Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

2018-2019 Lake Vermilion Ice Fishing Reports


Recommended Posts

2020 Lake Vermilion Ice Fishing Reports - Click Here

 

2018-2019 Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports are below ↓↓↓↓

Lake Vermilion/Big Bay is frozen over and somebody was fishing in a portable out of McKinley Park today, so the season has officially begun.  Not sure if I will make it up next weekend after 12 days of deer hunting.  Be very careful if you go out.IMG_1822.JPG.d5283563f89ef6bab84ce6f44c4c069f.JPG

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pike bay has 5.75-7 inches. This past Wednesday there was 2 parties off mckinley park but not out over big bay (that froze up late) I think after the next few days of cooler temps it'll be in decent shape to walk at least out here. 2 guys were out in the mouth of everett bay to main lake with 1 atv track. Found about 5 inches off from cable bay. Most of the snow is now gone off the ice. Bring your cleats it's slick!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was excited to hear that the snow cover left the lake over Thanksgiving. Hopefully the freezing temps will build up a solid base of ice before snow hits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Will be going out Thursday afternoon with max safety (walking, life jacket, ice picks, loose boots, long rope to portable) so I hope to report then.  I assume with the snow getting knocked down and the recent cold temperatures there should be decent ice in Big Bay for walking/portable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Buddy was out off McKinley Sunday and a full 6” of clear good ice. There will be people driving soon. I’ll take my snowmobile with the otter sled Sunday 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it is safe ice walking out Thursday I may pull my 150# permanent out with my sled on Friday.  At least into McKinley Park bay.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Caught 10 walleyes yesterday. All were 12-15” except for one 9”. Also caught a 16” eelpout at dark. Missed a bunch of other bites including losing 2 nice eyes at the hole. Rainbows were outcatching pike suckers by about 2:1.  Bite was very good at 10-12 and also at 3. No bites today in 1.5 hours fished. 

Lots of traffic on the lake but very few permanents going up yet. I think that will changed later today. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes JL.You are a true master fisherman!...Thanks for always providing great pics and info!

  

     Frank

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the compliments but I'm not much of a fisherman.  Just spend a lot of time doing it.  And staying in one spot for the day.  Many others come fishing by me during the day and leave within an hour or two; I assume because they didn't catch a bunch of fish.  I fish the entire day and catch a fish or two most hours, and read newspapers and check my cell phone in between bites.

  • Thumbs Up 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What depth are you catching  fish at. Thinking of coming up fishing on the weekend  haven't ice fished the big v much any info  much appreciated 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, trumy said:

What depth are you catching  fish at. Thinking of coming up fishing on the weekend  haven't ice fished the big v much any info  much appreciated 

I was fishing in 28FOW, 8-12" off the bottom.  Although I was marking some fish suspended, and caught a decent walleye after raising my minnow up a couple of feet once.  Another time I dropped it on the bottom and slowly raised it up and caught a walleye immediately.  Guess I have to work a little harder at fishing rather than just letting the bobber do the work.

 

LB - Beautiful fish.  Good to see you got into some larger walleyes.  Hope I start getting them this weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the info. I'm  used to fishing lakes like whiteface and never fish deeper than 17to 18 feet or less. The deeper depths like your talking is out of the normal for me I'll need to get a good map of vermillion that shows depth and structure and do some exploring that's half the fun thanks again JL and I look forward to reading future posts from you

Edited by trumy
  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was out in 26' of water this afternoon, marked fish but no bites.   The ice was cracking like crazy ... making ice.  When I came off the ice and started the truck, the temp read -2.    Already down to -6 at the house now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sunday evening report: Set up in 27 fow on 10 inches of ice off the West end of Ely island. I  fished from 2:40-5:00 tonight. Caught 4 and missed 2 more on the set line. Tossed everything back, about an 8 , 11, 13 and 15 inch fish. One on set line with plain red hook and chub near bottom and 3 jigging (one on a macho minnow and 2 on a flyer). Had a couple other good marks that didn't commit.

Lots of wheeled/skid houses pulled out this weekend all over Mckinley/big bay area. About 3-4 inches of snow so good for travel with sleds or wheelers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had some tough fishing this wknd. Me and two buddies fished the west end hard for 2 days and only caught 8 walleyes, 3 were dinks. Didn't mark much and the fish we did see were really lazy. Good news is that we saw quite a few snowmobiles buzzing around and the ice is shaping up pretty well. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to 2018-2019 Lake Vermilion Ice Fishing Reports

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.