The 2006 walleye season started off with a bang! My fishing crew and I pounded
on the walleyes on Little Trout Lake with limits of nice fish and many 20 to 25
inchers released. The fishing on Lake Vermilion picked up quickly and I did well thru
mid June when I switched my attention to muskies.
The muskie fishing started off with a bang with a 49 incher on June 17th and
really accelerated from there. The month of July was simply wonderful with 40
plus fish caught and released including a 53.5 in., 51 in., 50.5 in., 2- 49 inchers,
1/2 doz. in the 48 in. class as well as a bunch in the mid 40 in. range and several
upper 30 and lower 40 in. fish.
The fishing slowed down somewhat in August; however some nice specimens
were caught and released including a 52 in., a 49 in., and several in the low to
mid 40 in. range. And several in the mid 30 in. range.
Several muskies were boated in the month of Sept. As many of you know
Vermilion can be especially fickle in Sept. You can reap some great rewards as well as
have some head scratches. The last couple years we had a great shallow rock
minnow bait bite develop in mid Sept., however this year it was somewhat
limited.
The walleye fishing really heated up in early Sept. with nice limits of fish in the 14
- 17 in. range and lots of fish released in the 18- 22 in. range. Numbers of jumbo
perch were also caught as well as some crappies.
The walleye bite continued into Oct. with exceptional size and number of fish
boated.
Mid Oct. brought a major change in weather and water temperature. Multiple cold
fronts dropped the water temperature at the rate of about a degree a day and the
muskie bite was on. Several impressive specimens were caught and released
with the most notable being a 54 in. muskie which I caught and released while
fishing with my friend and fishing partner Garrett Plotnik. Unfortunately my soft
tape was at home, however this was an extraordinary fish. The girth dwarfed a
50 incher with a 25 in. girth caught by my friend and fishing partner Arvid
Pajunen several days later. I am estimating the girth at 27-28 inches. Several
more were caught in the upper 40 in. range. I am now waiting impatiently to get
enough ice to put out the walleye house and for Jan. to arrive so I can begin lake
trout fishing.
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