Last shot at musky fishing produces another 55 incher

November 24,2009

Two days ago we had to break through 200 yards of thin ice to get out of the Bay into the main lake to check a neighbor’s cabin.  At that point we were ready to hang up the musky fishing for the year…then the weather warmed with wind and rain..the lake opened up again. Today after working around the resort doing some final closing and winter prep … . Marty and I decided to go out for a couple hours of trolling.  Water temp was 39 degrees, light rain, little wind and fog. Marty had commented that we will more than likely be the last guys for the year on this end of the lake musky fishing. We trolled for about an hour and seen no signs of baitfish on our usual spots..so we focused on the deepest water just inside Niles Bay…we came out of 30 ft of water up on a deep point in 18 ft of water and one of the rods ripped…for a few moments the rod went limp..I commented that the line had broke..Marty took the rod out of the holder and started bringing in the slack line..then the rod doubled over.(.the fish after getting hooked swam right at us for some distance)…after a nice battle with the fish taking some strong runs we boated it. …55 inches with a 25.5 inch girth. That is Marty’s second 55 inch fish this month and for the resort the fifth musky this season 55 inches or over..can’t imagine what the fishing will be like in a few years with all of these giants swimming around.

Two 55 inch Musky caught at VDL over weekend

The mild weather so far in November has helped prolong the Whitefish and Cisco Spawn. That means more time to catch a monster sized musky ..given they target the Whitefish and Cisco when they  move up to spawn. . Water temps today were 40 degrees. The Whitefish Spawn has ended and now the Cisco are spawning. Marty and I took off this morning before dark and headed down to the west end of lake..along the way we drove through a 1/8 mile stretch of thin ice..outside temps were around 24 degrees..I would have to guess anyone seeing us go out this morning fishing would think we are absolutely nuts…sometimes we ask ourselves the same..but one of the first spots we fished we had Cisco breaking the surface all around us …then we seen a fish well over 50 inches slide up above the surface chasing a cisco… that makes it all worth it…we put in a about two hours and seen three fish..no takers..went back out tonight and did a little trolling..caught two fish 41 and 43 inches.

Over the last weekend two huge fish were boated by VDL guests/staff. Marty( Who has worked for the resort for the last 9 years…boated a 55 incher on Saturday ..see photo…then on Monday…Matt Seirfert ( die hard musky guy) caught a 55 inch Fish…Matt was fishing with Bob Benson..the same day they caught a 46 inch fish and reported a follow from another fish as big or bigger than the 55 incher..

Marty and Ken with a 55 incher

Matt Seifert with heavy 55 incher

So far this year Vermilion Dam Lodge guests have boated three 55 inch fish and one 59 inch fish. Not to mention numerous fish from 50 to 53 inches. In addition to the huge musky showing up for the Whitefish/Cisco spawn are trophy sized Northern Pike…so far this year we have boated 4 Northern Pike 40 inches or over…attached is picture Carl Brandt with A very nice 41 inch Northern.

Carl Brandt with a 41 inch /20 pound Pike

Deer season is now open..several nice Bucks were taken by VDL guests over the weekend. This weekend we have a few more musky fisherman and more deer hunters coming in…then next week we will finish closing down cabins for the winter.

October 21,2009

Whitefish have started running. The water temps at the dock this am at7am was 44 degrees. I talked with a couple of guys that come through the resort who run whitefish nets. They reported the whitefish run has started on east end of the lake but the west end has not really started We have a few guys at the resort musky fishing..they have hit a few fish In deeper water casting plastics. This weekend we have several groups of guys coming up musky fishing…so hopefully will have a nice report of fish caught next week. Grouse hunting has been excellent this year. We are seeing more birds than ever.

It’s that time of year to start getting all the rental boats out of the water in storage. We are pulling off our 50 hp and 25 hp Yamaha motors..plan to sell them all off this winter and replace with new Yamahas before next season.Those motors we are selling still run great but they have 10 seasonson them..its time to replace/upgrade.

Other news is we are waiting for word from our Bank for funding approval to build a new 3 bedroom cabin…plan is to move the Lakeside cabin into the second Tier of the resort and replace with a new three bedroom, two bath thatWould handicap accessibility. We already have the permits and a Crew ready to work…if approval comes through our goal is to have the new cabin framed and the other cabin moved by Thanksgiving so we do all the finish work this winter.

