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Posts: 2361
| In what might be a tough year I am just adding a few known efforts together between mid August and now and come up with somewhere in the vicinity of 157.5 hours per musky. That is figuring an average day fishing of 8 hours. Many probably fished more than that but had to use a number and didn't want to overestimate. For my population I am using an outing before the M1 outing, the M1 outing, and the recent tourney. I would say all in all, the group probably comes out, average in skill levels. Never having seen the lake before nor having any knowledge of past "bites", I am not sure what to think about all this.
As Steve Worrall once said about me(tongue firmly in cheek), I "might be the best muskie fisherman in the world"(yes I did catch that Sworall, but I started laughing, and I really never had a decent comeback), but I sure didn't conquer Vermillion. Is this effort per musky the common denominator now for Vermillion fish, or is this year just an aberration. I know some of you guys have hit the lake more than a couple times and have more hours experience to compare. So what's the deal?
I enjoyed being on the lake, and felt at home with everything, but what they were doing in the bigger weedbeds. So, although the lake was strange, alot of the spots were comfortably familiar. Do I need to factor in this many hours per musky next season if I return?
Edited by firstsixfeet 9/21/2009 9:23 PM
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Posts: 32955
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I'd say maybe, if the forage is as thick as it is this year. Matt Snyder says the forage is so thick the fish are always full and one sees them when they are NOT eating, because they are out off the structure when they are. Sounds like Mille Lacs some to me, according to some of the Guides out there. I'll be back in October, and will actually fish this time. |
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Posts: 2361
| sworrall - 9/21/2009 9:25 PM
I'd say maybe, if the forage is as thick as it is this year. Matt Snyder says the forage is so thick the fish are always full and one sees them when they are NOT eating, because they are out off the structure when they are. Sounds like Mille Lacs some to me, according to some of the Guides out there. I'll be back in October, and will actually fish this time.
Is the abundance now, related to the whitefish dieoff in recent history? |
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Posts: 32955
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Matt said the usual die offs haven't happened as of late, I believe he said because of water temps. |
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Posts: 1460
Location: Kronenwetter, WI | My experience has been that this is truly a working man's water, definitely not action water. Big fish there for sure but you have to really work. We did okay out there this year, but logged crazy hours every day, often not coming off the water until 2am or until my batteries finally quit for the night (I'm going to eliminate that limitation next year). I have a few pals who I cannot convince to go with me next year b/c they view their annual trip as a time to get away, relax, and fish. When I explain the typical day of fishing, they're not interested, and I can understand that. If you are looking to boat big numbers of fish in your week there are likely better places to fish. |
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | No die off's this summer, thus the muskies are eating Really Good.
Huge clouds of bait fish out over open water with arches just under them.........some of these muskies are just following the bait untill they get full and then they go sit on the nearest rock bar to rest.......And every once in a while us Humans nail one.
There's still your weed fish, and some that wander away from the bait fish, but I think that Vermilion is having it's Mille Lacs, this summer.
It's been to cold for the bait fish (ciscos/white fish) to die off this summer, More bait,
thus the slower bite from muskies................Oh, But come this November Look out,........Someone is gona boat a few Giants !
Jerome
Edited by Top H2O 9/21/2009 10:15 PM
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| Well the forage may be a factor, but is nowhere near the #1 limiting factor in my opinion. That place gets a LOT of pressure. People can talk all they want about finding these secret spots no one knows about, but don't think for a second that how hard that place gets hit doesn't effect how many fish you are going to catch. Considering how far north Vermilion is I have rarely seen fish display some of the behaviors I have seen ( and this was a few years back, I imagine now it has to be worse). |
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Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | I've only been on the lake a couple days this year but the few fish we have gotten have been chunky, almost like 'fall' fatness... so they must be eating well. and we've seen a number of fish cruising open water just under the surface until they pull up to a rock pile and "lie down."
I thought it was funny to see this post and the info shared by Jerome and Steve because my boat partner and I had discussed how the fish just seem to be full our last outing. I never thought of forage die off before on this type of lake. Interesting to say the least... |
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Posts: 2361
| My actual question on the dieoff was that the one talked about a couple years back(larger fish), may have reduced a big predator class, allowing the population to bloom for a while until balance is restored? But hard to know stuff like that with the limited population information available.
