Lake Vermilion, 12/12/08 The walleye bite on Vermilion has been very good the
past week. There is now around 14 inches of solid ice on the lake with around
6 inches of loose snow. There are a lot of pressure ridges popping up out
there, so be careful! There have been lots of cars and trucks out on the ice
the past couple of days. I even drove my F-150 out to the fish house
today! I have been getting all of my fish in 26' to 30' of water close to
mid-lake reefs. Pike suckers and shiners have been my best bait when used on
tip-ups or rattle reels. Fathead minnows have been working well on my jigging
spoons. The bite has been mostly an early morning and late evening
bite. Lots of slot fish showing up also this week. Good
Fishing!
Cliff
Lake Vermilion, 11/20/08
It appears that the hard water fishing season
is almost upon us! If we get the cold weather that is predicted for the next
week and the wind stays down we should be able to walk out onto semi-safe ice in
a few sheltered bays by this weekend! Note that the term "SAFE ICE" is a very
relative term! No ice should automatically be assumed to be safe, especially
early ice! A few safety precautions that should ALWAYS be taken when
venturing out onto unknown first ice are: Always wear a lifevest! Never go
out alone! Carry ice picks on you. Check the ice every few steps in front
of you with a spud bar. And, have your partner that is following you at
a safe distance carry at least a 50' rope with something tied to one end
that will allow the rope to be thrown out to you if you break thru the ice. A
one gallon jug with a little sand in it for weight works well on the
rope. That being said, I look for this winter to be a very good season again
for walleyes on Vermilion. Many early ice walleyes can be caught in shallow
water the first couple weeks of the season. By shallow water I mean water
that is 5' to 12' deep. I like to fish one rod with a jigging spoon, jigging
Rap, or a Chubby Darter baited with a small minnow or a minnow head as an added
attraction. My second line is almost always a tip-up baited with a lively
rainbow minnow, shiner, or small sucker minnow that is set to swim at about one
foot off of the bottom. Shallow water early ice walleyes can be very
spooky!! Set the tip-up about 50' away from where you are jigging so that you
can cover a larger area and the extra distance away will also assure that that
line is in a quite area away from where you are fishing. It is also a good idea
to try to fish each line at different depth if you are close to a drop
off. As a rule, early morning and late evening will be the prime walleye bite
on most days. Be safe and have fun this winter! Cliff
The recent cooler weather has finally pushed
the water temps on Vermilion down into the lower 50's and the walleyes are
moving into some of their fall pattern locations. The water temps were at 53
deg. to 54 deg. yesterday morning in Big Bay which indicates that turn over has
happened or is about to happen. We caught walleyes and a few jumbo perch
yesterday in depths of 8' to 42' which is a good sign that turn over has
happened recently also. The fish should soon be moving into the deeper holes
and be much more concentrated in the next few days. Jigs and minnows have
been working very well this week for me. Glow white, gold, fire tiger, black,
and parrot colors in 1/4 oz. and 3/4 oz. have been working well on active
fish. Plain hook bait rigs with a 4' to 6' leader have worked best on
reluctant biters. Medium to larger minnows has been the prefered bait.
Fatheads,creek chubs, rainbows, and pike suckers have all been catching fish on
both presentations. Slow and vertical has been working best. Good
Fishing! Cliff
The walleye bite on Vermilion has been very
sporatic this week for me. Some days have been very good and others have been
very slow. The walleyes seem to be on the move toward their fall pattern
spots, but have not arrived there yet! On most days many of my better spots will
only produce a few better fish then I have to move to another to pick up a fish
or two there. Lindy rigs baited with crawlers have been the best producer
this week. Minnows are also starting to get a few fish on rigs and jigs. Most
of my fish are being caught in 12' to 23 ' of water. Trolling crank baits is
starting to produce fish for a few of the trolling die hards and may be the way
to go in the next week or so with the way the walleyes are scattered now. The
water level on the lake has been dropping steadily the past couple weeks and you
will need to use care when in shallow water. Water temps have been averaging
in the upper 60's most of the week. The fall bite is approaching fast and we
should have a very good and steady bite going in a week or two.
