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2017-2018 Vermilion Ice Conditions and Fishing Reports


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Hello ohfisher - it was nice meeting you also.  Sorry I didn't have more time to visit but I was anxious to start fishing after a late start due to looking for my missing wallet (thought I had left it at Walmart the night before, but found it had fallen in one of my bags).

Had good luck fishing Thursday, catching 10 walleyes in 6 hours fishing before quitting after getting my limit of eaters.  Also caught the 25" slotter shown in the picture.  Friday-Saturday was another story as I caught only 5 walleyes, including a 23".  I think that the reason the action dropped so suddenly was the increased vehicle and wheel house traffic in the area.  Many trucks were plowing roads and around their houses, and other were pulling houses out.  The good fishing lasted longer that I expected, but when I come up again in 3 weeks, I may have to venture away from traffic in my portable.

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Happy New Year Everyone!

Thinking of going out today out of Stuntz. Anyone know of any known issues or think I should be giving it more time before driving out with the F150?

Thank You.

Marc Plaisted

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SHOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM GETTING TO YOUR ISLAND NOW WITH YOUR f-150.

CLIFF

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Has anyone traveled through the Oak Narrows yet?  The west end entrance didn't look very safe right after Christmas but I didn't have time to check it out.

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Headin up tomorrow, looks like the weather will finally give us a break.

I need to do some fishin! LOL

Any tips, for walleye fishin, depth, bottom composition, bait, techniques, flats, drop-off's, etc.?

Thanks

Jim

 

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Walleyes are being caught in depths from 14' to 35'.

Shallow fish are biting best in the early am and late pm.

22' to 36' depths can bite at any time, you just have to be there when they turn on! I have had my best luck from 9:00am to 1:00pm.

Dead sticks with pike suckers or rainbows have been my best bait.

Small jigs with crappie minnows or a minnow head. I have been getting more fish to come in if I jig 2.5' to 3' off of the bottom.

Cliff

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Well, after getting 9" or 10" of new snow last night the easy traveling conditions on Vermilion are now over. Combine this deep snow with the very hard drifts under it from earlier and there will certainly be a lot of stuck vehicles out there! We will probably also start to see a lot of slush show up! :(

Cliff

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On 1/11/2018 at 10:55 AM, Cliff Wagenbach said:

Well, after getting 9" or 10" of new snow last night the easy traveling conditions on Vermilion are now over. Combine this deep snow with the very hard drifts under it from earlier and there will certainly be a lot of stuck vehicles out there! We will probably also start to see a lot of slush show up! :(

Cliff

Hope my fish house isn't stuck in the slush when I come backup January 18.  Only blocked it up 5".

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JL,

If your heat is off and no one drills holes close to your house you should be ok.

I had to move my house and a friends house just before the snow because they were starting to flood! Sure glad we did that before the storm!!

Good road plowed out as far as Birch as of yesterday! If you see the guys plowing be sure to stop them and thank them with a $20 (thank you) donation!!!

Cliff

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Never leave my heat on and all of the houses surrounding me leave their holes open, so I will see on Thursday.

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Hello! I am wondering if anybody would be so kind to offer some advice/insight on ice fishing Lake Vermilion. We have summer fished there for the last 3 summers but are interested in pulling up our ice castle fish house and staying a long weekend. We have bet ice fished there. Any help would be appreciated. Ice Conditions? Where to go out of? I see a lot of people fish Lake of the woods or Red Lake but we love Vermilion and would like to try it. Thanks for your time.

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Kohlerpeet,

Welcome to FM!

Best landing is at McKinley Park by Soudan.

Plowed road there now.

Fish 21' to 36' depths .

Small jigs and dead sticks are both working. Rainbows or chubs as bait.

Fish have been biting all day off and on.

Cliff

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My advice for ice fishing on Vermilion would be to avoid high traffic areas.  I always believed this before, but this weekend seemed to validate that theory.

On Thursday my neighbors in our ice fishing village decided to plow roads, driveways, and parking lots all around, and I only caught 4 little walleyes.

Friday I planned to take my portable out to an isolated spot, but none of my village neighbors were out that day, and the fishing was very good.  I caught 14 walleyes that day, including 21" and the pictured 26" and 24" slotters.

Saturday I thought that maybe the fishing was just picking up so I fished in my permanent again.  Caught only 2 walleyes while my neighbors proceeded to have a big family gathering with many vehicles going back and forth.

Love fishing in my permanent house, but the next time it starts to get busy in the neighborhood, I am moving out with my portable.

 

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Same here.

Thursday was a good bite and the weekend bite was mostly a bust!

Cliff

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Cliff, did you have a lot of vehicle traffic around you on Saturday?

Maybe the bad fishing on Saturday was just the weather conditions, although Saturday was beautiful weather-wise.

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Beautiful weather on Sat and Sun. but plenty of traffic!

No traffic today but still a very slow bite this morning.

Could just be the weather change!???

Cliff

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Clifford, how is the slush out there? I have slush in front of my home and looking at sled tracks they are turning color also.

