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We got the auger back! The person who found it didn't want me to mention his name, we can't thank him enough! Still good, honest people around. He called Spring Bay Resort and asked if they heard of anyone losing an auger and they sent him a screenshot of my post. So, thanks to Dayis and Steve at Spring Bay Resort for that! Thanks again everyone for getting the auger back to us!

Went back up Thursday to avoid the weekend rush. Cold start at -22°F with a good wind. Happy to be inside a permanent house. No fresh snow so no more drifting. Ice was very noisy with the cold weather. Saw a big pickup truck drive off of plowed roads from McKinley Park to Ely Island without getting stuck, but the truck had very wide tires and a good size lift. A light snow is predicted Friday night with a 5mph wind so there could be more drifting this weekend. Temperatures this weekend look a little cool, but not cold. Fishing was much better 3 days later. Caught my biggest yet this winter at 26 inches. She bit very light and didn't resist much until she saw the hole. Then she peeled out a lot of line before I could bring her in and conduct CPR (catch, picture, release). Fished from 7:15am-6:00pm and had good bites from 8:00-8:40am and 1:30-2:10pm. Outside of those windows I had very little action. Chubs were much more productive than shiners this time. Marked many suspended fish but couldn't get them to bite. Had better action when I would lower my minnow to the bottom and lift it up slowly. Found a good way to reheat Zup's polish delites on my buddy heater. Tasted great after my one-week low-fiber diet. I counted 40 permanent houses from McKinley Park to Ely Island and Birch Island. I assume more houses will go out this weekend, but I bet a lot more will be pulled off the ice before the last week of the season. Beautiful sunset to end a great day on the ice. Good luck fishing, be courteous, and please pick up your trash. Just 9 days left of the season.

My son got paid back for a good deed he did several years ago. He found a couple of expensive items at a boat ramp and called me asking what he should do. I told him to bring them home because I was afraid if someone else found them, they might keep them. It was winter and nobody was around. This was when Facebook wasn't really popular yet, I was on several sites like this. First thing we did was make a big sign and posted it at the boat launch, then I posted it on all the forums I was on. Long story short, we never found the owner, but we sure tried. I know to this day, if either one of us found something, we'd do our best to get it back to the rightful owner.

Yes, for sure. A few years back, and unbeknownst to me, a piece of trim came off my sled while traveling over the lake. A fellow sledder and complete stranger found the piece and followed my tracks all the way back to my cabin to return the lost item. Couldn't thank him enough. His kindness will never be forgotten and is something to which I aspire.

Ice condition didn't change much in the last week as shown in the McKinley Park photo from today. The holes in my house froze all the way down in the last six days; 40 inches of ice now. I drilled my two holes 24 inches and cleared the shavings out before reaching water. Much cleaner way in a permanent house. Fishing was pretty good today. Caught two 24" walleyes, including the 5#-7oz fatty pictured. Also caught a 19 incher. Best bite was from 11 to noon. Much better action with chubs than shiners today. Never tried the pike suckers I had. Good luck fishing the last weekend this winter. Going to be very windy Friday, but drifting shouldn't b a problem since there is no loose snow on the lake. Saturday and Sunday look to be very warm. Still about 35 houses left out from McKinley Park.

Monday was my worst day of winter fishing on Vermilion in the last 4 years. Caught only one 14" walleye in nearly 8 hours of fishing. Missed two other bites and was marking very few fish. Maybe the fish were taking Monday off after a big weekend. No more water came up on the ice under my house. Think it was because I haven't banked snow around it for a couple of weeks so the bare ice around the house is getting very thick. I measured 38" of ice under my house and the Ion barely made it through even with the extension installed. Needless to say I banked around the house this time. Another lesson I learned today is don't drill holes if ice is frozen on your blades. I did that on one hole and it didn't center properly and drilled at an angle on the edge of the opening. Hope I can correct the location and angle on my next trip up. Not much change in the surface lake surface conditions. The drifts may be a little higher and are definitely harder. There are still a few bare ice spots on the lake. Very little activity on the lake today. There are about 3 dozen houses from McKinley Park out to Birch Island. Another person pulled there house off today, and I am sure many more will pull theirs off this coming weekend. Only 13 days left of walleye season.

Youngest grandsons first bow, in a non-hunting, shooting family. Grandpa Leech is a trouble maker!

