November 14th update

Water temps in the channel right in front of the Lodge around 36 degrees. Every am we are running boats tied to the docks in gear to move water to keep the channel open so the fisherman can get out on the lake. Last weekend we had a good number of musky fisherman with only a couple finding success.  One group ( Andy Hutter and friends) caught three nice musky ( 55.5 , 53.5 and 49.5).

Andy Hutter with a 53.5 incher

Several other groups spent some long hours trolling from am to dark with only pike hitting.  This time of the year is not easy fishing..its very cold, usually windy and you put some long hours in with hope of connecting with one of the Giant Muskies that lurk in Vermilion .  A great example is a group that comes up from Wisconsin ( Chris Tritt and freinds) There are six hard core ‘good’ musky fisherman in their group. Last year here they boated several large musky. These guys fish a lot of lakes close to their home and catch a lot of musky. They come to Vermilion for a shot at catching a fish of a lifetime.  This year they did not boat any musky for the their group..had several hooked..but  nothing boated. One of the three boats had the opportunity to see a follow from a  monster musky that was so big that they could not even guess its size and weight only could say it was the largest musky they have ever seen.  They said seeing that fish makes it all worth the effort of coming to Vermilion.  My estimate of the lake freezing over by Nov. 14 was way off…the weather forcasted this week should provides another week of fishing. Marty and I are closing up cabins and getting some fishing time in before ending the season.

57 incher caught by VDL guest

November 5th….water temps in the wolf bay section near the resort is down to 39 degrees..skim ice formed yesterday am ..boats leaving the resort had to break through 1/8 inch of ice to get out.  Whitefish spawn is in full swing on this end of the lake. Cisco are just starting to show up in the nets.  We have had several nice musky caught by VDL guests the last week.  One group of four musky fisherman caught a 54 incher and 57 incher…both fish were caught casting.  The 57 incher was caught by Justin Caslavka. The day he caught the fish his fishing partner had to run to town so Justin went out on his own for a few hours. When he hooked the fish he was near the resort and our employee Marty happen to be right near him…Justin not only landed the fish himself.. but  was wearing a small video camera on his head  and filmed the entire boatside hit, fight and netting. Marty came over to help measure the fish and take a few photos before release. Congrats to Justin for such a great job landing the fish..clean release . This week we have musky fisherman all week…our hope is the channel stays free of ice and allow at least another week of fishing during this prime period.

Justin Caslavka with his 57 incher

October update

September weather and fishing was consistent with other years.. The first two weeks were mild with a couple of cold fronts. Walleyes were caught most of the first part of the month with summer tactics…( crawler harnesses and lindy rigs) by mid month water temps dropped quickly and fish were being caught on minnows in deeper late fall spots. Great bass fishing continued through September. Smallmouth season did closed on September 9^th but many were still caught and released by walleye fisherman as they moved deeper to the mid lake deep reefs and rock piles.  Musky fishing was slower than years past for mid to late September. Even though we had several groups of dedicated, experienced musky fisherman…only a few fish were caught the last two weeks of the month.  

Sept. 20-23 rd we had our first walleye school  featuring walleye pros Bruce Samson ( Doc Sonar) and tournament pro/educator Johnnie Candle. Doc is well known for his DVDS and classes he teaches around the country on electronic use.. He specializes in Loworance Products. Doc’s holds classes throughout the country teaching basic understanding of sonar principals to advanced use of the side imagining and down scanning.  Johnnie Candle top tournament pro who also teaches for Scheel’s Sporting Stores classes on walleye techniques. Doc and Johnnie teamed up to provide an excellent school that combined classroom with on-the-water fishing..  The theme of the school was to provide the class with the process of how Walleye Pros approach any given body of water to tournament fish. That included collecting information about the lake before you get there ( DNR, maps, Bait Shops, etc) combined with using your electronics to identify key areas and develop a plan to catch more walleye.  One of the highlights of the school was when Doc and Johnnie dedicated time on the dock  where Doc and Johnnie got into the boats of the students and provided one-on-one instruction of proper use of the student’s boat electronics and equipment.  The School went great, everyone seemed to love the classes, meals and gained a lot of knowledge. Also Doc and Johnnie provide bags of tackle from their sponsors in addition to the raffle prizes we had  donated with Tackle, and Equipment.  We are planning to have this same school again in 2013 the weekend of September 26^th-29^th.  Doc and Johnnie are true Professional walleye fisherman who both have a gift to teach. We are honored to work with them and look forward to the 2013 school.