Musky Outing … possible state record musky caught

We had our 8th annual Larry Ramsell Musky outing over the weekend.. Larry Ramsell.,.who in the musky world is considered one of the most knowledgeable guys on record Muskies. He has spent years of his time researching all the world record Musky caught. He has traveled all over the U.S.  and Canada during the  past 40 years and conducted interviews and has written several books on the topic.  He currently guides in the Hayward area…His work actually helped set the record books straight on several fish thought to be holding the world record.. He has also worked over the years with MN, WI, IL, and Canada DNR s fish Biologists.  In addition, very active in getting Lakes like Vermilion stocked….today he still travels all over Canada and the upper Midwest  chasing that next world record musky. He has caught a 57 inch fish in Canada.  Each year Larry provides a great presentation  for our outing guests… this year he and another guide ( Bob Benson, Top Vermilion guide and one of the best Musky fisherman I have ever met) both talked in their presentations about the many lakes in the U.S. that claim to have the potential for a new state or world record fish….both said the reality is there has not been a 60 pound class fish caught in the U.S. in over 50 years….but…they said Lake Vermilion is one of the rare lakes in the U.S. for that mater in the world that has the potential to produce a monster fish of that size. Bob’s presentation  included some  photos of  huge musky up to 55 inches he had guided clients to on Lake Vermilion over the last 12 years.. Bob did an excellent presentation on how to fish Vermilion for any given season. He was very generous with sharing his knowledge and experience. Everyone in that room learned something new that night…he also pointed out that prior to fishing Vermilion he and his dad spent many years chasing musky in Northern Wisconsin …his largest fish was 48 inches after many years of fishing that area. But ,when he started fishing Vermilion and other MN lakes that all changed. …one comment he made during his presentations to our guests ” everyone here has a great chance at catching a musky over 50 pounds on this lake” Larry Ramsell said something similar in his presentation. . ….ironically…..it happened to one of the guys in that group attending..for on Saturday…despite the high winds, cold and snow ( just plain brutal weather).. Randy Porubcan and Gene Crowder caught a monster fish 59 inches in length and 29 inches in girth. To give a little background about the guys that caught the fish..both are very experienced musky fisherman…and have about 70 years combined fishing and are  ture sportsman dedicated to catch and release. Randy boated a 56.5 musky on Eagle Lake in Canada a few years back. That fish also had a 29 inch girth…he released it .  Randy told me that there was big difference in the fish he caught  on Vermilion saturday vs… the 56.5 inch fish in Canada. He said the fish in Canada was lighter and the Vermilion fish he needed Gene’s help to me pull the fish over the side of the boat in the net.They used their musky measuring stick which is 60 inches in length…they said the fish was too big to try and lay down flat and do the standard measurement with the tail closed…so it was laid down across Randy’s lap and they took their measurements that way…I mention this for closing the tail might have put that fish at 60 inches…( DNR uses that method with the tail closed for their measurements)….they released that fish to be caught another day…which says so much about these guys as sportsman…for I would have only have to guess that the average musky fisherman would have a tough time making the decision to release a fish that big knowing they will be establishing a new state record.  The current state record is 54 pounds caught on Lake Winniboshish in 1957.

There is a calculation that is used to determine a musky’s weight based on girth and length..that calculation puts the fish at over 60 pounds .So when you apply this formula..the bottom line is we had a fish that just shattered the state record and it was released to fight another day….congratulations Randy and Gene…

The weather for the outing was just plain nasty….but the guys that attended reported they had a great time and all commented on the great meals Kenny our chef prepared. Each night following the presentation the guys hung out in the lodge watched the twins game and shared musky stories… There were several fish seen the first day..but the second day everyone was forced to troll due to the high winds,snow and rain..there were four fish boated total:

Jack Gerlach   39 inches..trolling..fishing with Bob Benson

Randy Porubcan..59 inches trolling….

Bob Bronke 50 inches…trolling…fishing with guide Dusty Carlson.

.Lee Smith…41 inches…trolling…right at dark.

Fishing was difficult due to the severe weather conditions. but overall a great weekend….everyone is talking about coming back for the 9 th annual Larry Ramsell weekend.

