Idian Lake Chain near Vermillion Bay

[MuskyBrian]

Heading up for a trip here July 10-17th. Never have fished this body of water before, mainly focusing on Musky and maybe some walleyes if time is permitting. Anyone have any experience/tips for this water? Anything would be apreciated
Thanks
Brian

[Moose-Hunter]

Hey there Brian....

The Indian chain has been very good to me and my Father in the past. Walleye, Muskie and Trout.... My biggest 'ski to date came out of that chain... 54 1/2" (released)

Which camp will you be staying at?

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M-H (aka: Dan)

[Guest]

Hi Brian,

I concur with Moose-Hunter. The Indian Chain of lakes near Vermillion Bay is one heck of a fishery. I was there with some family and friends during the 3rd week of June last year. We stayed at a camp owned by Wayne and Carla (forgot their last names) on the west end of Indian Lake. There were 14 of us, so we stayed in the "big house".

Anyway, water levels last year were very low. We primarily fished for muskies and walleye. All total, I think we caught 8 legal muskies in 6 days. We actually had our best luck for muskies in Indian Lake near the island that was straight out from the big house. However, we had to WORK for our fish. I threw everything I had in my tackle box at the muskies, and even though we had numerous follow ups, we couldn't get them to strike. Until that is, I switched to a black bucktail with a silver main blade as well as a trailer silver blade on the treble hook. After that, I caught 3 muskies in 2 days while losing 2 more. When my fishing companions and I switched to that color of lure, we caught the muskies. The lures were smaller in size as well. I guess the muskies preferred the smaller baits because their stomachs were sore from spawning.

I was a little disappointed in the walleye bite. Again, we primarily focused on the walleye in the bays of Indian Lake. We had 2 guys with fish locators, so basically we would follow them around until he graphed fish. The best presentation was a 1/16 oz. white or yellow jig tipped with a live minnnow. We caught walleyes one night in 12-16 feet of water, and the bite was on! We had 4 boats, and each guy caught his limit. No walleyes were over 22 inches, and most of them were 10-14'', but it was fun. We also caught walleyes in 4-6' of water directly over stump posts. Same presentation, etc.

We had heard that there were Lake Trout in Boulder Lake, so 3 of us went down there as well. The scenery was amazing. We tried fishing for the lakers, but no bites. I don't think we were able to get our lures (spoons) down far enough. Perhaps Moose-Hunter can lend some advice here.

This was my first time to the Indian chain, but my uncles have been going for years. They said the fishery has definitely changed over time. For example, they said that in the past they were able to motor up "Moose Creek" to get into Moose Lake and catch their limit of walleyes practically every night. Last year with the water levels being so low, it was quite a challenge getting back to Moose Lake. Beware the rocks!!! Once we did get back there, we caught 0 (zero) walleyes. One of my fising buddies did catch a 34" musky, but that was it.

Lastly, we did try sucker minnows for the muskies as well. That worked great. It was a lot of fun bringing your sucker minnow to the top of the water and seeing a a musky curiously approach from below.

Again, I had a great time and Wayne and Carla were great hosts. I would go back again anytime. Hope you have a great time!

[MuskyBrian]

Thanks for the info guys. I am staying at Indian Lake Lodge. I'm glad to hear you had success downsizing your baits, because that is always one of my favorite strategies up in Canada, especially bucktails.

I guess my other question is there are quite a few lakes, Indian sounds good but are there any lakes I would want to spend more time on that seem to produce? Or maybe even lakes that aren't so hot I should spend less time on?
Thanks again guys

[Guest]

To be honest, I cannot remember the names of all the connecting lakes. We pretty much fished every lake in the chain, but we soon found that our best fishing was in Indian Lake. Supposedly, there are huge muskies in Boulder Lake. We fished there 1 day and did not see a musky. However, my cousin caught a 45" in Boulder on a previous trip.

Another tactic that worked well for us was trolling. We would cast out our bucktails or large rapalas and troll the shorelines - About 50-75 feet out. That worked well for us.

[Moose-Hunter]

Brian....

I found my maps. Walleye, Muskie and yes.... even trout. I've got'em marked. Drop me an email and I'll set you up. Send it to moosehunter at earthlink dot net...

Talk to ya soon....

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M-H (aka: Dan)

[Guest]

Brian, I apologize for giving you incorrect information before. I too found a map that we used on the Indian Lake Chain last year, and I was able to verify the names of the lakes where we had the most success. I was correct in saying that we had great luck on Indian, but we had our best luck on Edward Lake. We stayed at Clark's Camp on Edward Lake. There is an island straight out from the camp, and it was here where we caught numerous muskies and some good "eating size" walleyes.

Good luck.