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Posted

Vermilion web cams are beginning to show ice so it is time to get excited for the hard-water season.  A lot of Pike Bay looks frozen, and Spring Bay looks to be about half frozen.  Looking at the current weather forecast and considering recent ice-over dates, I am predicting that Lake Vermilion will freeze over (Big Bay completely frozen) on Friday morning, November 18th.  I think some people will be out ice fishing during Thanksgiving week, but I will patiently wait until mid-week after Thanksgiving (November 28-30).

 

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Posted

Crap! That is not the news that I was looking for in terms of a long-range forecast. Black Bay is frozen over too, now with (I assume) an inch or so of ice and now snow piling on top of it. We are likely going to have slush all winter in the small bays.

 

It's good news for getting the rest of the lake frozen though.

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Posted

Still open at Hibbing Point (and I assume Big Bay also) so my initial prediction for ice-over today was wrong.  Looks too windy tonight to freeze over so now I think Vermilion will completely freeze Saturday over night when the temp/winds drop to 1°F/3mph.  Temps will stay 15-30°F for 6 days after that with slight chances of snow, so I think the ice will form solid and I will get out fishing the week after Thanksgiving.  I love early-season crystal clear ice in the portable so I hope we get lucky.

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Posted (edited)

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The Ring cam at our cabin still shows open water as far as the eye can see on Niles.  I’m hoping you are right with the new ice prediction, but the LT forecast after the cold weekend ahead doesn’t seem very conducive to rapid ice making.  Might have to push our early Dec trip out a week for safety sake.  Appreciate your updates though!  Keep ‘em coming..

Edited by Brianf.
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Posted

Pic of Head o Lakes today. It will still be a little while. 

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Posted

Not looking good for the week after Thanksgiving.  Maybe I will fish in Pike Bay.

Posted

Boy did I blow this predictions.  Maybe it was wishful thinking.  The main lake is still open and the current forecast (2nd set of temps for Nov 23-27) shown below doesn't indicate that it will freeze over in the next few days.  The forecast 10 days ago (1st set of temps for Nov 23-27) showed temps about 10°F lower than the current forecast.  My new prediction is Vermilion will completely freeze-over Wednesday, Nov 30.  Hopefully we won't get heavy snow before we get some solid ice.  Think I will wait until the week of Dec 5-9 to venture out.

 

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Posted

Yep good old mother nature sure can throw a wrench in plans!?🙄

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Posted

Warm weather this weekend has worsened ice conditions. Seeing substantial water probably on top of ice but I'm not going out to test that. Definitely open patches off Moccasin point boat landing. View Sunday morning looking northwest off end of Moccasin point.

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Posted

Given snow in forecast and no subzero temps I don't expect much better ice conditions by next weekend 

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Posted

Earlier this morning it looked like Vermilion froze over last night but now I see open water on the Hibbing Point webcam.  The strong winds must have opened the lake back up.  Tonight the temps drop to single digits and the wind dies down by 5am so it will freeze over tonight.  Expecting 1-2" of snow on Friday with high winds so hopefully the snow will blow off the new ice.  Saturday-Thursday looks very cold with no more snow, so the main lake should get a solid freeze.  Some are ice fishing in Stuntz Bay already, and some braver than I may walk out from McKinley Park this weekend.  I'm going to wait until the end of next week to venture out, although it will be very cold.

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Posted

Luckily we don't have large open areas of ice that break away, such as on Red Lake.

 

Stay safe and warm.

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Posted
On 11/30/2022 at 9:03 AM, JerkinLips said:

Earlier this morning it looked like Vermilion froze over last night but now I see open water on the Hibbing Point webcam.  The strong winds must have opened the lake back up.  Tonight the temps drop to single digits and the wind dies down by 5am so it will freeze over tonight.  Expecting 1-2" of snow on Friday with high winds so hopefully the snow will blow off the new ice.  Saturday-Thursday looks very cold with no more snow, so the main lake should get a solid freeze.  Some are ice fishing in Stuntz Bay already, and some braver than I may walk out from McKinley Park this weekend.  I'm going to wait until the end of next week to venture out, although it will be very cold.

 

Hi there, I am making sure that this is the location that folks will be posting updates for Ice Fishing on Lake Vermilion this winter (2022).  I think so but want to make sure as I plan on trying to get out next weekend, December 8-11.

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Posted

I hope that you weigh under 40lbs

Posted

^^^Ice that bad??

Posted
1 hour ago, Brianf. said:

^^^Ice that bad??

A couple of Facebook posters on Lake Vermilion Cabin Owners group said that there was still open water in Big Bay Friday Morning.  I am guessing that they may be talking about Oak Narrows.  I'm staying with my original freeze-over date of Thursday, December 1.

 

Somebody I know who went out fishing from McKinley Park Saturday said that Big Bay was frozen over.  He also said he walked all around the bay and found thicknesses of 1" to 5" of ice, so it is still very questionable.  It should be safe for walking by the middle of next week.

 

7 hours ago, travis_td said:

is the location that folks will be posting updates for Ice Fishing on Lake Vermilion this winter (2022)

This site will have ice reports for the next week or so.  I will be up the middle of next week and should report on the ice by Thursday night.  The moderator has merged this topic with the Lake Vermilion Fishing Reports topic so I will switch to posting there when I have fishing reports.  Good luck fishing, but be very careful of varying ice conditions.

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Posted
17 hours ago, Brianf. said:

^^^Ice that bad??

I can't say for sure, which is the point. There haven't been many ice reports because the ice is just setting up right now. I could have been more verbose, but the point is that it is pretty unsafe right now in most areas unless you really know the lake.

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Posted

many thanks to you all for providing the information.  it is appreciated.

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Posted

Will drill some holes on the West Side on Friday and post back.

 

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Posted

Started a Vermilion 2022/2023 Ice Fishing thread 

 

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Posted (edited)

I was confused, but saw that the 2022/23 Ice Fishing thread (linked above) is in the Members Only section. Can't we have it in the "Vermilion-Pelican Lake-Chisholm-Cook-Ely-Eveleth-Hibbing-Orr-Virginia Fishing Reports - Hunting" like all of the others?

Edited by SkunkedAgain
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Posted

Walked out 1/2 mile from McKinley Park today and found 8 inches of nice black ice. Lots of snowmobiles and ATVs running around today. It is -15f in Soudan right now so it should make more ice tonight. I thought it felt quite cold walking in this evening.

 

Fishing was pretty good but most were only 9-13 inches.  Chugs were slightly better than pike suckers. I even caught a 23 inch on half a crawler left over from this fall.

 

Good luck if you venture out, and be very cautious on the ice and courteous to others.

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Posted

Great updates. Thanks as usual

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Posted

Your updates are much appreciated, please keep them coming!!

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