Ice time.

[guideman]

Hey all,

We should start making some ice over the weekend. Perhaps not in Big bay, however most of the back bays should begin to ice up with below freezing temps coming tonight. Not only night time temps but daytime temps as well.

"Ace"

"It's just fishing man".

Muskies and More.  

[SkunkedAgain]

Winter is here.

I boated into my cabin last Friday night (19 degrees around 9:30pm) and hit about 1/4" of ice. It melted by the end of Saturday but is obviously ready to turn into walkable ice once this cold weather hits. Let's pull the tarp out to keep all of the snow off of the lake for a while!

[jkrash]

ice fish baby.mp4

[guideman]

Pike bay is almost totally covered with ice.  Not much out on Big bay however most of the back bays are covered in a thin sheet of ice. Another very cold night tonight and highs below freezing the next few days.

"Ace"

 

"It's just fishing man"

[Cliff Wagenbach]

It does appear that hard water season is getting closer! Hope that the milder daytime temps predicted for next week doesn't affect ice formation!

Cliff

[MN BassFisher]

C'mon ice!!!

[JerkinLips]

Vermilion should lock up Thanksgiving night (10°F with light breeze) for the rest of the winter.  I will be up in 2 weeks and I'm sure it will be good by then.

[JerkinLips]

Too windy last night for Big Bay to freeze.  Looks like it might be Saturday night before it freezes.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Big Bay was still wide open yesterday afternoon.

Pike Bay is still all frozen over.

Have not checked ice depth there yet.

Cliff

[Mike Stark]

It rained pretty good in the Ely area today.  There was lots of standing water on the ice.  The snow was getting soaked up by the water on the ice.  So there shouldn't be as much snow on the ice as there is on the ground.  Unfortunately there is not a lot of cold weather in the forecast. It needs to get cold! 

[Bobberwatcher]

Cold? Ice? Yes please! Gimme, Gimme, Gimme! I hate El Nino, which is Spanish for.....The Nino.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Bobberwatcher

[Mike Stark]

Went and looked at few lakes today.  First pic is looking out off the Van Vac access on Burntisde.  She is wide open there.  Didn't even see ice around shore.  Second pic is of Shagawa.  There was only 1-2" of ice right off the landing.  There is also about an .5"-1" of slush on top of the ice.  The water on the ice soaked up all the snow we got last night, which was only about 3in in Ely.  There are some small lakes in the area with 4" of ice  but it could get sketchy quick with all the warm weather in the forecast.  

[fishingdad]

1 hour ago, fishingdad said:

I'm just curious to some of you that have been around Vermilion for a long time. What is the latest you can ever remember before Vermilion had ice safe enough to walk on? Drive on?     

 

[Bobberwatcher]

I've only been alive for 33 years but this is the slowest start I can ever remember.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

There are a couple of years that I can remember that it was close to Christmas before I dared to venture out into big Bay!

Cliff

[JerkinLips]

It doesn't look very good for next weekend, and two weeks from now doesn't look very good either.  It may be close to Christmas before it is safe out of McKinley Park.

[Finnish Flash]

Checked the ice in front of my place this morning in Pike Bay about 50 feet from shore there was 5" of ice, but some areas only had about 2" of ice under some of the crusty snow.  Big bay has open water out by Birch Island and to the north of Ely Island still open.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Thanks Darrin!

[guideman]

Lots of warm weather is on the way this weekend.  I won't be on the ice anytime soon.

"Ace"

"It's just fishing man" 

[MN BassFisher]

It's looking like I'm headed up to the range this weekend. Too much warmth here in the cities and I need to walk on water. I'm going to be staying at my GF's family cabin on Lake Vermilion and scouting some of the smaller lakes around there.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Be very careful out there! This warm weather has not made any good ice.

Cliff

[guideman]

Lots of heavy rain today and that can't be helping matters as far as the ice goes.  No really cold temps in the long range forecast either.

"Ace"

"It's just fishing man"

[Mike Stark]

The ice I have been on in the Ely area is getting weaker.  It softened up a little bit.  There is some weather on its way as well.  Could get snow...could get rain.  Things might get sloppy out there.  

[Bobberwatcher]

Took a 10 days out from Christmas ride today to check out large lake ice conditions.  At McKinley Park, observed 2 or 3 hundred yards of ice followed by open water as far as the eye can see.  At Van Vac access observed zero signs of ice as far as the eye can see.  Considering the forecast isn't calling for much less than average to above average temps for the foreseeable future, is it safe to call this an unprecedented December yet?

[Esox62]

Man crazy year. Made it out for just the second time yesterday. Pretty much as expected, sketchey conditions. Maybe 4-5in. Rumor that the guy at the bait shop said wheelers were out already. NOT TRUE. Skim ice in spots and with the snow you won't be able to see those areas. Caught 4 .Last year I was already in the perm. Might be anothe week til safe again on small lakes. McKinley ? Who knows. Be safe out there.

[guideman]

Making ice out there however we also have an 18mph wind blowing, so there is still open water in parts of Big bay.  Night time lows will be much colder for the next few day so that will really help.

"Ace"

"It's just fishing man".

[Foreverfish1]

Just got off of Lost lake just south of the big V. 

 

We walked out but there were snowmobile tracks and we found anywhere from 5-7" of good ice with about 2" of crappy ice on top.

 

Only marked one fish and caught it. Ended up being a 12" eye. Little disappointing but it was good to actually be out ice fishing.

 

Good luck out there!

[Ben48]

I walked out about 50-75 yards from our shoreline on the south side of Niles Bay this morning and had a consistent  5" to 5.5" of good clear ice everywhere that I drilled.

[splakeshaker]

Finally. It's coming together. December was a long month. Let's get fishing!!!

[10,000 Casts]

Fished yesterday 2pm - 5pm, we drilled a hole by shore and had 10" of ice but maybe 5" was good, then we went down the shore 100 yard and checked again to find 7" with only 1/2 of that being good ice and we fished in a narrows area that had 3" of good clear ice with no bad ice.

Only caught 1 walleye and an eel pout but I probably should have set up out deeper.