The walleye bite on Vermilion's East end has been very steady the past week. I have been getting a lot of walleyes on many of the main basin reefs and rock humps. Lindy Rigs with crawlers or leeches as bait has been the most productive method on most days. I have also had a couple of good days using minnows on the Lindy Rigs. 16 feet to 26 feet deep has been my best depths for walleyes. A few jumbo perch are also starting to show up on the reefs this week. We have been weeding thru a lot of small fish each day, but have been keeping limits of 14 inch to 16-1/2 inch fish on most trips out. A few nice slot fish are also being caught each day. A 28-1/2 inch walleye was our best fish this week.
The mayfly haych in Big Bay on Vermilion is finally in full swing as of Saturday. The hatch has not had any noticable affetct on the walleye bite in the areas that I have been fishing except that the bite has maybe even improved because the walleyes are gorgeing themselves on the mayflys and have been hitting a Lindy Rig baited with 1/2 of a crawler very well! We have been averaging at least 50 walleyes a day this week. All of my fish are comming off of the mid-lake reefs and humps in 18 feet to 32 feet of water. There is also a good lindy bite in the 20' plus deep mud flats. Good Fishing!
The walleye bite this week has been very steady. We are getting walleyes in many different types of locations and at depths that range from 6 feet to 30 feet deep. Lindys baited with minnows or crawlers are working best for me. Gold spinners and minnows are also getting a lot of fish. There are a few mayflies starting to hatch, but the main hatch is probably still a couple of weeks off. The smallmouth bass are really starting to show up in their spawning beds now. The few sunfish that I have caught appear to not have spawned this year. Water to cold??? Water temps have been holding in the upper 50's to low 60's all week.
The walleye bite has been very good on most days this week dispite the many fronts that have been moving thru this area. We have been catching quite a few slot fish this week that have ranged from 17 inches to 25 inches. Almost all of our fish are still being caught using a bait rig baited with minnows. The larger minnows seem to get the most bites on most days. Fathead chubs,rainbows and creek chubs have been my best choices. Leeches are accounting for a few walleyes and crawlers are also starting to get a few fish to bite. Spinners,jigs and crank baits are also working on many days. The walleyes are very scattered and I have caught them as shallow as 6 feet and as deep as 42 feet on some occasions. 14 feet to 22 feet has been the best depths on most days. Good Fishing! Cliff
The walleye bite continues to improve as the water warms up this week. The water temps have been as high as 62.5 degrees in some areas the past couple of days! The walleyes are already starting to move off shoreline locations out onto the main basin reefs and islands. Minnows are still the main go-to bait, but leeches have been starting to work well in some locations also. My main presentation this week has been a standard lindy type bait rig with a 3' to 6' leader and a #2 Gamagatsu bait hook. Dragging a jig and minnow combination has also been working well for some. Most of my fish are being caught in 16' to 32 feet of water close to rocky shorelines and rock piles. Moving very slowly and paying attention to feel the light biters and then feeding them a little line will put a lot more fish in your boat!
The second week of the walleye season has had some very unstable weather, to say the least! Those of us that braved the cold, wind, and rain did manage to have some good fishing though. Walleyes have been hitting in almost any depth of water up to 40 feet and have been caught on almost any type of presentation! I have been sticking to Lindy type rigs because they are much easier to use in the windy conditions that we have had all week. At times I have had to use up to 1 ounce of weight just to stay on the bottom! I have been running a 5 foot, 8# test Cajun Red leader with a #4 or #2 Gamagatsu hook baited with a rainbow,fathead, or pike sucker and with enough weight to maintain bottom contact. We have caught walleyes in 8 feet of water to 30 feet of water using this type of rig this week. Jigs/minnows also worked well on the few calm days that we had.
