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| Okay---I've been to LOTW out of Red Wing and just got back from Vermilion's east end
Here's what I noticed:
BIG V Observations:
During the day at Big V. you can see all sorts of 50+ inchers laying on the rocks digesting their previous meal. There are many big fish there, no doubt. The pressure there, however, is UNREAL!!! From 7 pm to 12 am (prime feeding period on that lake) forget about motering up to a spot and fishing it b/c there are at least 2 other boats there...you have to move on to another spot. In fact, the strategy seemed to be: "lock down a spot at sundown and stay on it until midnight". That way you know you are on fish and hope for the best. Of course Arrowhead Reef is a 'Jingle-Jangle carosel' with all the Double 10's being tossed and can support 6 boats at one time.
Anyhow...The pressure is very frustrating. We did manage to boat a 42, 44, and a 45 out of six guys during the week. Our hopes were much higher than that, however. Noticed the fish there are skittish at boatside.
LOTW Observations:
Fished out of Redwing Lodge. Boated two 46ers and 5 more under 40 between 2 guys. That is a much better catch rate than Big V.
Also noted that we saw big fish come to the boat and really stick around through a few 8's. One of our 46ers was one of those. The environment there seems to be to develop some spots, go back on the bigger fish and they always come back to the boat from the same place. Much more action than on V.
SO....HERE I am....Wondering what to do next year...go to LOTW or Big V. I believe I have to commit to one body of water and learn prime and secondary spots to get my 50.
My head says go to V for 4-5 more years and the 50 will happen.
My heart says go to LOTW and have fun with all the action and a 50 could likely happen too.
OBJECTIVE: 50.
Anyone with experience on both bodies of wather please chime in with your thoughts. I need to commit to one lake or the other.
Thanks,
Rick
Edited by Lambeau1 8/10/2007 11:04 PM
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| Vermillion, but go in the fall to beat the pressure... |
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Posts: 1636
| I would go with LOTW, but I like Vermilion a lot. The east end, fishing pressure is insane. Was on the west end for a week 2 years ago and saw 2 other boats muskie fishing the entire time. I wish I could have spent another full week on that lake in the last two years, but after going to LOTW, I changed my mind  You can fish pressured waters closer to home...drive a little bit farther to LOTW and fish spots no one has fished 20 minutes prior to your arrival. |
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Posts: 376
Location: Lake Vermilion Tower, MN | Believe it or not there are other spots to fish on Vermilion, besides the reefs in Big Bay.
It's no wonder that you all think that Vermilion is getting pounded, everyone is fishing on the same spots. Spend a day checking out spots that aren't in Big Bay, you will be surprised how little traffic you see.
The main reason that you don't see as many fishermen up on the west end is that the east end is just better, most of the time. Afterall why go west, when the east is the best.
"Ace" |
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Posts: 2084
| lotw!.. holds at least twice as many 50"+ fish as V - but 4 times the size. Lots of room to spead out......and you often catch a dozen(35-45") fish per week(each guy).
I love V - but if you have to commit to one your crazy not to choose LOTW imo |
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Posts: 11
Location: Parkers Prairie, MN | I went to the big V the week of june 29th. We boated a 40 and a 54 but lost a few others. Including another one that was close to 50 we figure. The best thing about it was the whole week we saw probably 5 other muskie boats the whole week. I'm going to head up there and fish the spring. A litlle tougher but no pressure and the fish still bite. The 54 is on madmanmusky album. Check it out. |
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Posts: 13
| This is rediculas... LOTW's hands down! There are parts of LOTW's that are great musky fishing areas, that don't get even looked at except a couple times a year!!! Try Lake of the Woods in the fall... troll the elbow in obabikon lake, or kiwasoda channel! Amazing spots to fish for musky. |
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Posts: 20278
Location: oswego, il | Last year my friends were getting their butts handed to them on lotw while the ones fishing vermillion were doing well. This year it is just the oppostite.
Like Ace said, there are plenty of unfished spots on vermillion. Take a ride along the shoreline sometime when it is slow during the middle of the day, stay in and around 10ft of water, you may go a mile, maybe even two but you will be marking spots on your gps. I troll it and find them that way. |
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| Not sure what to tell you since I have had by butt handed to me on both bodies of water. I do however appreciate your honest assessment of what was caught and what your expectations were. It is refreshing to hear your honest thoughts on the trip rather than the rose colord glass assesment that often shows up on some of the reports. |
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If your only objective is a 50"er, than I don't think one is better than the other.
If you want less pressure, more seclusion, better scenery, less recreational boat traffic,less frustration, than LOW hands down.
LOW is 10 (or more) times the size of Vermillion, take a boat ride for a while and you'll leave the crowds behind up there.
JS
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| Both are great places to fish, and either one gives you a great shot at a 50 inch plus musky. I think of Big V as a Little LOTW and they each have advantages. Big V is easier to get to, and easier to fish. LOTW is an order of magnitude bigger, gives you many more areas of all types to fish, and offers amazing experiences beyond just the musky fishing given all the wildlife you will encounter. You are lucky to be fishing either one!
Steve |
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Posts: 457
| Both are good, both are pressured, and both have their moments. I'd hit LOTW any day over V, because I like the lake, plain and simple. However, that said, if I were to go and target 50" fish Crow would be one of my first considerations. |
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Posts: 89
| LOTW= 1,000,000 acres
Vermilion= 40,000 acres
no brainer....
