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Posted

Brett,

Ben and I are going out on Vermilion Monday.  You off and if so want to meet up? 

Posted

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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  • Thanks 1
Posted (edited)

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

Edited by Salo Island Family
Posted

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

CLIFF

  • Thumbs Up 1
Posted

Nice looking fish.  Makes me wish I was going up again before two more weeks off.

Posted

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.

Posted

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

 

Posted

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

Posted

Cliff:

As always a very informative post.

Thanks

Jim

Posted

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

  • Thanks 1
Posted

Too bad! Time to unhitch my Otter and ride the trails!

Posted
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".

Posted

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

  • Thanks 1
Posted

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

Posted

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.

Posted

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

  • Thumbs Up 1
Posted

Thank you for your time Cliff. Hope to make it up there this winter! Happy Fishing.

Posted

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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  • Thumbs Up 2
Posted

Same here.

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

Cliff

  • Thumbs Up 1
Posted

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.

Posted

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

  • Thumbs Up 1
Posted

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.

Posted

Darrell,

Nothing in the area that I have been traveling.

Cliff

Posted

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!

  • Thumbs Up 1
Posted

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! 

Posted

CG, Where did you run into the slush?

Posted

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

Probably will soon show up out of McKinley Park too.

Cliff

  • Thumbs Up 1
Posted
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.

Posted
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 :)

    • carlsonmn
      That was a better study compared to last winter when they setup the vertical tube nets and tried to release exhausted fish from being studied and expected them to be able to swim straight down a 3' hoop net.     That lake's crappie population from this latest video was pretty deep at 40-50', and no doubt from those depths that is barotrauma for most.  That is deeper than most crappie holes but certainly how some are. However from helping give fish a good release from the 35' and less range and tracking them with live sonar most of them swim at a shallow angle back to the depths and I watch them rejoin the school and be active.  Uncut Angling's video helped counter some of the initial narrow findings.  
    • SkunkedAgain
      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.
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  Ice fishing remains strong across the south shore of Lake of the Woods out on Big Traverse Bay.  Resorts and outfitters on some parts of the lake have ice roads extending over 16 miles staying on nice schools of walleyes and saugers.  Many fish houses are over deep mud.  Some are on structure.  It is always fishing of course, but overall, February has been very productive for most anglers.   Extensions are being used on ice augers as the ice continues to thicken.  The thick ice this year will be good for the extended ice fishing season Lake of the Woods enjoys with fish houses out through March 31st, walleyes and saugers open through April 14th and a pike season that never closes. Most fishing activity is taking place in 26-32 feet of water.  Anglers are finding a healthy mix of walleyes and saugers, with a good number of jumbo perch in the mix this year.  Some big eelpout are also showing up.  Anglers are reporting plenty of fish for fresh fish frys and usually extra fish to bring home.   The one-two punch of a jigging line and deadstick is the way to go.  On the jigging line, jigging spoons with rattles tipped with a minnow head have been consistent.  Lipless crankbaits and jigging rap style lures also doing well.     Lures with a light have been working well in the stained water.  Please remember, in MN, lures with a light or water activated light can be used as long as the battery is mercury free and the hook is attached directly to the lure and not as a dropper line.     On the deadstick, a plain hook or a small jig with a live minnow 6 inches to a foot off of the bottom.    Some days, mornings are better, other days, it's the afternoons.  There is no distinct pattern, they could come through at any time. On the Rainy River...  The start of the day and end of the day have been best for those targeting walleyes on the river. A jig and minnow or a jigging spoon tipped with a minnow head is also producing some fish. Some big sturgeon being iced by ice anglers targeting them.  It is a catch-and-release sturgeon season currently.   Although ice conditions on the river are good, they can vary significantly due to the current, so anglers should always consult local resorts or outfitters for the most up-to-date safety information and fishing advice. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing has been strong in the islands area of Lake of the Woods. Resorts continue to move their fish houses around, staying on the best schools of walleyes.     Anglers are catching a nice mix of walleyes, saugers, and jumbo perch with an occasional pike or tullibee as well.     Big crappies are still being caught just over the border.  Fish houses are available, check with a NW Angle resort for info on crappie fishing.   Lake of the Woods enjoys an extended ice fishing season with fish houses on the ice through March 31st and walleye and sauger seasons open through April 14th. Perch, crappie, and pike seasons remain open year-round.    
    • leech~~
      Maybe you should put rattle wheels down, if your going to sleep for 6hrs! 🤭 😆
    • JerkinLips
      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.    
    • leech~~
      A good start for never picking up a bow!   IMG_1910.mp4
    • leech~~
      Um, #metoo   leech~~ Author 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders Posted January 26 My whole goal for the rest of this season.  Is to watch KC lose and Taylor cry!  🥳
    • smurfy
    • Wanderer
      Smurfy is happy.
    • Dash 1
      Great looking food. So far not much of a game and I thought the halftime show was worse I've seen. 
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