Kotu Fish
← All waters

VERMILLION RIVER

The rule for this water, with the receipt.

Special regulations for VERMILLION RIVER upstream of Vermillion Falls in Hastings and all tributaries, as the state words them

Dakota County · River · MN

Has its own special rules
How to read this page:Official text quoted regulationParsed fields from the ruleDerived calculated from rulesContext conditions, not a ruleAdvice our suggestion

The rules for this water, verbatimOfficial text

Straight from MN's official regulations. Rules in force today lead; out-of-season rows are dimmed. Nothing is paraphrased. Not legal advice: verify the posted rules at the water.

Whole water
  • Brown trout
    catch-and-release only
  • Rainbow trout

Statewide base layerParsed

These defaults apply where the rules above do not modify them.

Season
Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
Gear
Only 1 artificial bait/lure or 1 single tackle configuration can be used at the end of your line for it to be considered a single line.Statewide
Bait
You can fish with a variety of live or dead bait including worms, night crawlers, insects and larvae.Statewide
Poles
You may use only 1 line during the open water seasonStatewide

Where the verbatim rules above name a species, season, or limit, they replace the rows below. Each row is tagged with the layer it comes from.

SpeciesDaily limitSize
Walleye and sauger
Varies by water: limit 3 combined total (North Dakota–Minnesota border waters); limit 4 combined total (only 1 walleye over 20") (South Dakota–Minnesota border waters)
6 combined total (only 1 over 20" in possession).-Statewide
Northern pike
Varies by water: limit 3 (Iowa–Minnesota border waters); limit 2 (only 1 northern pike over 26") (Dark House Spearing, Northeast Zone); limit 10 (either 2 northern pike over 26" and none from 22 to 26" or 1 from 22 to 26" and 1 over 26") (Dark House Spearing, North-central Zone); only 1 over 40" in possession, all from | 30-40" must be immediately released, limit 2 (Northeast Zone); not more than 2 over 26", all from 22-26" | must be immediately released, limit 10 (North-central Zone); minimum size 24", limit 2 (Southern Zone)
3 (only 1 over 30" in possession)-Statewide
Muskellunge
Varies by water: 40", limit 1 (minimum size 40") (Iowa–Minnesota border waters); 50" minimum size, limit 1 (50" minimum size) (Wisconsin–Minnesota border waters)
1 (minimum size 50")min. 50"Statewide
Largemouth and smallmouth bass
Varies by water: limit 3 combined total (Iowa–Minnesota border waters)
6 combined total-Statewide
Lake sturgeon
1 per calendar year (fish must be 45-50" inclusive, or over 75").min. 45-50" inclusive, or over 75"Statewide
Crappie
Varies by water: limit 30 (North Dakota–Minnesota border waters)
10-Statewide
Sunfish
20 combined total-Statewide
Lake trout (SUMMER)
2-Statewide
Stream trout
5 (not more than 3 over 16")-Statewide
All other species
Inland limits apply-Statewide
Walleye
3-Statewide
Catfish
Varies by water: limit 5 (only 1 over 24") (North Dakota–Minnesota border waters)
8 combined total-Statewide
Perch
Varies by water: limit 25 (Iowa–Minnesota border waters); limit 50 (North Dakota–Minnesota border waters); limit 15 daily and 30 in possession (South Dakota–Minnesota border waters)
20 daily, 40 in possession-Statewide
White bass and yellow bass
Varies by water: limit No limit (Iowa–Minnesota border waters)
30 combined total-Statewide
Bullhead
Varies by water: limit 100 (North Dakota–Minnesota border waters)
No limit-Statewide
Gar
10-Statewide
Rock bass
Varies by water: limit 20 (North Dakota–Minnesota border waters); limit 25 (Wisconsin–Minnesota border waters)
30-Statewide
Northern pike angling
6-Statewide
Northern pike spearing
3-Statewide
Catfish (channel and flathead)
5 combined total. Not more than 2 can be flathead (only 1 catfish over 24").-Statewide
Sucker and redhorse
50 each-Statewide
Carp, buffalo, freshwater drum, bowfin, goldeye
No limit-Statewide
Sucker
50-Statewide
Redhorse
50-Statewide
Carp, buffalo, freshwater drum, bowfin
No limit-Statewide
Catfish, channel
5 (only 1 over 24")-Statewide
Catfish, flathead
2 (only 1 over 24")-Statewide
Whitefish
15min. over 7"Statewide
Walleye and sauger (and their hybrid)
6 combined totalmin. only 1 walleye over 20" in possessionStatewide
Muskellunge/hybrid muskellunge
1 combined totalmin. minimum size 54"Statewide
Largemouth bass
Varies by water: limit 6 combined total largemouth or smallmouth bass (when smallmouth season is open) (Statewide); limit 6 combined total largemouth or smallmouth bass (Northeast Zone)
Catch-and-release only-Statewide
Smallmouth bass
Varies by water: limit 6 combined total largemouth or smallmouth bass (Statewide)
Catch-and-release only-Statewide
Channel Catfish
5min. only 1 over 24"Statewide
Flathead Catfish
2min. only 1 over 24"Statewide
Cisco (tullibee)
15min. over 7"Statewide
Burbot (eelpout)
4-Statewide
American eel
Catch-and-release only-Statewide
Smelt
No Limit-Statewide
Lake or shovelnose sturgeon
Catch-and-release only; no tag/endorsement needed.-Statewide
Lake trout
2-Statewide
Trout—Brook, Brown, Rainbow And Splake
Varies by water: not more than 3 over 16" (statewide)
5 combined totalmin. only 1 over 16"Statewide
bullheads
They are counted as part of your daily and possession limit of 100.min. 7-10" in lengthStatewide
crayfish
take and possess up to 25 pounds of live crayfish for personal use-Statewide
frogs
unlimited numbermin. up to 6" longStatewide
mussels
up to 24 whole shells or 48 half shells from dead mussels of species that are not endangered or threatened-Statewide
Western painted
possession limit 3min. between 4 and 5Statewide
Snapping
possession limit is 3min. minimum size is 12" in shell lengthStatewide
turtles
take, possess, and rent up to 25 turtles for use in a non-profit turtle racemin. Each turtle must be greater than 4" in length.Statewide

