2017-2018 Vermilion Ice Conditions and Fishing Reports

[LBerquist 78]

I believe one of them goes out of the fortune bay resort landing. Haven' been out on it this year so not sure how far out it goes.

[JerkinLips 495]

Typically the road is plowed barely outside of the bay.  Haven't take the sled there since December so I don't know what it is like this year.

[JerkinLips 495]

It surprised me, but Fortune Bay does rent fish houses.  Just check their website out and look under Marina.

 

[LBerquist 78]

Saturday turned out to be pretty interesting. Got an early start and had lines wet at the butt crack of 930. Went to drop the first line, reached into my minnow bucket and found maybe 6 minnows still attempting to swim. First walleye came on my only sucker so had to head back into town for minnows. Final tally: 5 whities or tulibee, still not 100% sure which one they are yet but the biggest was 18", 4 dink walleyes, 3 jumbo perch (biggest was 14), missed a few on both rattle reel and jig. It was slow but down sizing my jig and watching the water column allowed me to find enough fish to keep me entertained.

[Sushilicious 12]

I'd like to thank everybody who comments on this forum and helps plow the roads. U guys r a great help!!! even tho we didnt do well. I think it was just 1 of those days 4 us that no matter what we did we weren't gonna have success. A buddy n myself ended up going out of McKinley Sunday. Ended up trying 3 different spots n only caught 3 baby eyes in 16 fow around sunset on a plane hook with a shiner. We ended up getting the truck stuck 3 times (drives fault) n the Coleman stove didn't work. We did eat tho.

[Cliff Wagenbach 1,078]

Not the best time of the winter for walleyes on Vermilion. They usually slow way down after January most winters.

All I have been getting the past couple of weeks are mostly small fish, and not very many of them!

Cliff

[bffcaf 1]

We fished Sat/Sun, hole hopping with spoons mostly.  Between us, my buddy caught two mid-20"ers.  Lost another nice one.  I caught exactly zero walleyes, some baby perch, and was red-hot on rock bass.  lol   Had walleyes come up and look, but no bites.  The difference between his getting bites and my not getting bites may have been that the fish were line shy??  My buddy was using all 6lb flouro, while I had 10lb braid with a 2' flouro leader of 10lbs.  I stripped all that off when I got home, so ready for our next trip up in a couple of weeks.  Sunday was cold with that wind!  brrr...

Edited February 13, 2018 by bffcaf

[MN BassFisher 197]

Heading up to the Big V this weekend and the following weekend...finally! I haven't been able to get up yet this winter. We will definitely be doing some fishing but with the Walleye bite being slow this time of year that will force us to likely try some new lakes! My father in law usually only fishes on Vermilion in the winter and hasn't had a real bang up day before so I'm going to try to get him on a Panfish bite somewhere in St. Louis county so he can, hopefully, have some steady action.

[nickeleye 1]

Hello, First post here. Seems like I'm in the same position as a lot of first time posters - heading to Vermilion and looking for pointers.

My wife and I are staying at a rental cabin between Oak Island and Niles Point. I'm bringing fishing gear to walk out from the cabin. There are some islands not far and some small reefs. Would it be best to hope for a walleye? Any chance for perch or crappies?

Thanks in advance!

[BrianF 132]

nickeleye, yes, in that area of the lake there is an excellent chance for small perch (4" to 6") just about everywhere you go.  Larger sized ones are hard to find, but they do exist.  Very few crappies in that area, so I would not expect that, particularly if confined to walking out.  You have a chance at a walleye on the island points and small reefs to which you have walking access.  This time of year, your best shot will be early and late in the day.  Have holes drilled in depths between 28 and 20 feet on those island points/reefs prior to dawn and dusk, then hole hop around during the prime bite window.  We have a 4 minute rule per hole.  Usually, half your walleyes will show up within the first minute of your first drop and 80% within your first two minutes.  After about 4 minutes, your just waiting for one to swim around randomly into below your hole and that could take a long time.  Smaller spoons worked better for us than larger spoons last weekend.  Tip with a minnowhead.  Hope this helps!  Good luck, you should have the area to yourself.

[nickeleye 1]

Thanks very much! Your last sentence is the best news and was one of my biggest questions. I figured the area would either be packed or empty... and I like solitude.

[Cliff Wagenbach 1,078]

8 hours ago, MN BassFisher said:

Heading up to the Big V this weekend and the following weekend...finally! I haven't been able to get up yet this winter. We will definitely be doing some fishing but with the Walleye bite being slow this time of year that will force us to likely try some new lakes! My father in law usually only fishes on Vermilion in the winter and hasn't had a real bang up day before so I'm going to try to get him on a Panfish bite somewhere in St. Louis county so he can, hopefully, have some steady action.