Friday was a beautiful day on Vermilion. The fresh snow and high winds made pretty drifts on the lake, as long as you weren't trying to travel off plowed roads. Watched a large 4x4 truck travel off road and it hit some very large drifts, but didn't get stuck. Not too many houses were left but many new ones were being pulled out onto the lake for the weekend. Was a nice view at dark seeing all the lights on the lake. Fishing was average. I had to shovel snow off of our mobile home roof so I didn't get out until 10am. Was a decent bite at 11am, and then from 330-415pm, but other than that it was very quiet for me. Vermilion Fuel and Food finally had shiners so I tried those and caught most of my fish on them. Good luck fishing, be very courteous if you use plowed roads, and be careful if you travel off road.

Same story, different day (Monday). Caught several small walleyes (biggest were 14 and 15 inches) with the best bite from 2-5pm. Caught my record walleye this winter at 6½ (inches, not pounds). Was wondering why the bobber kept going down a couple inches for several minutes until I finally reeled it up. Fortunately it was just hooked in the lips. Having a lively minnow definitely improved the action. I put down a pike sucker for the first time this winter and got an immediate hard bite. When I went to set the hook, the line broke just above the hook. Don't know if it was a northern bite-off or just weak line by the hook. May try some pike suckers next trip. Ice conditions were very good except for heavy drifting (even with very little fresh snow). Didn't see any vehicles traveling off road except for snowmobiles and a tracked SxS, although there weren't many people out on the lake. Water came up around my house about 1½ inches but froze very quickly with the cold weather and no snow on top. Will probably have to block it up again next time up. Good luck fishing and be careful of severe drifting of snow, especially with the 3-5 inches they are predicting for Wednesday night.

You're a great steward of the lake. Thank you

Went up a day early to take advantage of the nicer weather. Thursday was a beautiful day on Vermilion; mostly sunny, very light breeze an 41ºF. Glad I went up that day because the skid house was sitting in 3-8" of water. Guess I shouldn't have left the house in water and bank snow around it on Monday. None of the water under the house froze at all. Decided it would be better to move the house to "new" ice toward the hole I drilled outside on Monday. When I drilled holes in the new location I had about 1" of water on top of 4" of new ice, then 4" of water, and finally 25" of original ice; 33" total. I would recommend bringing your auger extension since my Ion auger went past the base auger (32") up to the extension in this location, and you never know what you may find on clear ice (I would stay away from heavy drifts and tall banks because you will probably have lots of water come up on the ice in those locations. With the house on 4x4 blocks, I switched to the extended bobber to easily see the far hole. Works great. The lake looked to be in very good condition if you avoid the drifts and snow banks. Several pickups were driving on the open ice away from plowed roads and seemed to be moving fine. I did see several wheel houses being pulled off the lake on Thursday. Don't know if it was due to ice conditions, poor fishing, or both. Today (Friday) looks very good to be on the lake (no new snow and all the loose snow has found a permanent home on shorelines or hard drifts/banks. This weekend is another story. 4-8" of fresh snow on Saturday with 13mph winds. Drifting is only going to get worse. Next week looks good with no more snow and cold temperatures to freeze any water/slush that is on top. The cold temperatures won't freeze the slush under the tall drifts/banks, so be careful. Fishing was average. caught a few early morning, a couple around noon, then went 5 hours without catching a thing. Finally had a fair evening bite when I caught 4 between 4:45 and 6:00. Finally gave up at 7:10. Unfortunately all of the fish were quite small (9-14"). I may not find another decent walleye this winter. Good luck fishing (only 23 days left for walleyes) and be careful around snow drifts and banks. (Note: I removed all of my blocks and anchors from my original location, and plan to clean up blocks from other people's locations when all the snow melts).

It's been just over a year! Since our last scammer post on this page! I think working together we all wore them out!

Last day of myself hunting before I help my friend with new clients. Back on the bigger marsh, mainly teal but 5 fulvous whistling ducks. A medium size duck but they fly and decoy like Canada geese, big circles and glide in. They are noisey birds

Sweet!! there are still good people out there!

I know it looks like a great day on the lake, but today it is all about football and the bar is open in my basement. The fish will have to wait. Hopefully next year will be Skol Vikings in Superbowl.

That's ok, you have to question every fishing picture you see. I'm use to it.

Back in the 70s when a bunch of us early teenagers would go to the SportShow, we figured out the flies never got down to the trout with all the moving water. A little split shot solved that problem.

Fish were a little finicky for us. I don’t know if was the weather (almost hurricane wind it felt like!) or the fact the crowd reached our preferred area. Houses were on our best spots by Noon on Friday. Our friend was there earlier any by the time we got there around 8pm, even the cyber scouted spots were taken. Friday night’s spot was OK for slot walleyes but mostly 9 inch perch. The move away from the crowd got us into better perch, up to 12 inches, and a few keeper walleyes and one big pout. Really let the grandkids try to run their own rattle reels and they lost a lot of the jumbos on the Sat evening bite, which was chaos for almost 90 minutes. They got a better hang of it by this morning but we didn’t have as many jumbos come through.