How this answer was assembled

  1. StatewideStatewide river rules are the base layer: default season, gear, bait, and limits.
  2. This waterSpecial rules written for this exact water replace the statewide defaults where they speak.
  3. Emergency orderEmergency orders in effect today override everything else. They sync quietly when the phone has coverage and never lock you out of the app.

Where this stretch begins and ends

Loading map…

The drawn shape is the named water, matched from the official list against OpenStreetMap and accepted only because the name resolved to a single feature in this water's county.

Different sections of this water can have different rules. The exact section boundaries are not marked on the map yet; each rule above describes in plain words where it starts and ends, and that written description is the authoritative boundary. Map boundaries come water by water, never as a guess.

At the water nowContext

Overnight
66°F
Partly Cloudy
Wind 5 mph · 0% precip
Wednesday
90°F
Mostly Sunny then Patchy Smoke
Wind 0 to 5 mph · 15% precip
Wednesday Night
68°F
Patchy Smoke
Wind 5 mph · 15% precip

Streamflow: 6,930 cfs at mississippi river below l&d 2 at hastings, mn (2026-07-29 05:00)

Forecast: National Weather Service. Flow: nearest active USGS gauge in this water's area, which may sit on a different reach. Conditions are context, not rules.

What are you fishing for here?Advice

Pick from the species named in VERMILLION RIVER's rules. Setups are checked against the gear rules in force today, and your picks are remembered on this device only. These are rule-aware suggestions, not a claim about what is biting; advice, not law, and the rules above govern.

Receipts

Statewide rules
Statewide
Checked against this official source on July 7, 2026.
Special rules - VERMILLION RIVER
This water
Checked against this official source on July 7, 2026.

Local services near VERMILLION RIVER

Tackle shops, guides, and boat launches that serve this water will appear here - a separate lane below the rules, so a local business can reach you without ever getting between you and the regulation.

Run a shop or guide service on VERMILLION RIVER? Get listed.