 October 12-14 we had our 11^thannual Larry Ramsell Musky Outing.

Ben Peterson 54 incher

We had another excellent turnout with over 50 people partipating.  Again we had a mix of very experienced musky fisherman to people that are new to the sport. We always encourage sharing information and make this outing  a non-competive event.   What really makes this event is the guides that participate are not only excellent fisherman but willing to share techniques and help people gain more knowledge. The guides this year were Luke Ronnestrand, Bob Benson, Dusty Carlson, Matt Seifert, Ben Olson, Brett Erickson ( Throne Brothers)  plus Larry Ramsell.  The conditions were better than past outings with water temps already into high 40s . There were 20 Musky caught( four over 50 inches)

JB Ellis with a 52 incher

  over the outing and two large Northern.  The Nightly presentations were excellent following dinner. The first night Luke Ronnestrand talked about how to get ready before fishing..talked about using Electronics to locate bait fish before even throwing a cast..he also spent time talking about late fall bait fish movements and how to fish any given spot thoroughly.

Clay Heller 41 incher

 T

name		date	length	wind	time of day		structure	lure	comments
Phil Lieven		11-Oct	38	nw	11:20		point	jake	musky
Jay Lievan		11-Oct	32	nw	12:20		rock shore	jake	Northern
bob Benson		11-Oct	44	nw	8:00 AM		18′ flat	bull dawg	musky
Robie F		12-Oct	44	sw	10:45 AM		Island/reef	madussa	musky
Robie F		12-Oct	47	ssw	3:00 PM		Island/reef	madussa	musky
Rauno		12-Oct	46	sw	6:15 PM		rock shore	black dawg	musky
Morgan		12-Oct	49.5	sw	1:00 PM		shallow rks	white dawg	musky
D. Reilly		12-Oct	42	sw	2:00pm		reef	dawg	musky
J.B. Ellis		12-Oct	52	sw	2:10 PM		point	jake	musky
C. Heller		13-Oct	41	se	12:30		rock shore	dawg	musky
B. Peterson		13-Oct	54	se	6:15 PM		rock shore	dawg	musky
Stephan		13-Oct	46.5	se	8:00 AM		east end	dawg	musky.
P.lieven		13-Oct	37	se	4:00 PM		big bay	jake	Northern
B. Bronke		13-Oct	41	se	1:00 PM		rock shore	dawg	musky
Dan Reilly		13-Oct	44	se	11:20		big bay	dawg	musky
B.Benson		13-Oct	40	se	5:30		east end	dawg	musky
Matt Seifert		13-Oct	51	se	12:15		Saddle	dawg	Musky
Patrik		13-Oct	50.5	se	10;00		rock shore	dawg	musky
Patrik		13-Oct	45	se	6;30		reef	madussa	musky
Stephan		13-Oct	48.5	se	12:15		rock shore	dou.dawg	musky

 The second night we had a guide panel that opened up questions on late fall fishing. Everyone loved that format for they could ask questions at will and get answers from four top guides that spend a lot of hours on the water.  The last night LarryRamsell gave an excellent presentation on what truly is the current World Record Musky. Larry has countless hours researching this subject for his books so his presentation was full of facts and information and kept everyone’s interest for the entire discussion. Larry also spent time discussing the proper way to measure fish and proper calculations on weight. We raffled off four guide trips and  raffles of lures, rod, reels and equipment.Today October 30th  we have water temps still hanging around 43 degrees.  Over the weekend ( oct 26-28th) we a lot of musky fisherman. The largest was a 52 incher….one fisherman/guide Ben Olson boated six mid 40 fish in one day.    The whitefish Spawn has started and we expect excellent fishing until ice up. If I had to guess we won’t see ice until around Nov 14^th.  Here is a photo I took this am of a couple whitefish that were netted…vs…a 2 lb Bull Dawg..this photo makes it very clear why we use such large baits in late fall…the Whitefish on the right is a 21 incher….

