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2017 Vermilion Ice fishing reoprts and ice conditions


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Thanks for the report JL, how much ice did you find in big bay?Will be up next weekend with the family, hoping to get the sleds out on the lake.

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  • Plenty of ice on the lake for snow mobiles!
  • Had about 11 to 12 inches today when I drilled new holes.
  • Cliff

 

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I had 9" of ice in Big Bay.  Entire lake should be safe for snowmobiles now, being careful around narrows.  It looks like they staked the entire lake now.  Found a few small spots of slush.

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Roosterman,

I have had a good bite in the AM from 8:30 to noon and then the last couple hours before dark!

Even getting a fish or two some days during the deader mid-day period.

Overall this has been one of my best early winter bites that I have had for a few years!

Cliff

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Thanks for the updates Cliff and JL. We are driving up now for a couple days and pretty pumped for first time out this year. We'll be sticking around the west side and hope to give some updates as we can with little cell service.  Any update on snow total from the snow storm?

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Not a whole lot of new snow in this area. 3 -4 inches maybe. Drifting a lot though!

Cliff

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Walleye bite has been scattered throughout the day for me this year, including numerous fish between the normally dead hours of noon-3pm.  I have not had a good morning bite except for my last morning last Saturday.  The late afternoon bite seems to shut off for me at sunset.

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Coming up this weekend what's the hot color been? What's the better bite off shore structure or the points and breaks thanks for any advise much appreciated 

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SS,

Either type of structure is holding fish.

I have been doing my best with a 1/8 oz. hammered gold/firetiger Maynards slammer jig with a crappie minnow on it.

Cliff

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Cliff. Is there anyone pulling wheel house's out to birch yet? heading that way Thursday to check the ice.  

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70,

Quite a few wheel houses showing up now. Probably 15 houses out by Birch.

4 wheeler only yet!

Cliff

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I saw 12 pick ups on the ice today!

14 inches of ice in newly drilled holes!

Cliff

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Think I'm allrite with an SUV this weekend Useing the McKinley  access  and fishing around the ely island area 

Edited by Slobslayer99
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Update from the week. Overall we did very poorly and tried a lot of spots as well as a lot of different techniques. Fished from 30ft to 11ft and could not get the fish to bite. Only saw 2 other portables out in Frazer bay and didn't seem they had much luck either. Ice was good, ranged from 10 to 14 inches of clear ice

 

2 years now we have tried many spots with no luck. showing lots of fish on the vexilar but cannot get them to bite, I plan on getting a camera next time to see what is down there.

 

I guess that's why its called fishing not catching. Still had a good time and enjoyed the week.

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Fishing was a little slower for me 12/29-12/31.  3 of us got skunked 12/29pm.  Then I caught 7 fish on each of the next two days fishing alone.  I still think the Vexilar scares walleyes away from a dead stick since we had it on 12/29 and I didn't use it the next two days.  Caught 5 slot fish including a 24", 25", and 26" caught in sequence on Friday (24" and 25" were a double).  Best bite was on sucker minnows, and a few fish on both shiners and chubs (all on plain hooks).  My last slot fish had a half dozen growths on it as seen in the last picture; fish seemed very healthy otherwise.  One fish had its eyes popped out as shown in the last picture.  This fish came up very fast from 30 FOW.  Is that enough to pop the eyes out?  Is this fish safe to eat?

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JL,

I have seen a lot of walleyes with those growths. They are a virus type growth that they get in cold water. No problem with eating them as the growths are only on the skin. All fish that I have caught with those growths have always appeared to be healthy otherwise. I have caught a couple that had at least a dozen of them!

Cliff

Goalieman,

I had a friend that was fishing Frazer the past few days and he did OK there. He said that he was fishing in depths from 30' to 37'. Best bite was up until 11:00am for him.

Cliff

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Additional update on last week in Frazer Bay from Goalieman's.  My father-in-law and his brother were up the night we left and took over fishing duties until Sunday.  They had similar luck, pulled in 2 15" walleyes Friday-Sunday and a crawdad.  Neighbor had best luck though with bringing in 2-3 walleyes Thursday night bite.  Hopefully can find a weekend to make it up one more time this year.  I'll try and get an update from FIL on how he does next weekend.

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Fished the 31st-2nd fishing was pretty good caught around 40 walleyes fishing 28ft of water Saturday 10:00 - 1:00 pm best bite and on Sunday morning caught several fish when it was snowing then the sun came out and the bite shut off picked a few more that evening before dark and then yesterday morning caught about 10 more by 10:00am and drove back to the city

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We ended up with about 10 inches of fluffy new snow in this area the past couple of days.

Still not to bad driving on the lake. Managed to drive to my fish house without much trouble this afternoon.

Cliff

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Me and a few buddies were thinking about coming up to Vermillion this weekend and catching some fish. He has family in the area and has been going there since he was little so knows the lake semi-decent. I was wondering how much ice your finding and where your finding it. Is there plowed roads out there or is it pretty tough going? We would be pulling up an 8x16 wheel shack. Would love to get up there and try a new lake!

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Can a walleyes eyes "pop out" being pulled from 30FOW rather quickly as shown in the attached picture?  Is this fish safe to eat?

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Yes they can start to bulge even shallower than that if pulled up to quickly. The fish may have been deeper and came up only to eat and had not acclimated to even 30ft. The eyes bulging or bladder coming out of the mouth does not affect the health or edibility of the fish. 

 

I am curious if the pressure at 30ft deep is different between summer and winter. In my head i would think winter the pressure at 30ft is greater because of the ice on the surface but i have no evidence or proof of it. 

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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