vermilion bay area

Fishing for lake trout this last week has still been good allthough the bite is short,good action early in the morning,we have been moving a lot to find fish lots of small fish(2-3) lbs,did catch a a couple of 10 lbs,now fishing in toward 30 ft to 80,ice conditions havnt changed snow has packed down,hard in the morning and soft in the afternoon,long way to go till ice out gonna take 3 more weeks st this rate, just to cool overnight yet need to stay above 0c at night,smallmoufh fishing has been a blast they are very active in the spots were i know they hang out,can be caught at will,need a few warm days so the ice will lift and get some of that surface water running off and put some oxygen back in the lake and get them fish revived after this long winter,last year we were fishing out of a boat at this time,

Cool morning for a boat ride.especially for one guest from arizona.said it was a 200 degress when he left there.water temp was 56? much of the day.caught somewalleyes and pike at our first spot.not fast but steady.second spot did reak good for about s hour.then that slowed down.rest of the day we caught fish be seems like they are not schooled tight together.nothing big except for the 40" muskie that ate my 1/8 jig and felt like perch bite.still not a bad day for eagle it willget better.fish caught were mostly in the 13 ft depth and grassy bottoms seemed best.

Went for some lake trout yesterday north of vermilion bay.pretty windy out and decent weather.water temp was surprisingly warm at 56 degress.tried trolling at first.kinda weaving in and out from shore.caught a couple right away over 30 ft.kept trying that for awhile but no more fish.i then started cruising along shorelines looking for single trout.when i found one or two i would stop and lower my tube and minnow and instantly thy would start coming up to intercept it.those kind of aggressive were down 40-60 ft.if they committed to come up they would just nail the lure.also i found bait fish near the surface with in 10-20'under the bost.all you needed to do was bury the tube in among the bait.snd they would slam the lure that way to.had just unreal day doing that. On the reefs sround 15' the smallmouths sre all over them and are just as easy if not easier to cstch them as if they were on there beds.incredible action.spend the rest of the day trying to dig up some walleyes in this crystal clear lake.didnt find any that wanted to bite.ill get them later in the summer when they establish themsels on the reefs and humps. Next report will be on eagle starting sun.it has been tough out there from what i hete.but will find out for myself.

Good luck on Eagle, John. I will look forward to your reports.

Fished 3 lakes.thurs.fri.sat.thurs went for trout.wasnt dissappointed.caught a lot of trout.started out trolling shorelines that was kinda slow.so started trolling over open water around 60-80 ft and started catchjng them with luters running 10 ft deep and another 20 ft.both lines caught them.in the afternoon we jigged for them in around 45 ft and that was fast action.water temp was 45 degrees.top of the humps in around 15 ft were loaded with smallmouth bass.they could be caught at will. Fri we fished for walleye.action was slow in the morning.in tge afternoon they just turned and could be caught at will also.found them inbasically in deeper watet to 20 ft.water temp was close to 50 degrees.found 5 good spots were they bit real well.mostly all males 15-16".with the occasionall females 20-24". Tried bay mouths for northerns and ended up catching a number of them to. Tried lac suel on sat.found 54 degree water in a njmber of bays but not a very good bite there yet.pike would bite casting for them.water leve is very low and lots of rocks sticking now. Its all uphill from here on.i start guiding on eagle next week for the rest of the summer so will give a report on that then. Good luck .

Got in the water around 8am on sat.water was pretty high as usuall on clay lake.walleyes were biting very slow so a real slow drag along the the bottom with weedless jigs by baitrigs seemed to be the ticket.2-4 ft also seemed to be the depth of choice.lots of pike definetly were hungry.a few good ones wete brougjt into the boat on 6 lbs test line.today we went for lakers and ended up trolling mostly.winds were 20-30 kms at times so jigging w.asnt in the game plan.caugjt a few and lost s few .all in all couple of good days and tge rain held of both days.great opening to a new season.some much needed rain expected for the next few days.hope everybody found a few fish in these tuff conditions.next week should allready improve.

