It's that time of year again... the trees look beautiful, the temp starts to drop... and hopefully the Walleye bite is hot on Vermilion!!

The 10-day forecast calls for a decent chance of precip but plenty warm. Weather.com says the wind will be from the south on Thurs. So we head up early Thursday morning with intentions of fishing the afternoon and into the evening. We will staying at the one and only VDL again. (Ed is a great guy!) We will be fishing thru Sat.

From what I have read so far it appears that the minnow bite is starting to pickup. That is good to hear especially if eyes are biting on jig & minnow. We usually bring up crawlers as well. Any input on bait would be appreciated.

I am also curious as to the fishing in the areas around VDL and that upper area? We have caught fish in the past in this area but I would like to do a little more exploring this trip. We have been thru Oak Narrows over to the Hoyt island portion of the lake and only as far as Niles Point in the opposite direction. If we were to explore some other places; does anyone have any suggestions on where to go? I don't need specific spots but maybe general areas of the lake in which we haven't been. We also plan to do a little night fishing this year. Any input on night fishing and what to try using for presentation/bait and maybe some general areas would be helpful.

Thank you in advance for any input provided and I can't wait to hit the water up there!

This past weekend was pretty solid. I fished Friday PM, Saturday AM and PM plus Sunday AM with 2 guests. Fished the East end of the lake. We boated 62 Walleye, kept 15 (4 per guy to take home and fried up 3 as an appetizer). Of the 62 fish only 3 were in the slot. Strictly fished jig and minnow in the customary and usual Fall spots. Had alot of fun and will be back up this weekend for more action!!

We didn't do as well as Tominator, but boated plenty of walleye and the ratio was probably 3:1 in favor of rainbow minnows.

How does one describe usual fall spots? Not looking for spots but type of structure they favor this time of year. I am new to the lake and have had pretty good success in the spring. Any info greatly appreciated.

Unclebruce,
Welcome to FM/HSO !
The walleyes are usually relating to steep rocky areas that drop into deep water in the fall. Rocks really seem to be the big factor this fall!
Jigs and minnows or Lindys and minnows are my basic presentations. Stay as vertical as possible and go as slow as possible.
Cliff

Like what has worked most of the summer on Lake of the Woods. Anchor up and start vertical jigging, keeping the bait within a few inches of the bottom.

Not that I get up there much, or as much as I would like but the 3 times I did make it up there, we caught fish like this.

I just need to make time to get out and try this off of Fectos

Thank you. I am very exite to get back up in a couple weeks.

Hello again.

Back to the normal routine today. We returned yesterday from our Vermilion trip. As always Ed at VDL was very accomodating and we enjoyed our stay there! (Thanks to Marty as well!)

The fishing was slow. We fished several "spots" that have produced or thought would produce. We picked up a few eyes in the narrows on the west side of Knott's Island including a 26'' eye. Fished the Van Ryper weed line with minimal success. Also tried around Gull Island, Oak Narrows, Niles Point. We had the best luck in the deeper water. Joe caught the biggest eye in 46 fow. It was 26.5'' and he released it to catch again! We used minnows and crawlers and crawlers still seemed to be the bait of choice.

We had a great time and enjoyed the Vermilion atmosphere once again. Not sure if we will come back next fall for sure. Seems like our timing is always off as far as "the bite" goes. We may look for other options in northern MN for a fall trip but would be open to any suggestions for Vermilion if there seems to be a better time than others. I have heard that later in October is a better time to catch the eyes looking to put on a "feedbag" for the winter.

Thanks again for the info and remember to keep your rod tip up!

Wizer

By mid-October the walleyes are always in their fall pattern spots and are always hungry!
The down side is that by that time the hazzard bouys have all been removed and you have to be extra careful out there!
Cliff

Thanks again for the info. Was up Saturday and caught 14 including a 26 and 22". Others were fairly small, but a decent day of fishing on one of the most BEAUTIFUL days on a lake I have ever experienced!!

I was also out on Saturday, with my son, and I agree it was a beautiful day to be fishing. Fishing was good. 28-32fow, seemed to be where we found them. Jig and shiners, the bigger shiners worked the best.
Raining today and windy, maybe later this week will return to the water. Until then trying to get ready for the winter.
Good luck to all, Darrell.