Ive fished the vermillion, the parts I was in did not look like a good smallmouth river, but perhaps other areas might be… I fished up towards hastings and down to the railroad bridge…. it was shallow, with little current when I fished it…. but there were some dandy Eyes in there… we only caught 3 the last time I was there, but they were 5#, 7#, and 9#…….
Rivereyes, I have also fished that area quite a few times, more so in the winter. Interested in sharing a little more info on those fish you caught? Tactic,presentation or depths etc.? I personally love the posssibilities there!
My guess those fish you caught were years ago and there can’t possibly be anything like that in the river anymore. I’m sure you hate to have anyone going there and trying for fish like that since it would be a waste of their time! (please e-mail and let me know where you caught them…..not that I’m a walleye fisherman or anything like that but just to maybe get a fix on some good walle…..er…smallie structure!) 
LOL Mnfish! I didn’t think you’d be interested in that area knowing it’s a refuge for Pileated Woodpeckers! P.S. – Remind me to never ask you WHEN you caught a fish! LOL!
Yeah I fished it last winter too. There can’t possibly be fish like that in there anymore. If I remember correctly we did manage to catch a small sand shark or two though.
hmmmmm… yes it was years ago… and Ive not been back….. heres the story such as it is….. I would guess around 10 years ago…. a fishing buddy of mine wanted to try the vermillion, he had been there on an opener once when the water was high and they had done well on multispecies….. so we drove to hastings and not far from there was a launch… this was summer…. I would guess about this time of year, the water was low, but we launched and “plowed” our way downriver…. the river was fairly wide but shallow… and it looked like “nothing”….. a ways down river we came to a railroad bridge, there was a big log jam at the front of the tressle and a pool behind…. we started to cast the riprap under and downstream of the bridge with shadraps, and after a few casts my parnter hooked a heavy fish, which shortly proved to be a 9# walleye…. well we were “pumped”… but more casting/jigging achieved nothing….. it was then I noticed bait fish were jumping out of the water in and around the large log jam….. so we moved over there and could see some long bronze flashes were behind the baitfish panic… for some reason I assumed it was Pike…. so I put on a hammered orange and copper spoon (my favorite for river pike)….. and cast to where I had just seen a flash…… *bam*… I hooked and landed a 7# walleye….. about 3 casts later… *bam*…. a 5# walleye…. my partner was trying to switch to the spoon, but he did not need to bother… the fish on the edge of the jam shutdown (probably because of the commotion)…. there was still fish going deep inside there, but we could not see how to get to them…. finally I tried to drop a twister into a hole in the jam where I saw a fish working… and *bam*… so just WHAT do you do with a big walleye on spinning tackle and 6 # test line if you only have a 5′ wide hole to fight them? well.. you LOOSE them… thats what….. so we gave up on the hole… we could NOT get downriver of that bridge.. it was toooooo shallow… and so we worked up river, which was nothing but a big shallow flat…. and produced nothing…. we left, and never went back, pretty much assumed it was a “fluke”……. the river had been high that spring.. I suppose the fish were up there and got “trapped”, so there they were…. we released every fish…
thats the story…. you people know much better than I, if its a waste of time…. sorry I commented, sometimes I “forget” how long its been since I fished a place….. I will try to just comment on the places Ive been lately…… or at least try and remember to put an aprox. date on the info…
I suppose I will never live the woodpecker comment down will I? You and “rivereyes” are pretty relentless on this site aren’t you? You two are sort of “Web Vampires” lurking in the dark, waiting for their next victim!LOL!
You guys been catching lately, or just posting? Keep the rods bendin’!!! Jim W
R U trying to say we “suck”?…….
well….. not totally untrue…. have slurped a few brews down now and again…… have not been out nearly enough this year… still “building”…. but Im hoping to do some fishing soon….. have to take a break sometime…. lately its just too hot to work much… sounds like the perfect invitation for fishing to me….
Alright! Alright! I can’t take it any more! The story is out! It wasn’t a fluke. The Vermillion is a fantastic walleye/sauger fishery in it’s own right. (Ask H2O, we filmed a show down there last winter…) There are some very nice fish in that river. It has been one of my favorite bodies of water anywhere! There are some VERY nice smallies, and largemouth in there. Like anything, you just have to find them! There is a ton of structure in the river, and it is constantly changing. The river is actually under-fished in my opinion. The fish there are extremley Rapala and jig friendly, the logs and snags on the other hand aren’t!
Tuck
Jim W, Looks like we have another river to try out. Maybe September? You be up for it? Go for the Root first? Let’s pick the hottest day when the flies will be buzzin and bitin and the nettles are at their highest!………Ok my air conditioned cube is lookin pretty good now. At least it keeps those pesky woodpeckers out!
Mnfish, Let me know!! We’ll need something to float the Vermillion however. You set us upfor the Vermillion and I’ll set you up on the Root River!!!!
Had heard from some of the guys who fished the walleye tourneys out of Treasure Island (3 years ago) that they were getting good smallies trolling cranks on the Red Wing side of the Vermillion. Would be a good place to start. Should be able to get in there with the high water. I have a 20′ Champion bass boat. Should be no problem but if anyone knows of conditions on this river (Vermillion south side) would be greatly appreciated.
Nothing on you Jim, just throwing one out there to mnfish over “time prevention”. As for fishin’ or posting……….I got enough evidence to make a case for both! Which I do more of………………I’ll leave that alone! LOL!
hmmmmm yeah… if you only get to post everytime you go fishing… and I will go retroactive here… guess I would never have to fish again until I get into the thousands of posts somewhere….. but since fishing is what I LOVE to do….. and if I cant do it I dont mind reading/talking about it…… guess this is what Im going to do…… did not know that my posts were getting oppressive?
I think it’s posts like that that create a good data base for future spots or when the water is at that level again might be worth a try. I try to keep a good notes in a journal of all the spots I caught a smallmouth on on Pepin and how big they were and the time of year, water temp and weather. They do this exact thing in Japan as they do not have that many bass and the bass are regarded as sacred. Bass fishing is big time there!…….. I digress. Your posts of the Vermillion just get added to my mental journal so that when Jim W and I or who ever get to fish on the river and the conditions are right it might be worht a try…………. I need to get back on the river again. Miss it.
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