Finally! The 2008 walleye fishing opener has arrived! After checking questionable ice out condition on the Tower end of Vermilion for the last week we finally got enough open water on the South shore of Big Bay to be able to get out onto a large enough section of water to be able to fish. Even though my clients and I were unable to gain access to my prefered "Opening Day" walleye spot because of a huge ice flow on most of Big Bay I was able to get to a couple of my back up spots and we managed to have a very good day on Saturday! The morning started off with snow flakes falling as we headed out from the Hoodoo Point Landing! Another "Typical Opener"! With the water tempretures averaging 39 to 44 degrees in these spots the bite was very light and tenative, but fairly steady. All of our fish came out of 22' to 33' of water and were caught on bait rigs with a 3' to 4' leader, 3/8 oz. egg sinker, a size #4 red or green Gamagatsu hook, with rainbow chub as bait. We had to move very slowly to get any bites and had to feed the bait to the fish for a few seconds before setting the hook. We ended the day with 41 walleyes caught! We kept our limits of 16 fish that were 13" to 16-1/2" in length, and released two fish that were in the protected slot. By 3:00 pm we were all ready to call it a day as the wind had come up and the temperature had begun to drop again. Big Bay should be ice free by Monday or Tuesday. This is only the second year that I have ever seen ice on Big Bay on opener weekend! The fishing can only get better as the water and weather warm! Good Fishing! Cliff www.cliffsguideservice-lakevermilion.com 218-753-2005
Lake Vermilion,4/26/08
Even if the weather today does not even closely resemble what we all want to see on the "Walleye Opener" it is time to make sure that all of our gear is checked out and in perfect working condition for the big day. It is also time to make sure that we have a game plan for that all importent day! Your chances of success will be greatly improved if you just take a few minutes to assess the predicted weather and lake conditions for this opener. The late spring and cold weather this year will almost guarantee that the walleye spawn will be delayed by a week or two. This will mean that the walleyes probably will not be in many of the traditional opener spots that you fish. The colder weather will also probably mean a much more lathargic bite. The best way to compensate for this is to slow down your presentations in most cases. The exception to this rule is if you like to troll crank baits. I have usually had better luck during cold water periods by actually trolling cranks faster then normal! The speed will get many instinct hits if the walleye has to make a snap decision to "eat" as the crank baits zips past it! If you will be using live bait like me the key to getting more fish is to "SLOW DOWN"! I like to start with a jig/minnow presentation. Use as light a jig as you can use and still keep your bait right on the bottom. And I do mean right on the bottom! SLOWLY drag your presentation a foot or two and then let it set for a couple of seconds and then repeat the process. Each time that you lift your rod to drag the jig forward be sure to feel for any extra weight. If you feel anything "extra" there, lift a little more and set that hook if the weight increases even a little! If a jig/minnow is not getting walleyes I then will switch to a Liny type bait rig. I usually will have a 3/8 oz. eggsinker,then a 2' to 3' 8# test mono leader with a size #4 Gamagatsu bait hook attached to that. Either nose hook or tail hook a rainbow chub or fathead chub minnow to this rig. Fish this rig the same way that you fished the jig/minnow rig. Either of these presentation can be used effectively by slow trolling, drifting, or casting from an anchored boat or from shore. I hope that these pointers will help put some walleyes in your boat and also into the frying pan for that always great, :OPENER" fish fry! Have a great opener and be safe out on the water! Good Fishing! Cliff www.cliffsguideservice-lakevermilion.com 218-753-2005
Lake Vermilion, 3/13/08
With the walleye season closed in this area I have been concentrating my efforts on panfish. The crappie and sunfish have been biting very well on most of the area lakes. I have had very good luck using waxworms on pink/glow tear drop jigs, Haili jigs and small Forage Minnows or Sweedish Pimples, color preferences vary day-to-day. Golds, red/glow, silver/green, and rainbow trout have all been good colors. I have gotten fish in 12' to 35' of water. Most of them have been suspended. The stream trout and laker bite has also been very good the past couple of weeks. The tulibee bite is in full swing and will get better as the ice melts. You can get steady action on most days in the deepest holes on Vermilion. All of the crappie jigs mentioned previously will catch tulibees when baited with a waxie or crappie minnow. plastics also work great on days that they are really aggressive. The area snowmobile trails and lake are all in fairly good shape as of this date.
