reefs and islands north of Sturgeon Bay can be really good. About an hour further to Green Bay versus Vermillion from Blaine.

Lots of great lakes in the Ottertail area. Also several good ones in the Lincoln lakes area. Going to give Lake Alexandria a shot on Sat. myself. Normally fish it a little earlier in the year. Not totally sure what to expect this time of the year. Mostly going to do some Bobber fishing with leeches. May even throw in the heavy gear and cast for a few Ski’s

I know its not north but Pepin could be a fun weekend if you can find a place to stay. Those small towns down there look like they could be fun. I have never spent a night there because its close enough for day trips which you may already do so its not a good idea. You would catch walleyes though.

mojogunter wrote:

Green Bay over Labor Day weekend is normally a good time for big walleyes. Trolling the reefs and islands north of Sturgeon Bay can be really good. About an hour further to Green Bay versus Vermillion from Blaine.

Green Bay kinda scares me a little. I’ve got a deep 17.5 I imagine you have to play the wind or is there spots to tuck away from it?

Bearcat89 wrote:

Vermillion is going to fish very similar to kab. I love Vermillion and amd debating on taking the boy up there to camp at mckinnley. Fish always work for us on the tower soudan side of the lake.

I was planning on asking you some questions about up there I know you hit it quite a bit. I will shoot you a call or text later.

I would go to Vermilion.

I’ll be there Labor Day Weekend. Regardless of the weather you can find a place to locate and catch fish. It’s not a long boat ride to run from the east end to the west, pretty much only one place you may have to slow down, but traffic on Labor Day Weekend is pretty minimal.

If you get bored with Walleye, you can chase Smallies, Perch, Pike or Musky.

Heck there was a time a couple years back that I had just picked up my new boat, fished the first day, second day going out after lunch my motor took out the middle cylinder due to a fuel injector failure, so we had to resort to using the kicker to get us around. We still would catch our limit by mid morning fishing right out in front of the resort fishing the first break. Plus it feels like a Canadian lake, because it is a Shield lake.

Since you mentioned it last year I went out there and didn’t pay much attention to the forecast. I saw windy conditions, but we went anyway. Big winds out of the SW. I would guess 25mph sustained with gusts over 35. When we went out of Marinette the further east we went the rougher it got. Not really fishable, maybe a little dangerous. We had to hide behind Chambers Island. Just some catfish. The next day same winds so we trailered to the south end. Fishable, and caught fish, but not where I really wanted to be fishing and lower numbers of fish than I had hoped. If the forecast looks good give it a try. If the winds are blowing NE I would pass. GB has a lot of big fish in it though.

John Rasmussen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mojogunter wrote:</div>
Green Bay over Labor Day weekend is normally a good time for big walleyes. Trolling the reefs and islands north of Sturgeon Bay can be really good. About an hour further to Green Bay versus Vermillion from Blaine.

Green Bay kinda scares me a little. I’ve got a deep 17.5 I imagine you have to play the wind or is there spots to tuck away from it?

John Rasmussen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
Vermillion is going to fish very similar to kab. I love Vermillion and amd debating on taking the boy up there to camp at mckinnley. Fish always work for us on the tower soudan side of the lake.

I was planning on asking you some questions about up there I know you hit it quite a bit. I will shoot you a call or text later.

Feel free, I have some spots I’d share with you that will be holding fish. And I love Vermillion it’s Definitely one of our top weekend picks. There is always something biting there. Last time we stumbled across nice crappies as well.

TillrLife wrote:

I’ll be there Labor Day Weekend. Regardless of the weather you can find a place to locate and catch fish. It’s not a long boat ride to run from the east end to the west, pretty much only one place you may have to slow down, but traffic on Labor Day Weekend is pretty minimal.

Where are you staying on Labor Day?

Bearcat89 wrote:

Feel free, I have some spots I’d share with you that will be holding fish. And I love Vermillion it’s Definitely one of our top weekend picks. There is always something biting there. Last time we stumbled across nice crappies as well.

Thanks. Anyone stay at Glennmore Resort and having anything good or bad to say about it?

John Rasmussen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TillrLife wrote:</div>
I’ll be there Labor Day Weekend. Regardless of the weather you can find a place to locate and catch fish. It’s not a long boat ride to run from the east end to the west, pretty much only one place you may have to slow down, but traffic on Labor Day Weekend is pretty minimal.

Where are you staying on Labor Day?

Forest Lane Resort. They are normally booked a year in advance. But it might be worth a shot, they have 7 cabins to choose from. The Owners, 3rd set for me, are great people.

If you end up going and are on the east end, I have a Black/Champagne 20′ Alumacraft Tiller with a 175 Zuk on the back.

Thanks. Anyone stay at Glennmore Resort and having anything good or bad to say about it?
[/quote] hey its gotta be a good place if Glenn is in its name!!!!!!!

TillrLife wrote:

If you end up going and are on the east end, I have a Black/Champagne 20′ Alumacraft Tiller with a 175 Zuk on the back.