Well most of the in the area are open.if not totally open there is enough water to get out and fish.just want wish everybody a great fishing season and a good opener.as usuall for i have the same fisherman coming and were going to get the same weather as the last few years"crap".but going to enjoy it anyways.

Things are starting to shape up.most small lakes are ice free.went to clay lake today and its open as far as you can see from the lodge..eagle is really starting to open up also.havnt been to cedar or cliff yet but if eagle is going so are those lakes.will have a look there mid week.were expecting rain this week so it will all help.will probably get out on most lakes by the opener.hopefully the walleyes are spawning out or they could be doing that next week depending on water temps.

Things are starting to shape up.most small lakes are ice free.went to clay lake today and its open as far as you can see from the lodge..eagle is really starting to open up also.havnt been to cedar or cliff yet but if eagle is going so are those lakes.will have a look there mid week.were expecting rain this week so it will all help.will probably get out on most lakes by the opener.hopefully the walleyes are spawning out or they could be doing that next week depending on water temps.

Went by eagle lake today.its still got ice..some of the bays on the north side of the lake up by vermilion bay and the government dock have some open water.its not looking very good right now with only a week and a half to go.just got to hope.

Havnt been fishing lately.been by eagle and some shore line is starting to show.surface of the ice is starting to get dark.this warm weather we are having is a big effect on the ice.if it keeps up at this rate its going to be tight.iam getting my boat ready just in case.i will find some open water some place.going to change the bearings on my trailer to.cant get over how low the water is.thetes no more run off.just gotto hope for some rain like last year.

We got to the lake early.the shoreline where we get on looked scary.the rocks are heating up and causing the ice to get weak.it still held the weight of a atv and gear and me.surface is mostly ice except for about 3" of frozen slush.first spot we fished was out of the 25 km winds.the auger didnt go down very far before it went through the bottom(18-19").caught a bunch of small splake so we moved to another spot in the wind.didnt have to drill there as our holes from a few days ago could be kicked open.the ice was thinner there maybe foot.and closer to shore we did drill and had maybe 8" there and open water near the rocks.this lake will be ice free within the next 2 weeks.whats needed is some steady warm weather to get the big lakes thawing and were only getting a couple of days at a time.lakes like eagle should be ice free by the opener but fishing will be tuff on the larger lakes.the spawn will be later than normall.we are going to keep a eye on a spawning creek to see when they start to show up.i will starting my first week of guiding on cedar lake on the opener.if its no good i have the option to fish smaller lakes that might be more active.will have to wait and see how it plays out.

You guys shhould be good by then.lots of rock on those lakes to warm them up.ill be guiding on eagle.just need to find the warmest areas.going out tomm.headed west.almost by you.going for splake in george lake.let you know how we do tomm.

John Jakobs I go to the west of you, Willard Lake At Pleasant Point LOdge is where we stay and portage 2 12ft boats to other lakes. I hope you keep posting conditions up there as we are set for the first week in June and I have to wonder how cold the water will be if the ice is gone. I have seen it go out as late as May 10 there, but heck we still have ice here in wesrern Wisconsin. Thanks again for the updates.

Pouring today and huge winds.going to knock the top off the ice a little quicker.going fishing tomm.so we will see whats has happened out there since a few days ago.its cooler out today but we are dupposed to get highs of 20c next week.that will really excellerate the thaw.give a update tomm.

Went back out today for lakers.took the sleds.no problems.fantastic weather.+17.yesrersay when we left it was getting wet. This morning it was wetter.probably lost 4" of the top layer.forecast for rain tomm. That will help some to.today we had water starting togo down some of our holes in the low spots.this will get the ice to lift.measured the good ice in the spot we where fishing.looking at 23-24".really not that much.staying warm and next week up to + 20 C.That will put a hurt on the ice.going to be interesting.