2 lb Bull Dawg vs average spawing sized Whitefish

Late Summer/Early Fall update

 Early Fall  Update  

 Overall the summer weather has been warm and stable…We had a big storm on July 4^th bringing the heaviest rain of the summer. Since then we have received isolated periods of rain just enough to keep the trees greened up and the lake levels normal.   Lake temps today (Sept 9^th)  are 70  degrees.  The lake has taken on an algae bloom but nothing out of the normal for this time of the year. The channel in front of the resort has been producing nice walleyes for the guests trolling jointed and rattle type lures in 10 of water.Several of the local guides are reporting catching walleye off deeper flats in Frazer and NilesBay in 18-25 ft. some are using lead core line with crank baits. Bass fishing has been excellent for both smallmouth and largemouth.  Rubber baits that imitate Crayfish continues to work well (especially the baits that are red in color).

Northern Pike fishing has been a little out of the normal. We are just not seeing the Northern in the weed beds where we usually do…could be the Northern are feeding on the rusty Crayfish like the bass on rock structures. We have seen some big Northern caught again this summer with several in the 40 inch class. The largest reported was caught yesterday with a 45 inch Northern caught by Vermilion Dam guest musky fishing.

 In Early August Russ Kobel and crew from Illinois came back and had a great week including one monster walleye of 32 inches…(The largest walleye to date at VDL) .

Musky fishing has been excellent all summer…one noticeable difference this summer is the pattern seems to be smaller bladed spinner baits. This may not hold true as we transition into fall but most of the fish reported are smaller bladed spinner baits like a Shumway Flashers.  

 Fall colors have already started showing…The temps at night are dropping into the low 40s and leaving fog on the water in the morning. Water levels have dropped some for lack of rain but water is still flowing over the dam. We are expecting full fall colors within the next 10 days. 

Update 9/12/….Guide Luke Ronnestrand had a party out today…boated 51 inch in the afternoon…came in went back out just before dark and boated a 55.5 inch Monster….

Mid summer update

Joe Cluchey and family catching bass just above the Dam

Unlike most of the country our area experienced good amounts of rain in June bringing up the lake level above normal levels and allowed everything to green up nicely.  Fishing has been excellent so far this summer.  June started with limited crappie action for the window seemed very narrow ( only lasting about two weeks) but walleye and bass fishing was great in June. Several trophy walleyes were caught in June including several pushing 30 inches. Mid to late June following the mayfly Hatch provided some great open water trolling for Muskies. Guide Luke Ronnestrand who stays at the resort all summer had several fantastic days including one evening his guests caught two 51 inchers and one 55 inch Musky.  The bite over open water was mostly trolling large crank baits just below the surface.  The far west end of the lake seemed to have the most action.  Several VDL guests caught trophy musky during this period trolling. One monster 53 inch musky was caught by Hunter Burchfield on June 24 fishing With Guide Luke Ronnestrand.  Bass fishing has been excellent again this year for both largemouth and smallmouth. The Rusty Crawfish that are now showing up on this end of the lake are providing great food for the bass because many of the guests are reporting the bass are spitting up crawfish but also the bass are very healthy in size. If I had to guess I would say the ‘average’ largemouth on Vermilion is 17 inches and around 3 lbs.  The mayfly hatch never really had a huge impact on the walleye fishing in June..the hatch was early this year around the second week they started showing up but fishing remain consistent.  July fishing so far has been excellent for walleyes with a lot of harvestable fish ( under 18 inch slot )  being caught right near the resort. The usual summer pattern of fishing sand drop offs adjacent to weed edges with crawler harnesses is working well.  The second week of July Bob Bronke from Downers Grove was up a group of  10 musky fisherman…they did very well catching 8 muskies from 38 to 50inches.

Bob Bronke with a nice 50 inch musky

 

 

