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Uonorth,

The ice is in good shape.

I have been driving out for the past few days now.

Cliff

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We are seeing an average of 10-12 in around here. THe ice in Frazer that stayed open longer has around 8" It is making ice fast now so you should be safe just about anywhere except for the always bad spots.

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Thanks for the info guys. Heading up tomorrow for a few days with the family. Hoping to get out fishing for a few hours for some pike to pickle. Is anyone around Tower carrying frozen ciscos?

Thanks again

53orbigger

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10-12" doesn't sound real thick. I was thinking about coming up Sat with a F-150 and a 14ft wheel house. Are people taking trucks and wheel houses out of Mckinley Park?

Thank you!

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10-12" doesn't sound real thick. I was thinking about coming up Sat with a F-150 and a 14ft wheel house. Are people taking trucks and wheel houses out of Mckinley Park?

Thank you!

YES!

Cliff

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Is the road out of Stuntz Bay to Bass Bay safe for pick-up travel? Looking to get to the north side of Ely Island this weekend.

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Sorry, but I have not been down that way so can not help you there.

I do know that they are driving through the Stuntz narrows to fish outside of Stuntz Bay.

I would assume that it would be safe to go to Bass Bay though. I have seen a couple of vehicles pretty far out into Big Bay this week.

Cliff

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I found 11½" of ice in the middle of Big Bay two days ago. Two airplanes landed in Big Bay yesterday. Pressure ridges are in the normal locations but are very small as of yesterday.

I caught only two 11" eyes on Wednesday evening. Caught 9 eyes yesterday, 4 from 8:30-9:30 and 5 from 3:30-4:30; 4 dinks, 4 between 15-17" and one 19". I did best on light sucker minnows using size 6 pink and red glow jigs.

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Son was out checking ice for an ice road and is still finding some 9" ice out there. The Frazer Bay ice that was late freezing is running a pretty consistent 13" since it didn't get that snow on it till later. Overall pretty good with only a little pressure ridge activity and no slush to speak of.

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Drove from Stuntz Bay out towards Bass Bay and then East towards Mud Creek Bay with a 1/2 ton truck this weekend and found a solid 11 1/2" - 12 1/2" of ice. There were trucks everywhere including some large 3/4 diesels, but I would personally prefer a few more inches of ice before I drive my 3/4 ton out.

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Guys, just joined the site yesterday. Lots of good info.

My buddy and his son want to go ice fishing on Lake Vermilion. He has a house about 45 minutes south of the Tower airport. The three of us know nothing about ice fishing so we've commandeered a friend from Carlton to go with us. He has all the equipment but has never fished Vermilion.

Any recommendations for location on Vermilion to ice fish?

Anyone rent ice houses on the lake?

Thanks!

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Lots of fish houses out from McKinley park in big bay. You can drive out from the park. Cliffs guid service rents houses. He is the man you want to talk to.

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Yeehaaa,

Welcome to HSO!

Look for rocky reefs and shorelines with a steep drop into 21' to 38' of water.

Tip-ups and set-lines have been working best for me lately.

Shiners,fathead chubs and rainbows have been the best bait for the set lines. If you want to jig use small 1/8oz or less jigs baited with a crappie minnow for best results.

Early and late are the best times.

I also have rental houses if you want to go that route.

Cliff

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Welcome to the site and the world of ice fishin. I would highly recommend using cliff on your first adventure, he is extremely knowledgable and knows the area of the lake to set up for action. He's out most everyday and can give you a head start. Much better than spinning your wheels and getting frustrated. Get ready though because one tripa nd you'll be hooked, which is a gooood thing. Have fun

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Can someone update the post on ice conditions out of McKinley to Birch & north up past Ely Island? I was up over new years and had 13 out by Potatoe. Thx

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was just wondering about the fishing no new ones the last couple of days. Thinking about coming up with in the next couple of days, any reports out there thanks.

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Walleye bite was good for me last weekend until the front moved in. Caught 7 on Friday, 2 Saturday morning, but only 1 Saturday afternoon. Caught all fish on a 3 segment glow-red jig and light pike sucker. Didn't get a bite on rainbows.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Interesting article about the pressure ridges and inverted pressure ridges on Vermilion in the Feb 2 timberjay.

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Must be pretty slow up there? Not much talk. I'll be up Saturday thru Monday. I'm going to give it a shot Sunday.

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I found typical February results. Caught only 5 walleyes (13-16")in 2 days of fishing. Two parties fishing near me had caught only 2 perch.

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  • 2 months later...

The tominator is a ace in the hole on the east side. this guy can catch eye without bait. was right next to him on an outing and the guy just simply catches eye. i was so frustrated i had to leave.

