Going to Lake Vermiilion in a couple weeks, stay in a place on the Pike River. Inquired to a couple guides but they must be really busy, no responses yet. So best I could think of was come grovelling on here for any tips or trends. Probably bring a whole boat full of baits and miss out on what' working so if you have a mind to, I'd appreciate any help you could offer up. Concentrate on bass and pans, do a little walleye and maybe musky some if I feel the need for frustration. Thanks in advance
Better upsize your baits....
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/out...feeding-frenzy
Wow! That would be interesting to say the least
Yup, upsize your gear don't hold a Muskie vertically always horizontal. I haven't been to v yet but maybe this week after seeing that artical
PM sent.
Just got back from 2 weeks on Crane. Small mouth were hitting Bronze spinners, 3/8th and 1/2... Juts outside of weed beds and 5-8 ft on points. Also Green Wcky worm in 6-9 ft of water. Slow bounce with 10-15 second pause between each bump.
Bass also were taking cranks silver/black they seemed to prefer the fat shad looking ones to the longer narrow.
The mayfly hatch was going around the 3rd so it did slow down the bite but we still got fish every day.
Nothern woukd take the same spinner same as the bass. they perferred the weed edge and bit on fast retrieves. Lots biting at the boat do your figure 8's. Also lots of nothern on fast pull top water popper frog. Pulling in like a buzz bait got them jumping full crest to hit the lure.
We did not target wallies at all but got a few on crank baits and a 26 in her on a 1/2 oz bronze spinner in the vermillion river, edge of the the rapids.
We had similar fishing in the while chance always finding the fish in the same types of areas
Thx drew. I'm so looking toget up there this weekend. Trying to pare down some tackle my wife says we have no room. I say buy a bigger boat lol. Just put on my Xi5 and am really getting anxious. Thx all for the help
Good info. Thinking of going there for a week, in August. Would like to camp, but I've never been up north, so I'm not sure how bad the bugs will be. Should I camp, or get a cabin ??
Right now I can tell you the skeeters and horse flies are brutal in the evening. Fishing so been meh! Some northern state, couple wall eyes, bass are Mia. Lotta fronts and wind. Gotta keep going lol!
Expect the bugs the be bad, in the evening especially. They were actually starting to subside a bit in the Metro due to a lack of rain for like two straight weeks, but that will change as of last night. No such luck up north. They've been getting plenty of rain, and there are plenty of spots for those little devils to make babies even if there's no rain. Generally if you're actually out fishing on a bigger lake like Vermillion there's enough of a breeze that they don't bother you too much. Start strapping the boat down in the parking lot though and look out! Permethrin-treated long pants and long sleeves can help, but a steady supply of deet is really going to be necessary.
Unless you've got an RV, I personally would opt for a cabin as it would just make everything a lot easier. The bugs are one concern. Weather is another. It's not at all uncommon to see days where it just rains all day and gets downright cold up there, even in August. It'd sure be nice to know you have a place where you can for sure dry out yourself and all of your stuff. Add that to the fact that many campgrounds with showers and electricity start getting really close to the price of a cabin and it becomes a no brainer for me.
That's a shame that the bass are being finicky for you, scl. I suspect you may have hit post-spawn as I'm all but certain the majority of the fish got on the beds with the most recent full moon about two weeks back. On that note, you might check spawning areas - I'd bet a chunk of change there are quite a few still on beds, or at least guarding fry.
2011 Skeeter ZX225
225 Yamaha HPDI Series 2
Minn Kota Ultrex 112 52"
Console: HDS 16 Carbon
Bow: HDS 12 Carbon, Solix 12 G2, Mega 360
4th day here and I finally saw a smallie tho he didn't eat my spinnerbait. Bad post front day. Saw a musky yesterday in a foot of water 5 feet from my boat, just laid there and finally just tootled off. Holy crap that's a big fish. Go oUt later and troll some worms.
Thanks Drewflu for the info. Much appreciated. Cabin is the way to go.
5th day found some green ones finally, couple over 2 lbs. Still struggling but what a beautiful lake. Never seen water so tannic! Looks like a combo of root beer and cream soda. See my post in general topics on snap raps.
Very odd your having a rough time. I've always thought Vermillion to be an easy lake to catch a lot of fish. I've had best luck by simply running the bank, especially in the wind. There's enough fish that live shallow and are always active, all fish brands. I know for me, the deeper i've fished, the slower it got...bass and walleyes. A gold/black mini Fat Rap and Kalins 5inch grubs always worked well for me late in the summer like this.
If you're fishing in the Tower area, it may be different. I've only fish the section NW of there. But it can't be too different.
If you aren't fishing the bank, go to it. Cover water. You'll catch enough to eventually figure it out.
I've beat the bank till the trees know my name. Swim baits, spinnerbaits, crank baits, senkos, tubes. Went deep with crawlers and crank baits, from Everett Bay to Armstrong Bay and all over Pike Bay. I'm going over to Lost Lake tomorrow for a change of venue. Burned 50 gallons of fuel. I love this lake but it don't love me lol. Thanks for all the attempted help you guys are great.
Did you fish docks?
Did fish docks and in fact the only bass I caught came off of docks. That was a total of 3! And I fished a lot more docks than that. Talked to a DNR officer at Lost Lake today and he said it's been slow for everything. I never got a bite at Lost and my wife had a nudge on a spinnerbait and that's all. Dnr said Vermilion has been dead. Have to agree this week.
The last couple weeks have been tough, fished both V and Rainy. Slow rolling spinner baits, jerk baits, and jig/plastics has produced fish for me. Fished offshore structure close to islands/land and have caught fish anywhere from 1-20 feet of water. Docks have produced small fish and not many of them. I have been using orange/bronze/gold jerk baits and bright color jigs with plastics, green and pink have produced the best. Will be back on Rainy this weekend, we will see how it goes.
If Vermilion is slow, trailer over to Pelican in Orr.
Had to go back home a little disappointed, but I'd love to go back at a different time and give it another go. Thanks for all the attempted help, but you didn't have much to work with given my fishing talents
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