May update

May 30^th, 2012                       

 Last blog entry in early april  I mentioned concern of low water levels due to our mild winter.Everything has changed since. In late April we received some heavy snow followed by periods of rain throughout  May. . As of today the water level is actually a little bit higher than normal which is great for the lake and cutting down fire dangers in the woods.   Opener of fishing was what I would consider a normal opener..walleye were post-spawn…some smaller fish caught in deep flats . The larger fish caught is shallow water had signs of just being done with the spawn . Most of t he fish being caught so far this season have been on minnows. Water temp for opener was around 50 degree. Several of Guests found good action right in front of the resort including crappie right off the resort banks.  Since opener water temps have increased to 60 degrees and this week fishing has been excellent.. We have groups of fisherman this week targeting bass and catching both smallmouth and largemouthIn shallow water ( 2-6 ft). Most of the bass are hitting rubber baits. Walleyes are taking minnows and leeches in 10-12 ft of water. This week we have had several Guests catch trophy walleye ( 30 inch,29, and several 27 inchers) all released. Musky spawning is just getting complete. Several of our guests the last two weeks have caught musky in shallow water on spoons and small spinners while fishing for pike. My guess is we will see continued good musky action in shallow large weed flats near the resort ( i.e.Dago Bay) for at least the next two weeks.  Crappie fishing has been great..this week guests are catching limits in shallow water on small white jigs and small minnows.  Several Guests have limited out on crappie.  The window for catching crappie in shallow water is small. Usually between 50-62 degrees….then they seem to move out for the summer over open water. This year the average size and numbers of crappie have been good. Seen several 15 inch fish brought in.

 

 

 

Early Spring

April 7, 2012 

The winter was very mild, little snow and temperatures like most of the Midwest well below historical averages. Ice went out around April 1^st. This provides a great opportunity for all the resorts with  an extra two to three weeks to get ready for the season. Our main project/upgrade this Winter was a renovation to ‘Sundown’ cabin. We have expanded the cabin using the screen porch providing a larger kitchen, a second bath, some new windows to increase the view, renovated the original bath, new flooring, a forced air furnace system, new siding, and provisions to add a washer/dryer. We are also in the process to doing some renovations to ‘Aerie’ ( our six bedroom next to the Dam) but I won’t mention what we are doing for we have some long time repeat guests that love that cabin and over the years provided some suggested changes..so we want to surprise them when they come up.

We have added another Fish and Ski boat to the Rental fleet this year ( 18 ft Crestliner , 150 hp).  Water levels are lower than normal but nothing to be over concerned about at this point.  Our hope is we will get enough rain in April ( raining as I write this)  to bring the water levels to normal.  Using the main docks as a gauge I would say the water levels are about 1 ft lower than normal for this time of the year.

Normal lake level for ice out ..water is touching fire hose on dock

  We are booked up heavy for the summer but still have some prime spots in mid June open. Our local DNR Fishery report indicates a good year for overall fishing. The report noted that the Far West End will continue to experience larger sized slot fish being predominate. This was determined by 2011 survey/sample gill netting. The East end of the lake is indicating high numbers of walleye per sample and more fish outside of the slot. In response to number of larger slot fish..The DNR has adjusted the slot this year to increase the allowable harvest size to 18 inches…so the new walleye slot is 18-26 vs 17-26 .  The DNR Report also indicated healthy numbers of 2006/07 year class fish 13-17inches Walleye in Niles Bay area that should be good news for all our guests that like to fish close to the resort.

Something new for 2012 we are hosting a Fall Walleye School Sept 20-23^rd. We feel very fortunate to be able to bring in two Top Walleye Fishing Professionals to teach the class. One is Bruce Samson ( Doc Sonar) and the other Johnnie Candle . Both Teach classes in the winter months around the Midwest. Johnnie teaches a class called the ‘Walleye University’ for Scheels sporting goods retail stores. . Johnnie Teaches new techniques in both live bait and artificial fishing.  Bruce is a retired medical doctor who like Johnnie has won many national Walleye fishing titles in the tournament circuits. His specialty is teaching people how use their marine electronics. He said many people have huge investments in their boat electronics but don’t know how to use them to their full potential.( I would be testimonial of that)  For the class he will combine classroom with on the water instruction to teach mapping, interpretation of stucture and simply how to approach any body of water using Electronics to map the best possible places to fish.  I attended the Minneapolis Sport Show last week and had a lot of people at our booth already signing up for this class . I also received feedback from  several people that took either Doc Samson or Johnnie’s classes and all reported they are excellent teachers and people attending will be amazed at how much they will get out of their course.  Both Johnnie and Doc fish together and have combined classes but this is the first time they are doing a class on a lake that combines blocks of classroom with on the water fishing. We have a total of 40 slots as of today we have 18 slots already filled. The course runs thursday to Sunday afternoon all meals and lodging are included in the package .  If you are interested in  more info or signing up here is the link :

http://www.vdl.com/fallwalleyeschool.html

We are looking forward to a great year and look forward to seeing all the returning guests and new guests .  Wishing everyone reading this a great Easter with your families.

