Vermillion River

[Mike_Top]

Here's some pics of the last 2 times out at the vermillion:

My buddy caught a 16-17" brown on the fly rod the sunday before Easter

I hooked into this guy yesterday. I'm thinking it must be 20"...had a few others like this miss the strike, and I think a northern stole a streamer from me. Saw a big flash, never felt a thing, and the streamer was gone...great day to be out though

[itchmesir]

nice pictures.. that last one is a hawg

[dhpfish]

Nice fish! My father and I tried to fish the Vermillion for the first time this past Saturday with absolutely no luck. We started in the Rambling River Park, but it was very difficult to cast with all the tree's and obstructions. We also tried to go down stream a little and fished from the bridge off of Biscayne Ave and 66, it was a little more open, but still no luck. From your pictures it looks like you found a nice open area. Any helpful suggestions for where to fish this would be appreciated!

[Carp-fisher]

Yeah..hahahaha....post your spots here please...

[Mike_Top]

I've fished the vermillion a half-dozen times, each time trying some new spots and some different flies. That fish I caught and the fish my buddy caught would be the first fish we've caught from that river and they were both released. I'm not gonna go back to rambling river, like dhpfish said it's tough to cast a fly in there. Basically just look for an open area (on public land or via a bridge) and some deeper pools, and try not to spook 'em! Good luck

[Nate McVey]

Great looking browns! Thanks for sharing!

[ted4887]

Wow, that last fish is a chunky! Nice pictures

[Mike_Top]

Humbled again by the Vermillion....twice this week actually. Went out Monday and the water was high and fast, and I froze. Went out today with a couple friends and the wind made casting pretty tough. The water was lower though, too bad its gonna rain tomorrow. I need a slumpbuster soon, can't wait for the walleye op'ner!

[Mike_Top]

I saw some cool habitat improvement work in progress on the vermillion the other day, which reminded me that awhile ago I saw a star trib article on how the vermillion was the recipient of $440,000 of state lotto revenue. It said that Trout Unlimited declared the vermillion to be the only "world-class" trout stream within a metro area in the whole country....(geez what does it take to be world-class??) Anyways the article said its supposed to be completed June '11.

I assume the rock piles will make up some sort of riffle/spawning habitat

They are digging out a new stream channel in two places, so there will be two very long islands...it looks like it will turn out pretty cool, and will definitely provide a lot more places to fish.

[Walleyed_Trout]

Good to see some work being done on this stream. My brother has tried to fish it a couple times (he lives in Farmington area) and came up snake eyes. I'm a little spoiled with the streams in SE MN so I haven't bothered to try it yet.

[Scudly]

This is a re-channelization effort on the WMA project. If you look at maps of the Vermillion you will notice that farmers really messed this river up big time. The straightened the river and so many of it's tribs out to follow property lines, apparently so crop space could be maximized? Correct me if I am wrong but in this day and age if a farmer was caught doing the stuff that happened in the past he/she would be in BIG trouble. At the WMA land they are putting the river back to it's natural course which I am 100% for. All of this takes a lot of TIME, WORK, and MONEY to restore - correct the wrongs that were done to this river.

[TheHawgTrough]

This was a world class river year ago, but has really tappered off over the past 5-10 years. I am pretty sure the $$ came from the Legacy Funds. The stream work in those pictures looks pretty cool so far. Hopefully they don't over do it with the lunker structures and the fish can make a comeback.

This river at one point had the potential to be the best river in the Midwest for trophy brown trout (Think multiple fish like the one recently caught in the Root River in SE MN).

[NoWiser]

I know a guy who fished it a lot 5-10 years ago like you mentioned, Hawg. The pictures of the fish he got out of there were absolutely unreal, and when you say multiple giants, you weren't kidding. I talked to him a couple weeks ago, and with the increase in pressure and decrease in the quality of the fishery, he hasn't been back in 2 or 3 years, and has no plans of returning. He had people fly in from Western Montana to fish it with him, the fishing was so good. He gets pretty bummed out talking about it now. Maybe someday it will return to it's former glory, but with all of the publicity it has gotten recently, the odds of that are about the same as the Twins winning the World Series this year.

[Mike_Top]

"Hopefully they don't over do it with the lunker structures and the fish can make a comeback."

Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by over-do it with lunker structures? I think its a great way to give fish a place to hide, provide shade and depth and keep the water cool.

I've been to the V about 6 times so far since the April 16th opener--usually for about 2 hours at a time, and while I haven't always caught fish I've always drawn at least a couple strikes with my smallie streamers. And I've only seen other anglers twice which is fine by me. Believe me fish are there, no need for anyone to give up on fishing!!

[mitch]

Hopefully they don't over do it with the lunker structures and the fish can make a comeback.

Do you think that too many lunker structures are bad for fishing? I was fishing a stream with habitat improvements today and found the lunker structures difficult to fish. I know they are great fish habitat and a safe place for fish to hide, but I think the hiding spots were too good for my fishing skills. It seems like I can catch more fish on a natural undercut bank than the lunker structures. Maybe I need more practice.

I think they're good for streams and definitely not arguing against them. Just wondering what other people think about the fishability of them.

[Mike_Top]

I agree they are tougher to fish, but I came up a few plans for fishing them:

1. standing on the opposite bank, cast a streamer as close as possible to the bank, let out slack and let it sink. then strip in line, and cast again several feet downstream, covering the whole undercut bank.

2. Put a woolly bugger under a bobber and cast close to bank, from the opposite shore. Let it drift along the lunker structure.

3. Standing on the same side as the lunker structure, cast a streamer or rapala or in-line spinner, whatever, downstream tight to the bank and retrieve. You also have to be mindful of walking on the bank on top of these things...the lunker structures can go back several feet, and fish can feel vibrations when you walk on top of 'em.

I think these methods work in theory because large trout that sit in these things aren't feeding on nymphs drifting in the current, they're after bigger meals like chubs and other minnows. I use sinking line and bead-head streamers to try and get in the fish's view. Tonight I tried these ideas out on the vermillion, didn't catch anything but drew a few strikes. The toughest part is getting depth...which is why I've been scheming up a way to use some sort of carolina-rigged plastic worm set up with a heavy weight...these are the things I dream about, I know its getting to be a sickness...but these are 20" brown trout in the V and its keeping me up at night! haha

How have you been fishing, Mitch? I'm in need of some new ideas or techniques.

[Mike_Top]

Hey Scudly, feel free to chime in!!!

[TheHawgTrough]

My personal opinion on lunker structures is that in theory I guess they are OK, but what happens when the wood they use to build them breaks down and caves in? I've seen the streams with the caved in lunker structures and they become a mess. You don't see any of the premier streams out west with lunker structures. Not sure why they've become so popular here in MN and WI... They are difficult to fish, but the fish do tend to lurk out at night...

I also think less is sometimes more (Again, personal opinion). Seems like the more work done on a stream, the worse the fishing gets (And the river looks like [PoorWordUsage])... Give it a little budge (remove straighten stream beds, plant some natural trees/grass, maybe add some natual rock here or there to prevent erosion) and let nature takes its course. The old natural cutbanks and down trees seem to do the job just fine.

[mitch]

I used woolly buggers along the lunker structures like you mentioned. Only caught one fish in the outing. I wasn't fishing the Vermillion by the way.

I'm kind of with TheHawgTrough on this. I think that some stream restorations are overdone. I think they are necessary and good, but I guess I just prefer fishing a more natural stream better.

[Scudly]

In the instance of this WMA project taking a section of the river that a farmer straightened and bringinging it back to the natural winding course will benefit the trout. It should cool down the water and provide better habitat. Find the best habitat and you will find nice trout.

The DNR and TU and so many other organizations involved, getting together to raise money, add easements, doing habitat improvement on a METRO trout stream that will soon be classified as "impaired water" is a good thing.

My only beef with HI work is generally it should be spread out to many streams not just a select number. Why does Trout Run in MN or Timber Coulee get more HI projects year after year. At a certain point the streams become so good that trout populations become too high. You cannot have it both ways. High numbers = many average to small sized trout. Low numbers = a few quality fish.

Since 2008 I have landed 16 browns 20"+ and not a single one came out of a lunker structure. HI and/or special regs are like a magnet for fishermen. At least places like Hay, Trout Run, and Timber Coulee are fully utilized.

I rarely run into anybody on the V. There are plenty of trout, just low density. You need to put in your time. Feast or famine. I myself almost gave up. Getting skunked over and over and over can really be a blow to your ego.