There are several options for hiring a Fishing Guide on Lake Vermilion. Over the years Vermilion Dam Lodge has established close working relationships with several local Professional Fishing Guides. What we call ’Professional Guides’ are those Guides who are full-time and for the most part on the water every day. The Guides our resort recommends are those who we have found to be not only knowledgeable fisherman with extensive experience on Lake Vermilion but also personable, respectful and make the time on the water with our resort guests a great experience.

We encourage our guests to approach a day on the water with a guide as an opportunity to not only learn the great spots to fish but more importantly learn what techniques work on Vermilion and learn what types of structure to target.

Costs of Guides The Guides on Lake Vermilion usually work independently to the resorts and provide their own boats, equipment, bait, ice and insurance. They will pick you up in their boats and bring you back and drop you off at the end of your trip. They also will take care of fish cleaning. Given most of the guides on Vermilion work independently, their fees are not always the same. Here are the typical guide fees you can expect:

8 hour trip for 2 people $425-600
4 hour trip for 2 people $ 325-400
Additional fees Extra person ( adding a third person )
$100-125  for an 8 hr trip
$ 50-75 for an 4 hr trip
Follow Boat (Additional fisherman follow the guide
for the trip in another boat) :
$ 100-125 for a 8 hr trip
$ 50- 100 for a 4 hr trip
Shore lunch $20-30/ person

How to pay the Guides
Given most of the Professional Guides on Vermilion are self employed we recommend Guests pay them directly. Some but not all Guides do require a deposit. In the event a deposit is necessary it will be the Guest’s responsibility to secure their Guide trip directly with the Fishing Guide they are hiring. Our experience over the years is most of the independent Professional guides do not take credit cards but accept personal checks and or cash for payment. We recommend making payment arrangements directly with the guide prior to your trip.

Rods and Tackle. The guides will usually provide enough rods and tackle for the trip. If you would prefer to bring your own rods and tackle that is usually fine with the Guides, but our recommendation is to ask the guide prior to your trip. In some cases, the guides might be fishing a pattern where specific tackle is necessary to be successful in catching fish at which time they may highly recommend use of the tackle they are providing.

Rain gear…. We always recommend bringing rain gear and bringing enough clothes to stay comfortable. In many cases when leaving the dock, it may feel comfortable because our location is protected but once on the lake wind, lower temps could be uncomfortable. We recommend bringing more clothing than you think you need.

GPS handheld devices. Depending on the Guide some will request you do not bring handheld GPS in their boat. We recommend you ask the guide directly prior to your trip.

Food and Drink .. On both the full and half day trips we recommend always bringing snacks and water at a minimum. If you are doing a full day trip, we recommend packing lunch unless you have established a shore lunch with your Guide.

Tipping Guides: A frequent question from our resort Guests is tipping their fishing guide customary and how much is an appropriate. It is customary to tip your Fishing guides if your expectations were met or exceeded. The amount of the tip can vary depending on the size of your group and if you did a full day or half day trip. Top performance tip recommendations are 15-20% .

Toilets/Bathroom on a Guide Trip Depending on where you will be fishing on the lake there are several locations where a guide can stop and provide access to bathrooms (some indoor and some outdoor) . Key is always let your guide know as soon as possible. If you have medical needs that require frequent bathroom stops let the guide know at the start of the trip for they may plan their guide trip route to locations on the Lake that have easy access to bathroom facilities.

How to Book a Guide
We encourage our guests to contact a Fishing Guide directly to book a guide trip. This will ensure the date and time to fish are agreeable to both and the opportunity to ask any questions you may have for the guide. Where we can help facilitate booking a guide is to point our guests to Fishing Guides we trust and feel comfortable knowing our guests will be treated well and have a good day on the water.