 

 

 

Lake close to ice up

Lake near frozen

 

November 17, 2011…water temps in mid 30s…We are expecting the lake in front of the resort to freeze over tonight. Musky fishing has been excellent the last 10 days.  Over the last two weeks we have had a wide variety of dedicated musky fisherman including some well known guides.  I could  not keep track of every fish caught for its hard to get reports given most of these guys would be out at first light and back at dark…but..its safe to say from the reports I did collect and from all the photos I was provided  that there has been over 50 musky caught in the last two weeks With  8 ..fifty inches or over. One group from Eagle River Wisconsin( Curt Priefer,Brian Krelle and Mason Gerlach)  caught 5 musky in three days including a 55 incher. They also had a 52, 50 ,48 and mid 40s fish. 

 

 

Curt Priefer with a 55 incher

Brian Krelle with a 50 incher

 

Mason Gerlach 52 3/4 by 24

Another group that came up on Monday Nov.7^th ( Andy Hamm and friends)  and fished with guide Ben Olson .combined they boated 21 muskies in 6 days of fishing!!. They were primary

casting  Bull Dawgs and similar heavy rubber type baits. Andy reported almost all of the fish hit boat side. Most were under 50 inchs with one over. Steve Jonesi who was a  guide on Lake Mille Lacs ..was up with some friends..he boated a 54.5 incher on Nov. 8^th.   Victor Petik  from Des Plaines, Illinois came up for this second trip this Fall.. with his son to try one more time before putting the boat away for winter.  He trolled for several days and only caught pike..then on his last day hours before pulling his boat..his son Alex caught his First 50 inch musky on a 14 inch Jake…what a great way to end the year for musky Fishing.  So far this fall we have not heard of any fish caught around the lake over 56 inches…last year at this time there was there was one 57 incher caught out of our resort ( Andy Huter)  and one 60 incher caught on the east end of Vermilion that was in Outdoor News.. The season is not over yet..so hopefully we will hear someone gets one of those monsters ..if not…there is always next season.

 

 Guide Luke Ronnestrand who has been staying at the resort

guiding his clients all summer and fall..Luke shares his daily catches and seems to be averaging two musky per day . Luke is on the water from light to dark everyday guiding..he is a having a great fall.  His biggest fish this fall was a 55 incher  That fish was caught around Oct 15^th..  Luke is still up here now fishing/guiding and expecting to break Ice with his boat tomorrow to get out to the main lake.  Might seem crazy to be fishing with outside temperatures down in the teens combined with wind, lake freezing,etc….but most of us know this is time of the year you have a real shot at a record fish on Vermilion when the Cisco Spawn….that’s why Marty and I will be right behind Luke tomorrow with our boat trying to get out of the bay breaking ice to also get a day or two more fishing in before we have to hang up the rods for the winter.

Musky Outing 2011

October 25, 2011

Musky Outing 2011…Despite high winds..the outing was a great time for all.  The winds never stopped blowing strong all weekend with gusts up to 40 mph. Water temps were 59° degrees at the start of the event and by Sunday morning some of the guys were reporting finding water temps down to 55°.  Even with high winds everyone was able to get out fishing. We had a total of 9 fish caught and released with the largest at 49.5 inches and with over 70 fish seen .  The nightly presentations were excellent. Guest Speakers included Larry Ramsell and his presentation on the results of a two year tracking Study he was involved in, Luke Ronnestrand and his presentation on boat control techniques to cover structure and tips on doctoring up bait with colors, and Bob Benson and his presentation on fishing tips and techniques for fishing LakeVermilion. Bob had another great season guiding on Vermilion and was able to share photos of some nice catches this year.  Brett Erickson from Throne Brothers Tackle gave a presentation on bait selection and shared some great information and news on upcoming baits, covered rigging for trolling, and using planner boards.

 Mike Keyes and Guide Ben Olson with Keyes Outdoors attended the event and filmed a program about this outing. They interviewed people attending the outing and spent a lot of time on the lake. They also boated some fish. The show will air some time this winter.