Monster Muskie Caught

Weather again continues to feel like mid-July…yesterday it was in the high seventies all day with sunshine…we have a full resort with a lot of musky guys…Last night we had a guest (Mike Johnson from Hudson Wisconsin) catch a true monster…55.5 inch fish.…the girth measurement was 27 inches which puts this fish over 50 lbs .( Photo attached…note Mike is 6 ft 4 inches).This fish was released after a couple of photos including a video clip which I hope to get on the site…  Mike came up  with friend Rob Kosloske and four other friends. Their crew fishes hard including Fishing into the night…Mike’s fish hit a bucktail on a weed bed. This to be the pattern all summer..for every active fish/fish caught seem to be coming of the weeds..vs…the common mid-lake reefs and rock points. Also reported by a local bait shop ..a 60 inch fish was caught on the Cook end of the Vermilion  update..monday 14th…I went down to look at the photo…fish was not a 60 inch fish…but a 56 inch ..still  a hugh fish…

Given the long stretch of warm weather….this might be the start of some wild musky action..

Warm weather continues

September 8,2009 …Weather continued beautiful through Labor day weekend…for the first time since we bought the resort..we were able to keep the pool open through Labor Day due to the great weather.  Fishing started good last week and slowed due to the weather actually being’ too’ nice for too long…now we wait for a big change in weather which should trigger some great fishing.  

 Last week had a mix of families and fisherman. So due to the nice Weather and the number of kids at the resort we continued some of the family activities ( kids fishing contest, fish fry, float plane trips). One of the groups of fisherman was Jim Casper and Randy Niemiec ( and their dads) from Illinois. Their group boated four muskies up to 47 inches, a bunch of nice northern up to 38 inches, Crappie up to 13.5 inches and number of slot walleyes. Most of the Musky were caught during the day which is not the norm for summer where most are caught at dark or an hour after. They put their time in and did very well for the week.

Another group ( Frank Korycanek family) caught some nice walleye. Last trip at the resort two years ago Frank caught a 30 inch walleye. They reported the hot calm weather took a toll on catching walleye..but after fishing deeper in Frazier Bay..brought some nice action with walleyes coming out of 21 ft of water on night crawlers and jig and minnows.  

 Tom and Karen Allickson from Stillwater were up this week. Both Tom and Karen have been coming to the lake for years..they come up each spring and provide us their time to help with resort  repairs and painting..Also they both have worked their careers in the medical field and have provided the resort staff CPR Training.  

They had a good week for Fishing.. A few years back Tom and his brother Mike started fishing a spot not too far from the resort. This location turned out to be a hot spot for walleye…they named it the ‘ Dumb Spot’ for it  seems to offer little lake structure features to make it such a great Walleye spot….but for some reason( that defies traditional structure fishing theory)…the walleye like to hang out there.  Last year Tom’s brother Mike passed away ..so in his brother’s memory and  great times they shared together there catching walleye.. Tom made up a sign “ The dumb spot” and posted in front of the location on a tree.   I asked Tom if it was ok to share his story on the blog….he said it would be ok and even encouraged me to give up the location of the spot…which I  won’t .. given the significance…but if you come across ( attached photo) this sign on the lake you will know there are walleye close by….

This week we have several groups of fisherman…also have two bear hunters. They have been baiting each day and have trail camera’s set up to see what’s been coming in…the attached photo shows one ‘big’ bear that came in last night to one of  their stands….they are hoping it will come back today..

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Late summer Peak

August 28^th,2009

Finally a good week of stable warm weather. Most of the daytime highs averaged in the high 70 seventies. Water temps warmed a little but overall the lake never hit what would be considered normal high temps of the mid 70s. The fishing really got good this week.  Steve and Janis Ansley from Cary Illinois caught over 30 walleyes this week. Many of the Walleyes were in the slot but they were able to take home a limit of eaters. In the Photo attached is a picture both Janis and Steve Holding 24 inch plus walleye just prior to letting them go.

Kids this week had fun right on the main dock….started with The weekly fishing contest. then all through the week it seemed like everyone was catching nice pike,bass and panfish. We Had two families from New Richmond Wisconsin that caught a bunch of nice fish this week right off the dock.  One of the kids in the group Tyler caught a 34 inch Northern, 10 largemouth bass, And several crappie . Also the other kids  caught some real nice crappie up to 14 inches. It seems the Northern have moved in around the docks looking to cash in on all the panfish.

I took my daughter Carley out a couple of mornings right near the resort in the Channel…walleye were just stacked on the sand flat in about 15 ft of water…caught several big slot fish each time out…my daughter Carley age 9 is now officially hooked on fishing. All of walleyes were caught on standard lindy rigs with night crawlers.