Edited by B.Mirro 8/11/2007 5:08 PM
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| yes more seclusion at lotw but it has pressure also with all the stocking i think there are many more 50" fish on the v per acre of water. spent alot of time on bothe and saw more 50" fish on the v than on lotw per hours fished i would say the v |
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| This is a bit off the question but to respond to Whoolligan I would seriously avoid Crow if you want a 50". Ask anyone that goes on The Thorne Brother's outings and they will tell you they see a few 50"s but getting them to eat is nearly impossible. I am not sure how long the outing has been going but the number of 50"s is very few. I would stick with LOTW and the Big V. |
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Posts: 2060
Location: Appleton,WI | What about leech lake??Im sure with everybody going to lake of the woods and vermilion that the fish on leech are going unpressured and theres 50's in there. |
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Posts: 457
| Guest - 8/11/2007 9:15 PM
This is a bit off the question but to respond to Whoolligan I would seriously avoid Crow if you want a 50". Ask anyone that goes on The Thorne Brother's outings and they will tell you they see a few 50"s but getting them to eat is nearly impossible. I am not sure how long the outing has been going but the number of 50"s is very few. I would stick with LOTW and the Big V.
I agree with that statement with the exception of the fact that Crow is the only lake that I have ever known, or heard of, that you can actually target fish in that class. I'm not saying that I would (or anyone) isn't going to go a very long time doing it, but hey.
Besides that, I REALLY like that lake.
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Posts: 2024
| Reelwise and I had the unique opportunity to hit both lakes this summer (though the Big V only half a day, so maybe that doesn't count :P ). Here is my take (and a few observations on your original post).
Big V: Big fish potential there is out of this world. No wonder so many people hit it. I heard so many stories about big fish just sitting around, and have experienced some of that on Mille Lacs, but you have to see it to believe it on the Big V. We spent the last 15-20 minutes of our half day on the Big V at 1:00 AM just spotlighting a small reef and following all the fish around that were laying in a foot of water! The fish are ginormous there and I liked the plethora of spots you could fish. There also appeared to be good habitat for other species which is another plus for that fishery. I was sort of surprised to see it not as developed as I thought it would be. That was another plus.
LOTW: Per acre your encounters with 50s are probably not quite as good as on the Big V. However, every spot on LOTW has potential to hold a 50"er. You will also be kept busy by the "smaller" fish on a regular basis. You could go a whole day seeing only one or two muskie fishermen in some areas. The nice thing about LOTW is once you find what you believe a pattern is you can easily pick similar looking spots out, and those spots likely haven't been fished six times over that day! The pressure is lower so you can trigger bigger fish with greater ease (IMO) and get more fish on the 8 which is ALWAYS a blast (a 50" on the figure 8 is the epitome of muskie fishing).
I noticed you talked a lot about pressure in your original post, and I'm the same way; I can get easily frustrated with it. That said, there is absolutely NO comparison between LOTW and the Big V (can't speak for fall fishing). On LOTW you don't have to "lock down a spot and hope for the best." Figure out what the fish are doing and duplicate those spots you have success on (which could be dozens!!!!!).
Hope this helps! |
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| Thanks for all your thoughts, guyz,
In the end i feel that the degree to which one spends good quality fishing time idenfifiying secondary sposts will likly put a 50" in someones' boat...HEY...I saw MANY shorlines and points with no boats on them on Big V. There have to be 50"ers there...
AS far as acres per lake, yea....LOTW has more w/o a doubt...
As far as number of 50's per acre,.....BIG V gets the nod.....
Next year will find me slinging baits on one or the other and i'.ll be in HEAVEN becaise I'll know that my next cast coutd be the ONE!!!!!
Thanks for all you input....you guys rule!
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| both are awesome lakes that have amazing potential. big v does definetly get more pressure though. lotw has a lot of untouched water which is a huge plus |
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| I'd go with Big V just because you've got a much better chance at a 55"; and if not you'll atleast see one or two hangin out on a reef. If you hit V at the right window you'll get more big fish in my opinion than LOTW. Maybe one day the MN DNR will stock Rainy Lake with Leach Lake fish and we'll have the best of both worlds. That would be heaven. |
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| MS
Rainys' already got muskies. A guy I know mounted a 46lber out of there and released another at 56" along w/ numerous other 50"+...and not one of these in Red Gut Bay. No fishing pressure for muskies either. I say go to Rainy. Bucher's been doing it secretly for years.
Guest |
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Posts: 32956
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Rainy is very good, he's right. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | do both!
a week on LOTW in mid july and do the V in the fall when all the fair weather sallys don't fish!
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Posts: 457
| sworrall - 8/12/2007 11:00 AM
Rainy is very good, he's right.
Shhhhhhh! I'm planning a spring trip there next year! |
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| I was talking about the U.S. side. I've had multiple fish days out of redgut but I don't think the populations are comparable imo. On certain reefs there are multiple fish but not nearly as many fish per acre. In my opinion the u.s. side is not fishable other than crow whos fish come from vermillion. This is based from a biologist who has been seining and netting the u.s. side from I. falls to crow for 30 years who said he has yet to net a musky. He nets hundreds if not thousands of pike a year. I know there are honey holes on the canadian side. It's great lake.
goodluck |
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Posts: 32956
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Rainy also has one of the best and most underfished big Pike populations available (Try Bleak Bay). I quit fishing it when Minnesota and Ontario decided to get into a battle over resorts, houseboats, etc. Too much hassle to fish the Canadian water from the US side and that is where I used to stay. |
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Posts: 654
Location: MPLS, MN | If your gaol is a 50" go to Vermillion in a non moon phase and hope for good weather.
You want #'s go to LOTW |
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| Hmmm.....very interesting discussion....
I've heard Rainy, Crow, Mille Lacs as alternatives...but no EAGLE? Cool!!
I'd stick with Big V... |
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Posts: 260
Location: Kentucky | Hands down LOTW! Bigger water, bigger fish, more fish, less traffic, more wildlife, more to learn! |
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