 I think one the best things about our outing is there is no competion…which creates an environment for everyone to share information.  I believe this is very beneficial for the Fishermen that attend that don’t get a lot of time on the water each year because they can mix it up with the Pro’s that are on the water everyday.  Our guides that attended the event this year provided an incredible combination of talent: Luke Ronnestrand, Bob Benson, Dusty Carlson, Larry Ramsell, Ben Olson, Matt Synder, Matt Seifert, Pete Brzezinski, and Brett Erickson. Everyone in the Guide Group is a very successful guide/ fisherman that earns a living in the musky fishing industry.  One fisherman ( Donnie Oswald from Hibbing Mn,) caught his first musky fishing with Larry Ramsell.  Mark Hughes from Wayzata, Mn caught his largest musky 48 inches…he was fishing with guide Luke Ronnestrand.

 Today October 25^th…water temps are down to 48. We have several groups of musky Fisherman this week. Luke Ronnestrand guided a group to two fish yesterday one being a heavy 50 inch fish. Whitefish nets are starting to show up on the lake indicating the start of the Whitefish run for the west end of Vermilion. We are expecting good fishing as the water temps fall near the low 40s.

Fall is here

September 26,2011,

Fall colors are a week away from hitting the peak. This last week has been beautiful.  We have had a couple of nights of frost leaving a fog on the water until the suns burns it off ..then the days warm up into the sixties with no bugs,  just plain gorgeous.

Small game season has started. Grouse numbers are up this year and the grouse hunters that have been coming up have had good success. Also Duck Season has started off Good. Alex ( who works at the resort on the dock) and a friend had good success over the weekend hunting a flooded area just east of the Resort.

 Water temps as of today were 61 degrees. Walleye are starting to show up in their usual deeper fall spots..Altough there is still a lot actitivity off the shallow weed lines.  Most of the guides have switched to minnows as the primary Live bait..but crawlers are still working if used on spinner.  Musky action has not taken off yet but as the water temps drop we expect it start improving anyday . Our tenth annual Fall Musky Outing starts Oct 13^th..we already have about 30 people signed up and expecting a few more. This year we have a great line up of top guides and expecting some great fish being caught.  Bass fishing has remained  consistent all season..with both smallmouth and largemouth still up hitting in shallow water. Smallmouth season is now closed but many are still getting caught and released when fishing for other species?  We have not seen our usual fall crappie action start .. every year we have guests catching limits of crappie from a spot we call the deep hole near Niles Bay.  That structure has Crappie move in on it around Labor Day and the fish seem to stay there throughout The winter.

 One the best stories of the year is the monster Musky lurking below the Dam. Throughout the summer guests that would walk down to the dock below the resort To fish for panfish, Northern ,bass and walleye kept coming back with stories of a huge musky coming up and eating their hooked panfish, or bass…some reports the fish was 55-58 inches.  There has always been musky below the Dam and not uncommon for a guest to catch one pushing 50 inches with only one over 50 inches caught a few years back. Most of the musky caught below the Dam were usually are not heavy in the body for they rely on a low protein diet to survive vs musky on Vermilion that can eat Whitefish and Cisco.  In August a fisherman from Brainerd Mn, ( Damien Williams) Came up with his family. Damien is a serious musky fisherman who fishes the Brainerd Lakes all the time. One evening he took his daughter down below the Dam to fish for Pike and ended up catching a 47 inch musky.  When he told us about his catch he also shared  that he seen the big musky everyone was talking about…knowing his experience in catching muskies he would be a good judge of size….so we asked him honestly how big that fish was down there…he responded “ its big..real Big..I would guess around 55 inches”  Marty was standing there listening to the story .… when he heard how big the fish was estimated at..he told me he had to go down there and check it out. We both were shocked to hear we could have fish that big living in that small section of the river.   Three days later Marty caught the fish..it was just short of 55 inches but had  very thick body. Marty estimates the fish around 40 pounds.  All I can figure is that fish came over the dam in spring and took up residence right below the falls for it was great source of food and oxygen in the current. Its unlikely that fish has always been there and got that big feeding off the Panfish and bass in the pool below the rapids.  The good news is he released it right away after measuring it so next year the monster will still be there unless it moves north into the larger stretch of the river. 

Looking forward to the start of a great fall period.  We have a lot of fisherman already booked to come up for some short stays throughout the month in addition to some families coming up for the Minnesota MAE weekend ( kids are out of school for four days).