I fished Myrtle Lake a few days ago with some friends and the crappie and bluegill bite was very good for us.

Crappies averaged 10" to 11" and the gills were also nice.

Waxies and minnows as bait.

Cliff

[Mielkez 6]

Alright guys. Change of plans. My group is concerned about lake travel. After consulting a snowfall map we've decided to stay south of the line that runs from basically Duluth to Lake Winnie area. Were coming from Wisconsin and don't know anything about MN lakes. Rather not do Mille Lacs. Looking for something a little smaller. Not asking for spots. Is there a lake within and hour or two to the north or east of the cities that fishes strong? Looking for panfish mostly with some walleye mixed in. Thanks. 

[james_walleye 151]

I'd concentrate on the buffalo/annandale area just northwest of the metro. There's a ton of good lakes. Clearwater, Pulaski, pleasant. The list is long. 

[Cliff Wagenbach 1,078]

Mielkez,

I thought that the area you are now targeting was supposed to get the most snow from the coming storm.

Cliff

[side_laker 22]

Thinking about bring my wheelhouse up there tomorrow far a day of fishing and spend the night any new reports 

[Cliff Wagenbach 1,078]

Pulled my house a couple of days ago, but there are still a few fish biting at some spots. Very slow for me!

Good roads out there yet as we plowed them after the last snow.

Cliff

[JerkinLips 495]

Caught 17 walleyes on Friday, but all were dinks except for two 15".  Caught 6 more Saturday, all small again except for one 16".  Also caught a 12 inch perch, 3 eelpout, and 2 tulibee.

Considering the snowstorm prediction for Sunday, I pulled my house off the lake and parked it back in the garage for the season.  LOW next week, then onto lakers the following weekend.

[Cliff Wagenbach 1,078]

JL,

Smart move! We must have gotten around a foot of snow today!

Cliff

[JerkinLips 495]

Cliff - much more than the 4-6" they were predicting.  It was a tired drive back to Blaine late Saturday night, but would have been a much tougher drive back Sunday.

[nickeleye 1]

Figured I should report back...

I fished prime time on Saturday morning and Saturday evening. No action. It didn't help that I forgot to grab the vexilar on the first outing, but it didn't help to have it on the second outing either! ha! Marked a few but couldn't get them to bite. Used a GPS chip to punch some holes over structure, but when I came back with the vexilar, they weren't quite as deep as I hoped.

Thanks for the pointers BrianF

[Cliff Wagenbach 1,078]

nickeleye,

Thanks for the report!

Lookers but no biters seems to be the pattern the past couple of weeks. Common for this time of the winter on Vermilion!

Cliff

[Reid Saarela 33]

Quick report from last weekend: Fished a couple midlake reefs in big bay and the walleye seemed to be non existent aside from a few dinks, although, the action was pretty decent. Jumbo perch, tullibee, and a few crappie kept me busy. From hearing other people’s late season reports along with my experience last weekend it seems like a lot of the walleye have moved to different types of structure, perhaps shallower?? I’m not sure, but had very few marks that appeared to be walleye.  

Edited February 23, 2018 by Reid Saarela

[Mielkez 6]

Ended up going to Vermilion anyhow. Camped all weekend and did okay. Handful of walleyes each day, many whitefish and a few pout. Went in search of some panfish on Saturday using the 360 off my boat and found an ice school of perch in some flats. Yeh m sure fishings been better but we caught enough to feed ourselves all week. 

[Jan Scuba 0]

Is anybody still fishing? Is there still ice? I have been following This Thread all winter living vicariously through you guys. We lost our ice a month ago and Indiana.

[Reid Saarela 33]

Still tons of ice! Did not see anyone out fishing today when we took the sleds over to trout lake portage to do some fishing. Probably not worth the effort of drilling tons of holes through 30 inches of ice to stay on the elusive crappies.

[Cliff Wagenbach 1,078]

Reid,

Find ant trout?

Really have to get lucky and find the right spot for crappies with this much ice that is for sure!

Hope to get out after them in a week or so once this snow drops down!

Cliff

 

[Wicheesehead37 0]

any open spots on the lake yet?

[Cliff Wagenbach 1,078]

No open water except right below the pike river dam.

I had 30" of ice yesterday when I was out fishing! 6" to 10" of snow/slush on top.

Cliff

 

[delcecchi 470]

With a forecast for below freezing for the next 10 days, not gonna be melting much ice...