I will message you if we end up over there and we can meet up for a beer or share notes if you like. I’m running a Silver/Black Tracker Targa with an Opti on it.

Glenn I should have known you would chime in.

I’ll be on Vermillion with my family and folks on Labor Day as well. We found some affordable VRBOs only a month ago we were able to book if your interested in going that route. May have more availability than the resorts.

Pretty sure I can’t go this year so the Vermilion bite should be hot

FinickyFish wrote:

I’ll be on Vermillion with my family and folks on Labor Day as well. We found some affordable VRBOs only a month ago we were able to book if your interested in going that route. May have more availability than the resorts.

This is the way to do it. We rent a cabin 2 times a summer on vermillion for way cheaper then a resort. We have our own place and privacy and it’s cheaper. Plus we get to leave our boats in the water all week that way. When we don’t do that we tent camp at mckinnley for the weekends. They are great people and the kids make summer time friends up there every year. I enjoy the tower /soudan side of the lake for fishing personally but it doesn’t take much to fly anywhere you want by boat. The fish are always closer then one would think.
We used to fish deep but found there to always be resident fish up shallow and focus on them all summer.

Bearcat89 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FinickyFish wrote:</div>
I’ll be on Vermillion with my family and folks on Labor Day as well. We found some affordable VRBOs only a month ago we were able to book if your interested in going that route. May have more availability than the resorts.

This is the way to do it. We rent a cabin 2 times a summer on vermillion for way cheaper then a resort. We have our own place and privacy and it’s cheaper. Plus we get to leave our boats in the water all week that way. When we don’t do that we tent camp at mckinnley for the weekends. They are great people and the kids make summer time friends up there every year. I enjoy the tower /soudan side of the lake for fishing personally but it doesn’t take much to fly anywhere you want by boat. The fish are always closer then one would think.
We used to fish deep but found there to always be resident fish up shallow and focus on them all summer.

Do you might sharing what platform you found this cabin and cost? I get the same 2 bedroom cabin at FLR, and I find it very reasonable, right around $110/night, then $15 for a lift. When I go in Oct it’s under $100/night. I don’t think we’ll be going anywhere else, but another option would be nice. I want to roll up there for a Late May/Early June Trip.

VRBO.com I think the place we found was $150 per night for Labor Day weekend, but around $110 per night in the shoulder seasons with maybe a cleaning fee tacked on. 3 bed 1 bath with dock. Seems in line with what your finding.

So we booked it. Going up Saturday and coming home Tuesday. Staying at the Glennmore Resort, spoke with Paul and he seems super nice. So I’m staying in contact with BC via text. If anyone else ends up in the area and wants to share a beverage let me know.

To some of you Vermillion vets what in general has worked best for you in the past that time of year? Like I mentioned we like to pull lindys, jig and slip bobber most. But are set up to do lead core and other tactics. The resort we are in is in Pike Bay which looks to shallow to hold fish that time of year, but as BC already mentioned some fish stay shallow so I won’t rule anything out.

Jon it won’t be a long run to find good fish. The spots I sent you will work and I gave you enough target areas to keep you busy for a week lol.

And tiller we Ren the cabins through vrbo prices vary per cabin but it’s typically 150 or less a night when we go that route.
We just prefer privacy and no neighbors or people near us.

Slip Bobbers will work on top of reefs, otherwise I also pull spinners that time of year off the edges of the breaks.

Tons of great water right outside Pike Bay. I have a place in Frazer, and I spend quite a bit of time in Big Bay when I’m able to. Mostly muskies for me this time of year, but come late August into Labor Day I work Walleyes back in.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Jon it won’t be a long run to find good fish. The spots I sent you will work and I gave you enough target areas to keep you busy for a week lol.

Thanks again for the spots bud, and really hope you guys make it up there so we can hang out. Just seeing what others had. Thanks for the reply’s guys and for the pm’s, will keep all of this info close to the vest. Really looking forward to this trip.

I see a lot of people pulling cranks on leadcore in the Big Bay. I can’t stand trolling cranks so I avoid that like the plague.

I personally just vertical jig mid-lake structure and throw swimbaits at points off islands. Later in the day I will pull a livebait rig or spinner rig off the first break, 15-18FOW all along the south shoreline, from Fortune Bay all the way to Strawberry Island.

I’ll be back up for the first weekend in Oct, that time of year I’m tossing jigs with plastics, and fish more of the western side.

Most guys out there fish way too deep. Find good rocks and you will find fish. Worst case you can always trailer west if you want to try something different. I imagine you will find fish pretty quick especially with BC’s ideas.

Youbetcha wrote:

Find good rocks

That narrows it down

Reef W wrote:

That narrows it down

Loose lips

I haven’t fished Vermillion in a few years, but my favorite was pulling orange 15′ taildancers over rock humps that were 10-15′, just tickling the rocks.

Caught a lot of nice fish doing that which were coughing up crayfish.

Daisy Bay is a good place with structure and some what sheltered.