Musky fishing picked up….Joe Demars  who has been coming up for years caught two musky in one evening fishing weeds using big bladed bucktails. Also Ted  Manning from Blaine Mn, caught two nice musky a 44 and 48 inch fish. Ted was up with his two daughters..they went up on the Float Plane for the first time…Ted reported the flight made his whole summer.

Water levels came up some in the last two weeks..with last week’s heavy Rain. Everything is still very green…expecting a very nice fall for colors.

Musky summer peak is on

August 7^th

 This week the fishing has been great..with the full moon phase and water temps entering the summer peak…Musky fishing has taken off. Local MuskyGuide Bob Benson in the last week caught a 55.5 inch , had a night wherehe boated two 50 inch the same night. Yesterday his boat caught another 50 inch fish during the day. Tom Palm from Wayzata Mn…Caught a 53 ¼ Musky last night. He was fishing with Guide Luke Ronnestrand ( who also have been having a great week with numerous musky)  Picture attached of Tom Palm’s musky….Tom and his son Matt have also caught a 44 inch musky this week. One of our dock staff Justin caught his first Musky this week…a 40 incher. 

 Largemouth Bass fishing has continued to be hot…tons and I mean tons of largemouth in the 2-3 lb weight size being caught daily. One of ourguests ( Bob West from Aurora Illinois) provided some instruction  on rigging plastics for bass. He set up some kids here who have never really fished much. They had a ball and caught a bunch of nice bass. The same group made the hike into Wolf Lake and used those techniques and Plastics to nail the smallmouth Bass.

 Walleye fishing has also been hot…I went out with a good friend from College who is up with his family. Last night we caught 12 walleye between 21-25 inches. They laughed when I said we need to move and see if we can find a spot with smaller fish…for every fish we caught were in the slot that requires release. Then we.when we moved ..the next spot we caught a 25 incher…no complaints…Catching walleye that size are fun.

 Had a kid( Mark Goodie from Batavia Illinois)  that was fishing on top of the Dam find what we think might be a very rare historical item..(arrowhead). It was found on the bottom wedged in the rocks. Photo attached…we are checking  to find where he can send it to be examined and to determine it’s  age ..with all the history of the River being a navigation route between Lake Vermilion and Canada…for fur traders, trappers, explorers, and several Native American tribes..It could be

hundreds of years old…anyone that might have some ideas on where to send this ..please let us know. 

Weather was much better this week…little cool..but yesterday was real nice and families got out tubing and water sking. ..

July 27,2009

Had a pretty good week for weather..some rain..but overall nice.  We had several Musky Fisherman this week.  Greg Hill and his dad Rick from Nebraska put a solid week of fishing hard for Musky…Greg Caught two (46, and 47 inch fish) and they reported seeing one fish follow up to the boat that was so big that the guide they were fishing with said “that fish would make you famous if you catch it” ..Next year’s it’s Rick’s turn for a musky for he has put his time in and deserves it.  Photo’s attached are Greg’s two musky. Also up this week was Bob Bronke and Crew from Downers Grove Illinois. It was their first trip to Vermilion …they mixed it up fishing for Musky, Walleye and Bass….one the guys in their group Robby Soltys caught a huge Northern 43-44 inches estimated with a nice girth..truly any Northern over 40 inches is a big one in any water..funny thing about this fish..it actually hit a Banjo Minnow…trolling…next time I watch the commerical I am going to take down the number…..Bob Bronke, his son Mark and I went out one night for Musky…Mark caught his first musky 47.5 inch…the fish hit after dark on a custom Globe bait…. The fish hit just before some real nasty weather moved in…got back just in time…lots on nice walleye and bass caught this week by families…it’s great to see the kids getting their name on the bragging board…

Greg Hill with a nice 47 inch fish

Greg Hill with his second nice Musky this week

Robby Soltys with a 43 plus inch northern

Mark Bronke releasing a 47.5 inch Musky 11 pm

July 23, 2009

Weather today is beautiful, sunny, and warm but not too hot. Everyone is enjoying their vacations…lots of folks tubing, boating and around the pool.  Today marks a special day for Jack Richards age 7..caught his first walleye a 21.5 incher …(of course it was in the slot and had to throw it back)..but  a very nice ‘first’ walleye. Jack’s dad Jim reported losing a real nice musky two nights ago.  Jack has a good teacher and we hope to see him in future VDL photos holding a big musky.Other guests reported success in walleye fishing after dark in 14 ft of water using leaches.