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Jerkin, you are absolutely onto something. Back when I used to put a permanent out in the south metro, I made sure to fish as many weekdays as possible. Weekends were always worthless, no matter the conditions. Luckily vermilion is big enough to get away from it all!

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The slush on the west end is terrible. Same goes for fishing. Fished about 20 different spots, from shallow to deep, different bottom structure and could only catch perch-a few were nice size.  Beautiful wknd to sit on the ice and fish!  Did stop in and introduced myself to Raven77. Nice to meet him! 

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I did see some slush out side of the Stuntz Bay Landing today.

Probably will soon show up out of McKinley Park too.

Cliff

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1 hour ago, OhioVike said:

CG, Where did you run into the slush?

Wakemup, Partridge River, Head-O-Lakes, Richie Bay and down into Norwegian Bay.

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11 hours ago, CigarGuy said:

The slush on the west end is terrible. Same goes for fishing. 

The west end is just awful for fishing. It's really too bad.  My in-laws live on that end and I've been trying to learn that lake for years and I come up empty handed more often than not. The few times I've found some fish, they're usually too big to keep.  Best bite I've found is a guy can get on some nice bluegills, which is fun, but.....

The dynamic differences between the East and West end of Vermilion is a perpetual head scratcher.  

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • mulefarm
      With the early ice out, how is the curlyleaf pondweed doing?
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   The big basin, otherwise known as Big Traverse Bay, is ice free.  Zippel Bay and Four Mile Bay are ice free as well.  Everything is shaping up nicely for the MN Fishing Opener on May 11th. With the walleye / sauger season currently closed, most anglers are targeting sturgeon and pike.  Some sturgeon anglers are fishing at the mouth of the Rainy River, but most sturgeon are targeted in Four Mile Bay or the Rainy River.  Hence, pike are the targeted species on the south shore and various bays currently.   Pike fishing this time of year is a unique opportunity, as LOW is border water with Canada, the pike season is open year round. The limit is 3 pike per day with one being able to be more than 40 inches. All fish 30 - 40 inches must be released. Back bays hold pike as they go through the various stages of the spawn.  Deadbait under a bobber, spinners, spoons and shallow diving crankbaits are all viable options.   Four Mile Bay, Bostic Bay and Zippel Bay are all small water and boats of various sizes work well. On the Rainy River...  Great news this week as we learned sturgeon will not be placed on the endangered species list by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.     The organization had to make a decision by June 30 and listing sturgeon could have ended sturgeon fishing.  Thankfully, after looking at the many success stories across the nation, including LOW and the Rainy River, sturgeon fishing and successful sturgeon management continues.   A good week sturgeon fishing on the Rainy River.  Speaking to some sturgeon aficionados, fishing will actually get even better as water temps rise.     Four Mile Bay at the mouth of the Rainy River near the Wheeler's Point Boat Ramp is still producing good numbers of fish, as are various holes along the 42 miles of navigable Rainy River from the mouth to Birchdale.   The sturgeon season continues through May 15th and resumes again July 1st.   Oct 1 - April 23, Catch and Release April 24 - May 7, Harvest Season May 8 - May 15, Catch and Release May 16 - June 30, Sturgeon Fishing Closed July 1 - Sep 30, Harvest Season If you fish during the sturgeon harvest season and you want to keep a sturgeon, you must purchase a sturgeon tag for $5 prior to fishing.    One sturgeon per calendar year (45 - 50" inclusive, or over 75"). Most sturgeon anglers are either a glob of crawlers or a combo of crawlers and frozen emerald shiners on a sturgeon rig, which is an 18" leader with a 4/0 circle hook combined with a no roll sinker.  Local bait shops have all of the gear and bait. Up at the NW Angle...  A few spots with rotten ice, but as a rule, most of the Angle is showing off open water.  In these parts, most are looking ahead to the MN Fishing Opener.  Based on late ice fishing success, it should be a good one.  
    • leech~~
      Nice fish. I moved to the Sartell area last summer and just thought it was windy like this everyday up here? 🤭
    • Rick G
      Crazy windy again today.... This is has been the norm this spring. Between the wind and the cold fronts, fishing has been more challenging for me than most years.  Panfish have been moving in and out of the shallows quite a bit. One day they are up in the slop, the next they are out relating to cabbage or the newly sprouting lilly pads.  Today eye guy and I found them in 4-5 ft of water, hanging close to any tree branches that happened to be laying in the water.  Bigger fish were liking a 1/32 head and a Bobby Garland baby shad.   Highlight of the day way this healthy 15incher
    • monstermoose78
    • monstermoose78
      As I typed that here came a hen.  IMG_7032.mov   IMG_7032.mov
    • monstermoose78
      So far this morning nothing but non turkeys. 
    • monstermoose78
      Well yesterday I got a little excited and let a turkey get to close and I hit the blind!!
    • smurfy
      good......you?? living the dream..in my basement playing internet thug right now!!!!!! 🤣 working on getting the boat ready.......bought a new cheatmaster locator for the boat so working on that.   waiting for warmer weather to start my garden!!!
    • monstermoose78
      How is everyone doing? Holy moly it’s chilly this morning I stayed in bed and will hunt later today when it warms up.
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