Vermillion River

Here’s a few from this years campaign thus far… PS Sorry I’m not a professional photographer like LenH His photos are AMAZING

And also sorry about the tan lines, it was still Spring time on that one

I’m mightily impressed! I fished the Vermillion twice this spring and never saw a trout…just a couple of carp. Good job!

Rootski

those trout look like they eat well.
Love the kype on that one.

I’ve never fished the Vermillion but am definitely intrigued by it. From what I’ve read, here are a few things I’ve gathered.
1. It has big fish (browns)
2. It has few fish
3. It has very little public property

Ca you guys verify this? What has your experience been in asking for permission to fish private water? Or is there enough public land to go around. And where you you reccomend to start? Near HWY 52? Farmington? Any advice is greatly appreciated in a PM or post.

All of those are awesome fish! I especially like the one with you holding the fish. Very fat with nice dark colored spots! That last one looks like a football. What a tub. Kudos

Public info:

Map #15 MN Trout Streams

Easements are denoted in gray. There is a new one off Donnly this year close to HWY 52. Easy to fish. Undercut banks. River twists back and forth. Look for each corner bend. There will be some HI in the future. That is a nice stretch. I hooked onto a fat 20″+ colorful male brown for all of 30″ before he flipped the hook. There are other spots too. If you put in your time you will find them. Honestly too many give up after trying a handful of times which is fine by me. It is not for the faint hearted. Plenty of dangerous [censored] – deep holes, quicksand mud, etc. Some landowners are notorious for chasing you off. Use GIS maps and ID landowners ahead of time and ask permission versus “sticking it to the man” and trying to pretend you own the waterway. Plenty of holes well over chest waders and unlike WI, you CANNOT legally avoid deep water or an obstruction (such as barbed wire fence crossing stream) by getting out of the water and walking around the obstruction.

This is warmer water so I also think you need to look at topo maps, ID spring feeds. Probably fishes best early spring and late fall (trout season ends Sept 30).

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I’ve never fished the Vermillion but am definitely intrigued by it. From what I’ve read, here are a few things I’ve gathered.
1. It has big fish (browns)
2. It has few fish
3. It has very little public property

Ca you guys verify this? What has your experience been in asking for permission to fish private water? Or is there enough public land to go around. And where you you reccomend to start? Near HWY 52? Farmington? Any advice is greatly appreciated in a PM or post.

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the vermillion river is kind of like the Bermuda Triangle…best just to stay away…

I’d start with the Farmington area, I’ve got quite a few decent fish from there over the years. You can access it either behind the Ace hardware or at either park and its all public land. East of hwy 3 there is a park that is all public land as well. The majority of my fish have come from the hwy3 to hwy 52 stretch on the main branch, but I do have a couple secret holes closer to home

HTownRiverRat thanks for the tips. Found one of your older posts where you caught a 28.” Is your replica done yet? If so, please share a photo!

May I ask what you are catching these on? Raps, worms, spinners, chub tails?

Not sure what most use on vermillion, but I use a #7 rainbow countdown rapala religiously. I like the control and ability to cast long with a countdown. If I really wanted to start elephant hunting I’d maybe try a #9, but I have no problem getting good size with a #7.

Scudly, usually when I approach a hole I will throw a sinking rap in a crawfish color to see if I can get one of the more active fish to take a whirl. If I dont see any follow ups or hookup I will switch to a big crawler with as little weight as possible, sit back for a few minutes, then make a cast and wait. Patience is usually the ticket. You may get in to a sucker or two, or even a carp or northern,(I always catch suckers with chunks taken out of them in the really good spots). If your in a good looking spot you know, just wait it out and take breaks from time to time. The bigger trout are very spooky. Don’t be afraid to step back into the woods for 5-10 minutes or so then creep your way back to the hole.

I’ve never tried chub tails but, that definately sounds like a very intriguing idea. How big of chubs do you use? Do you just cut the heads off of say a 5-6″ chub and hook it in through the neck and out the back?

Yeah chub or sucker. Get a 4-5″ chub or sucker. Cut tail off to 3″. Then u just hook by the top dorsal fin in the meat a bit. Even close to
the skin it will stay on. Plenty of chubs and suckers in the V right? I’m convinced that is what the big boys eat. I use a #2 idea is to get a good hook set. Plus a bit hook likely may not be swallowed so deep. I’ve caught some giant holdover rainbows this way too. They love them. Try at low light. Before sunrise, after sunset, or a dark cloudy dreary day, even in light rain

Scudly, Have you tried using them live? Or does that not work? Or is it not legal? Or have you just had better luck with the chunks?

I have only tried the 3″ tails. Heard about them through Len as well as a landowner. My guess is a big trout is more of a low profile stay deep type of a bottom feeder? You could try a live chub however it I going to pull line all over the place. Illegal to use a gamefish as bait, however legal with a chub tail for sure. I’ve never tried meat chunks either, just a 3″ chub tail.

That sounds like a great idea

scudly, I used to use chub tails myself. A very effective tactic. I have had more luck though using what I call chub strips. I would fillet the side of the chub and cut a narrow strip of meat, hook it on the end and throw that out into the hole. I used to catch alot of large trout with that presentation.

28″er I got mounted last year, must be Scottish? No red dots at all and very few dark ones.

A better pic

taxidermist did a really good job on the body….looks good.

Great looking fish. Assume this was harvested from the Vermillion before Trout Unlimited sunk their teeth in and made it C&R only? At least they had a compromise and allowed bait. Although your hook needs to be barbless. Fly fishing elitists will tell you allowing bait with C&R regs makes zero sense. Some bait anglers say C&R makes no sense and probably pay no attention to the regs. It is like in MN you can fish Jan 1 for trout catch and release using live bait as long as it is barbless. We have to appeal to the masses. Diverse group of fisherman.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. Great fish. Vermillion is only 15-30 minutes from my house and it is a great stream if you put in your time and be patient and persistent.

Thats a beautiful mount

Its actually a replica, CPR’d late May ’08 from the C&R section but, I’ve caught and seen caught several fish over 20″ out of the non C&R section more towards the Vermillion/Hastings area. I do agree though that being able to use live bait in the C&R sections kinda defeats the purpose of it. A fairly noticeable percentage of smaller trout caught on live bait that swallow the hook probably aren’t going to make it.

Yup I agree

I really think it takes the fun out of it, when you lose live bait

When I was younger I fished for trout quite heavily in the spring. I absolutly loved it, there was nothing more fun than catching 17″-18″ trout on Panther Martin Spinners and Rapalas