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  • 1 month later...

My Dad remained our good luck charm these past few days. Fishing has been good in spite of rainy, cold, windy conditions. That consistent bite I had alluded to in an earlier post really didn't materialize. Catching fish on a daily basis has required moving around to several locations, depths, and structure. Yesterday, the water temps in the areas we have been fishing in eastern Big Bay have remained in the low 50's. Today we fished western Frasier Bay and points east and the warmest water we fished was 58.3 degrees when we quit at 1:30. We are still finding fish in the 25'-30' range along some shoreline points and island humps. The fish in these types of areas have definitely "slowed" down and it can best be described as spotty, for us anyway. 10'-15' of water adjacent to shallow rock piles and in just about any bay with a mud bottom has been good for us. I have found that the Lindy rig has been out fishing our "go to" bottom bouncer rig in the shallower areas by about 3:1. I'm not going to go into hook and bead colors but, you might experiment a bit, because, at times, it does make a difference. I would assume that lures are working in the shallow bays based upon the number of boats I have seen zipping around pulling crank baits.

Today, we fished 8'-15' along shorelines, marker buoys, reefs, and shallow bays. We caught fish everywhere we stopped. Sometimes only one, but we caught fish at every spot. The "best" spot, quantity-wise was a shallow bay with mud bottom 9'-13'. Our biggest fish of the day came from 10' of water adjacent to a marker buoy. Every fish was caught on a leech. I used a bouncer. My wife used a Lindy rig. She beat me badly shocked. Walleye fillets for lunch. Tough to beat wink.

Good Fishing,

MarkB

This was our biggest for the day.

DSCN0327_zps41357aba.jpg

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Mark

Thanks for your report, I was up from May 31st to June 9th had an excellent week of fishing in shallow small bays anywhere from 8-16 feet with minnows at first then leeches mainly on slips and lindys. Had 6 guys at the cabin, 3 boats averaged 70 fish a day for the 3 boats with limits if we wanted them. Biggest was 29 inches and second 26. Was the best we have had in 4 years. I am a smallmouth fisherman but struggled until Friday and Saturday and they really turned on and I couldn't believe how shallow and how big the average size was of the 20 smallmouth Saturday afternoon only one was smaller then 13 inches. Trout was slow for Smallies due to water temps, decided to focus on bull bluegills and lake trout and had success at both.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Big fish, big numbers, and big appetites pretty much sums up my cousin's and his 2 sons, good friend and his son's past five and one half days at our home here on Lake Vermilion. It's mind boggling how much food a 17 yr old, 22 yr old and 23 yr old can consume at a single sitting whistle. The fish cooperated and the result was personal biggest by 2 guests, most fish ever caught on a visit, and the most slot fish we have ever caught during a 5 day time frame. The trip started off fast with both high end eaters and slot fish. The 16+" walleyes got harder to come by starting Wednesday but the 10"-13" age class totally overwhelmed the areas we were fishing. The big slot fish remained steady throughout the entire 5 and a half days. We ended up with 209 walleyes, 1 northern, and 6 bass. We ate 56 walleyes(3 separate meals) and they took 20 walleyes home. Everything else was released. We caught 52 slot and larger walleyes from 18"-27.5". 27 of the slot fish measured 20"-22" and 7 fish were 25"-27.5". We fished both live bait and crank baits. The types of structure that we fished was mud/sand 27'-31' and rock reefs both mid-lake and those extending out from points and islands. Fish were caught at all depths from 6'-31'. If I were to pick an "eater" depth it would have to be 27'. Slot fish most definitely 6'-12'. Realize, however, that you can catch any size at any depth wink. The water started off in the low to mid 60 range and ended up steady at 65 in BIG Bay. We fished some areas that warmed to 73 yesterday! Wind, weather, and time of day dictated area fished, depth fished, and terminal tackle/bait used. Crank baits ranked 4th in fish production while crawlers produced the quantities and leeches produced the majority of the BIG fish.

I saw only a scarce few adult mayflies everywhere we fished. The water temps are right for a major bloom real soon now. Fish caught on mud/sand had mayfly larva in their gut and the fish caught in the rocks had big perch minnows and crawfish.

Our guests had a fabulous visit to beautiful Lake Vermilion and I'm sure it created the same kinds of memories I have from my early years here visiting the lake.

Good Fishing,

MarkB smile

This young fisherman lost several BIG ones before he landed this one!

photo1_zpsde1440e5.jpg

Our friend caught a 25", a 26.5", and a 27.5" on this trip!

DSCN0329_zps7ab09548.jpg

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  • The title was changed to 2020-21 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports
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