After an interesting Spring and early Summer, the Champions Tour is poised to FINALLY kickoff the 2020 tournament season on one of the best lakes in the state of Minnesota. On July 31st, Champions Tour anglers will float their boats on Lake Vermilion out of Fortune Bay Resort and Casino. This will be the tour’s 2nd visit to Lake Vermilion and certainly a favorite among the majority of our anglers.
In 2019, Champions Tour anglers experienced a slightly tougher bite than what most expected but Brad Leuthner was able to accumulate enough bass to grab his first of two wins last seasons. Whenever we talk about Lake Vermilion words like diversity and variety come to mind. There’s so many ways and places to catch a bass on Vermilion. This of course includes both largemouth and smallmouth bass which creates an even wider spectrum of options.
To open things up even more, ALL the lake will be in play this season. In 2019 anglers couldn’t fish the west end of the lake. This will open a great deal of largemouth water and will certainly change the strategy of some fishermen.
Vermilion also lends itself to an incredible early morning schooling bite for smallmouth on many of the main lake reefs. This was a bite that never took off during last year’s tournament, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on this year. If conditions are right and an angler lands on the right spot and/or school, they will get rich in a hurry with quality smallmouth bites on nearly every cast. This is a short-lived bite typically, but it would be a great way for someone to start their day.
It seems that more often than not in tournament fishing things change on tournament day and typical spots or bites disappear and throw anglers for a loop. Therefore, we’ll just have to wait and see who makes the right adjustments and finds the right strategy to put Lake Vermilion bass in the boat.
Be sure to tune into www.classicbass.com and our Social Media channels on Friday, July 31st from 7am to roughly 5pm CST for all the action. This event will not disappoint!