Some of the fish were definitely full, and at times that can be a problem down here also.
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Posts: 244
Location: Mallard Island Lake Vermilion MN | Interesting 
Edited by KidDerringer 9/22/2009 10:35 AM
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Posts: 313
Location: Bemidji, Lake Vermilion | There hasn't been much of a die off of the whities and cisco's this year. Our motor was not running properly this past weekend for the MAC event and my brother didn't want to switch to a slightly smaller boat in order to keep that as an option, so we didn't troll at all. We definitely had bait figured out, huge concentrations of it, and knew muskies were mixed in. With such a tough bite, it was disappointing to not have been able to do it, some big fish would have been available. Should have manned up and casted these areas but that is a whole different story.
There have been a lot of "full" fish and they have been eating very well all summer. More fish have stayed "open water" than most could probably imagine. I second the opinion that some truly mammoth fish will likely be caught there this year still, for both length along with tremendous girth. I hope to be on the end of more than one of them. Color and depth of baits need to be watched carefully and our experience is that color or general pattern can make a huge difference in getting bit or not. I'm sure many would argue different but we find that all the time on Vermilion, trolling or casting. Trolling on Vermilion will only get better each day now that water temps will start a slow march downward.
Edited by thrax_johnson 9/22/2009 6:58 PM
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| huge concentrations of baitfish?
huge concentrations of eagles?
huge concentrations of ???
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Posts: 83
| Wow... With those kinds of numbers, I would have to fish for something else during the summer, and muskie fish some in the spring and fall. Even then, only peak periods and situations that were to my liking. I thought that lake was a Muskie Mecca?? |
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Posts: 313
Location: Bemidji, Lake Vermilion | Lambeau, great shot of the sonar. I might even know the general location where you got that shot lol. It really is amazing. And you're also right about the eagles, they are like pigeons up there. I am amazed someone didn't put it together and actually boat some fish trolling. There were going to be fisticuffs with my partner about the whole trolling aspect, we should have made changes to do it, but I finally let it go.
To all others, these events are not typical of the Vermilion bite. I will not say its always easy but weather, bait, many different factors have combined to affect all these events. The bite is usually much better and if you are willing to put some time in, probably a combination of day fishing/spotting with a little nighttime action to follow it up with, you stand one of the best chances anywhere to boat a fish and while average fish are nice and Vermilion has a great average size, that "one or two" fish could very well be the kind you'll only catch once in a lifetime. And possible record breakers?? Just come out and see it for yourself and decide. With a little luck, you'll probably see the largest fish you ever have and your minds will probably be blown. And if you hook up with one?? Or boat one?? Wow. |
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| I've looking for a chance to go to Vermillion, finally found 3 days, now it looks like it could be a waste of time and money |
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Posts: 32955
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Not at all. The muskies are HUGE, they are numerous, and when they turn on that water can be world class in every category. |
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Posts: 1237
Location: South Portsmouth, KY | I went up there for the first time in july and i was blown away at the sheer numbers of huge fish. Now most of them flash off as soon as they seen the boat but just to experience that many big fish on average was just mind blowing. I will be back for sure! |
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Posts: 84
| I was lucky and had the luxury of fishing vermillion allot before it became popular. This lake is beautiful! Big dumb fish were very common. Double digit fish days were possible. To this day, I have never seen fish anywhere attack a top water bait the way these fish used to. While big fish are still very common, they are quite a bit more educated these days. The pressure is pretty intense at times. Fortunatley the lake is very complex and offers the opportunity to get away from other anglers if you have the financial resources to burn allot of fuel. The pressure is taking its toll on this great body of water. Feeding windows are much smaller, spots get hammered 15 to 30 times a day and night. Your best bet is to hire a guide now days, because they are on the fish daily. It is an awesome place to fish, however there are better places now to fish with far less pressure. So if you want to fish during optimal times of the year, be prepared to play bumper boats, share and play nice with others. It is just what it has become. That is my mathemtical view. |
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| couldn't agree more Rick... |
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Posts: 3165
| uh oh!!!! somebody said vermilion is crowded,,,thats feudin words around here |
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