23 1/2 inches here.. uffda!

Da Range… the ice is heavier up there with all the iron in it. nyuk, nyuk…

I'd let her hop the boarder and take her fishing

Got my grouse back from a Minnesota custom taxidermy today and put them in there spots. The spruce grouse was not as mature as I thought.

I'll bet your son and his buddies did the happy dance!!!

That's what they're going to do. I always read these posts and wondered how people could lose or forget stuff, well it happens!

So my son and buddies were out this morning fishing between Wakemup and H.O.L. Bays (probably between Metza's pt and Schmidt Island), so they had to cross the snowmobile trail to The Landing. Well, MY Strikemaster 24 volt auger fell off the back of my sled. They didn't realize it until they got back. If anyone found it, would be nice to get back...please and thank you. Good news is they had the battery in their pocket..... Dip $hits

Everyone I know with a (fishable) house went somewhere this weekend. HWK is having their 5th Annual GTG on Winnie with 200 pre registered participants.

coming back from Moreys??? sorry.......Mike was afraid to ask!!!!!!!!!!

I was headed down 371 from Pine River yesterday and must have saw a 100 houses headed north. She's going to be a busy one on all the big lakes this weekend!

Those kidz must learn good

Nope! But it’s more funner!

If you fished with me more often, you'd never have to make this statement... 38" of ice - love it. I'm really going to have to dig around for my auger extension. I don't think that I've needed it in over a decade. Too bad nobody has a locomotive chugging across the ice to do some logging, like the good old days.

They’d be just as happy to inherit the boat Dad took them fishing in, wouldn’t they?

Oh here yeah go smurfy, click-on and zoom the price tag on this one! Every time I go to the show, I take a "scare the kids picture". Of what I may spend their inheritance on!

Last Friday, it was still pretty busy for a week day. I've gotten a few out of there over the years.

A few years ago when my son and wife came over to watch the game!

I did actually spend a day over on Big Watab giving it a shot for Rainbows. Tried about 5 different spots, saw one rainbow and one pike come through. Had two Wardens roll in and check my license, he said hardly anyone was getting anything. That seems to be the way that lake is, either on or off! He did ask me where I was from I said Sartell, he said oh your license says Brooklyn Center? I said oh we moved there about a year ago, my wife must not have reminded me to change it? He laughed, I laughed. He said make sure you change it when you renew it this time!

Tore it up - LOL! It took about 30 seconds. Unlike somebody looking for my hotspots!! Hahaha! Have a good time!

Ha, I knew Wanderer would tear up the internet to find my spot! There's still time for you and Smurf to sluice up some Trout. St Cloud Sportsmans show starts tomorrow!

some genetic thing there bud!!!!!!! let us know when the hammer falls............i'll watch the obits

Both my nephews got bows from me, they're 7 and 10. It's a great outdoor activity.

These two knuckleheads are into and will try anything. Last year he broke his collar bone going over a jump skiing or snowboarding, he's already doing the pipe skiing again this year! No fear!

WOWZER was that an interesting drive home today!!!!!!! when i left at 7 am.....the cty rd from spring lake to talmoon was plowed. hwy 6 from talmoon to remer hadnt seen a plow yet. there were more forest service roads, cty and township rds plowed then the state hwys!!!!!! even 6 south of remer had alot to be desired. by crosby they were s0-so........then 371 sount of brainerd it was they got nuttin. what a big difference 90 miles can make. ive said it before and will again.......seems like 3 way different zones when driving up there! once past brainerd......then to deer river.............then north of there......things change roads, weather and temps!!!

Pretty easy, for me. I do it the same way I'd Y-bone a bigger nord fresh. Peel the skin off Cut the tail meat off. Cut the fillet down that line. It separates the backstrap were the bones are and what some call the belly meat. Find the Ybone and Cut along the edge and fellet it away. Then just pull the bones out. Probably easier to show someone then explain it.

Is this better Mr moderator.

maybe they seen the picture of the new mod shirtless and ran for cover!

Not if they use Cobalt auger blades! Great for drilling through iron. The drifting is starting to get bad on the lake, making for bumpy rides.

Hey . It's about fishing!

I say this with the utmost respect: You suck….. What a sweet azz day.

Went to a place my buddy had never hunted but heard of. 90 min drive, had to put the truck on a barge to get down a river in the jungle then through farm country and across a sketchy suspension bridge. Followed by a mile walk through a jungle marsh, it was worth it. We got black bellied whistling duck, vulgus tress duck, teal, widgeon and pintail. 20250121_105951.mp4