The walleye bite on Vermilion has really slowed down this week again mostly due to the cold fronts that have been rolling thru this area. We are still getting a few fish each day but have had to really work for them. Most of our fish are still being caught in 24 feet to 30 feet of water. Small minnows on a plain hook with a small split shot on a dead stick or light jigging rod have gotten most of our fish. Late mornings and mid-day has been the best bite. You can really keep busy cranking in the tulibees if you use your electronics to watch for them suspended in the water column. They are hitting small silver or gold Sweedish Pimples or other small jigging spoons baited with a wax worm very well. Just watch for them to show up on your electronics and then get above them a little and jig until they rise to the bait. Then slowly lift the spoon until they hit. Lots of fun and a good fight too! The panfish are starting to really warm up on many of the lakes in the Ely area also. Stream trout are also still biting well on many of the area lakes.
The walleye bite has slowed down quite a bit this week due to the recent cold fronts. Many of the fish that we are getting have been biting at midday on tip-ups and rattle reels. The best bait on these rigs has been small to medium sized sucker minnows. Small gold spoons baited with a crappie minnow are also getting a few of the more aggressive walleyes. 24 feet to 30 feet of water are still my most productive depths. Travel on the lake has been very good. There is only 2" to 3" of snow in most open areas and no slush at all. There has been around 17" to 18" of ice in the areas that I have been fishing and I have been driving my F-150 out all week.
The lake ice is finally starting to shape up and the slush holes are just about all frozen over now. There is still no travel except by snowmobile and ATV at this time, but it will not be to long before we will be able to finally drive out to some favorite spots! The walleye bite has been very good all week again! I have been getting my fish in 22' to 30' of water yet. Tip-ups and dead sticks baited with small to medium sized pike suckers have been getting a lot of fish. Small gold spoons or 1/8 oz. gold jigs baited with a tail-hooked crappie minnow have also been very effective.
The walleye fishing on Vermilion has been very good this week if you are willing and able to get out onto the main lake and away from the other fishermen. We have been doing very good fishing the reefs that top out at around 17 to 22 feet. The walleyes can be found anywhere from the top of the reefs to as deep as 32 feet off of the edges of the reef. We have been getting many of our fish under tip-ups baited with small to medium suckers. The walleyes that we are catching on jigs have been caught on small 1/8 oz. gold spoons or 1/8 oz gold round head jigs baited with crappie minnows! Ice conditions are slowly improving with many of the nasty slush areas starting to set up or freeze over. There are still a few bad slush areas though! Very tough going on ATV's. Snowmobiles are still your best bet for getting around. NO trucks or car travel on the ice is reccomended!! It just is not safe! Warm here the past two days so hopefully the snow cover will melt and the slush will finally freeze up.
Lake Vermilion, 12/26/07 The Ice on Vermilion is averaging around 9 inches deep. There is an average of 12 inches of snow on top of the ice with many areas on the lake having 6 inches or more of slush under the snow! Very bad traveling for anything except possibly snowmobiles and that can be a challange at times if you are pulling a fishhouse. If you can manage to get out there the walleyes are biting! The bite is mostly a morning and evening bite. Good fishing! Cliff
Lake Vermilion, 12/15/07 Provided by: Cliff's Guide Service
The walleye bite on Vermilion has been very good on most of the mornings that I have been out. I have been fishing in water 19' to 30' deep all week with good results. Tip-ups and dead-sticks with a medium sized rainbow chub on a white glow Demon Jig has been a good second line. I have also been jigging one line with a varity of jigging spoons and Rapala Jigging Raps. Red glow and perch colors have been my best colors on most days. I have been finding the ice depth to be mostly in the 7" to 9" range in the areas that I have fished. Be CAREFUL though because there are still many spots with 2" of ice in some areas. There is also still a lot of slush under the 8" to 12" of snow in many areas. A few permanant houses are starting to show up out from of the McKinley Park Landing area. I hope to have my permanant houses out by next weekend. Good Fishing! Cliff
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