I believe that Vermilion smallies, and smallies in general do not move much throughout the year. What I mean is...Walleyes move to spawning areas in the spring, and start to progress to open water by late may, early june...and by late june, july, they have moved to main lake areas and deeper water. It seems that smallies spawn in one area in the spring and remain in that general area for most of season, they may go deeper in summer, but the same area. I know they are deep in winter, but after spring comes, I believe they are in their same general areas till fall comes.

What do you guys think? Am I dead wrong?

There have been tagging studies that
show river smallmouth migrating more
than twenty miles. They will swim to the pools behind dams or deep holes in otherwise shallow streches of a river.

This migration takes place twice a
year, in the spring and fall. I have found that after water temps reach the 65 to 70 degree mark, many of the larger females on Vermilion move to main lake humps.

Thats not to say that you won't find any big fish on the bank, there are always resident fish that stay there
for most of the year. Many of them stay because of the crawfish that are so plentiful on Vermilion.

As summer moves to the dog days of
late July and August, you can find
some real pigs swimming in the main basin areas.

The islands of Big Bay hold some of the largest smallies in the system. Sharp vertical drops to deep water are key areas to locate these pigs.
Man after that I need to go take a
cold shower! Hey Honey! is the ice gone yet?....No guideman..go back to
sleep.....zzzzzzzz

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Guideman.
Ace Guide Service.
aceguide@webtv.net
www.aceguideservice.com

[This message has been edited by guideman (edited 04-14-2001).]

I'm kind of inexperienced throwing plastics for bass. However, I'm excited to try throwing some power tubes for smallies this year. What setup do you guys usually use for plastics? Bullet weights (1/8 oz / 3/8 oz?) And, do you use bass hooks or do power grubs with regular jigs work? Early in the year I don't want to be throwing anything to big and heavy...any suggestions? It might not seem like a big difference, but Im sure a 1/4 oz difference on a weight for a power tube can effect the fishing. Thanks.

Wizkid,
For tubes, I like using the lightest weight possible. 1/16, 1/8, and maybe 1/4 oz in most shallow situations. I like the jigs that you slide into the tubes if snags are not a problem. Otherwise for Texas (weedless) rigging, a 2/0 or 3/0 wide-gap worm hook with a pegged bullet sinker is the way to go for tubes.
Good Luck!

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Adam Johnson
www.adamjohnsonfishing.com

If you're fishing Vermillion, Texas rigging isn't really necessary. There's little to no weeds, they hang just as frequently as jigs, you don't have a prayer of "bow and arrowing" it out of the rocks, and I really think you benefit with exposed hooks while fishing smallmouth. Smallmouth live and die by slash and burn attacks and can spit a bait just as fast as they run up on it. And a lot of times, they'll hit a bait in a way where you just can't get an "eye-crossing" hookset into them. Exposed hook jigs can really help you out. I like to fish as light as I can. 1/16th fishing the bank to 5 feet, 3/32nd bank to 10 feet, 1/8th bank to 15 feet. It really depends on the wind on whether you can fish real light jigs. Mushroomhead jigs are my choice, but I've seen people use ball heads with similar results. Aspirin heads (if you can find them) seem to be the most snag resistent.

Guideman, start chopping ice. First weekend of June I want 55-60 degree water. I'll be there.

Hi Bornofice, I'll have to shovel the snow first! We got about 8" of
new snow here last night, I can't..
F.N believe it.

The pike river is cutting into the ice in pike bay it may be open in front of my place by the weekend!

It will be good to see you, I'll do what I can to get those water temps up for you

I also use the mushroom heads for my
tubes, they work well and don't hang
up to bad.

I very seldom Texas rig a tube, I think the slow fall you get with a small jig is much more of a tease for the fish.

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Guideman.
Ace Guide Service.
aceguide@webtv.net
www.aceguideservice.com

I have the lake vermilion webcam as my homepage for my web browser, the snow looked like it was almost gone from the top of the ice till your little snowstorm this weekend...very frustrating.

When fishing smallies in cold spring water do you usually scout for active fish by throwing cranks or inline spinners then go back and hit those areas with soft plastics? Or are cranks and spinners as just as productive as plastics, or do you throw plastics only? I would think the bronzies would be a little reluctant to chase a faster bait in cold water, especially this year since the water should be a little chillier around opener.

I'm sure some of you know the east side of the lake like the back of your hand...but any help for finding smallies a little quicker is appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Tom, I like to use small cranks
or 1/4 oz spinnerbaits. The husky
jerk, the bomber long "A" or any of
the suspending minnow style baits.

Slow rolling a spinnerbait can also work well in the pre-spawn, another
not so often used presenation would
be a Carolina rig.

As far as locations I like docks and
rocks, sounds very simple doesen't it. During the pre and post spawn I
concentrate on docks and shoreline
flats with boulders and rubble.

Flats that have a long slow drop to
deep water are the best, look for
transistion areas, rock to gravel or
rock to boulders ect.

Suspending baits are a stone killer
over these flats, as well as over a
point. As with the flats a slow fall
to deep water will be better than a
sharp drop during the spawn.

Some of the best locations on the
east side are Ely island,Stuntz bay,
Strawberry Island, all of the rocks
you can find in Big bay! And don't
overlook the reeds, they also hold a
good number of fish.

------------------

Guideman.
Ace Guide Service.
aceguide@webtv.net
www.aceguideservice.com