2022 Vermilion Ice-Over Prediction

[SkunkedAgain]

I was already worried about slush in the small bays, and now it's on the main lake. Let's hope that the cold weather holds off any significant snow.

[JerkinLips]

10 hours ago, SkunkedAgain said:

Let's hope that the cold weather holds off any significant snow.

I sure hope it does.  I am planning on going up again next week to rake the roof and shovel the driveways, and block the fish house up more if needed.  Now there is a chance of 1-3" more Monday-Tuesday, and Wednesday and Thursday.  There is enough snow already for snowmobiling.  More snow will make the lake worse, plus impact deer survival this winter.

[Brianf.]

It can stop snowing now.  My driveway is nearly impassible as it is.  

[Pat McGraw]

On 12/7/2022 at 4:05 PM, SkunkedAgain said:

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?

I'm fine with that. I'll just have to figure out how. 

[Tolson93]

Anyone have some updated conditions? Wondering how bad/good it is up there. 

[JerkinLips]

12 hours ago, Tolson93 said:

Anyone have some updated conditions? Wondering how bad/good it is up there.

I cancelled my trip up this week since I don't want to drive home in the Wednesday-Friday winter storm, so I won't have an ice report.  I heard that snowmobilers are finding a lot of slush on the lake.

[Tolson93]

Okay thanks for the update. Thought about making a day trip up there this Saturday or Monday. 
 

hoping it’ll heal up for the wheelhouse here next month. I’ll be ready to help plow some roads. 

[travis_td]

Will be heading up on Thursday.  We pretty much fish the West side.  I'll post some reports.

 

[JerkinLips]

Lake Vermilion is a mess. There is a big patch of water and slush right out from McKinley Park landing. Fortunately I took the snowmobile. The plowed road going to the right is about one third water and slush. I had 15 inches of ice in my fish house and 3 inches of water gushed on top of the ice. I drilled a hole 40 feet from my house and found 18 inches ice and 2 inches of water flowed on top there. The snow is very drifted but I didn't run into slush on the sled. Will post some pictures tomorrow.

[JerkinLips]

The path straight out from the park is currently impassable and somebody put stakes in it to stop traffic. Some trucks are going around that spot to the left but even that is pretty rough. I watched a big truck driving on the road this afternoon and his truck was bouncing up and down 3 feet in the rough patches. Thankfully he made it but almost got stuck in the last spot. Nobody has pulled any wheel houses out with trucks the last 2 days.  Wish I had better news but I would not recommend taking on the lake now. Snowmobile traveling seems fine but the drifts are 2-3 feet high and hard so be very careful if venturing off the main trails. Makes for a very bumpy ride.

[Tolson93]

Thanks for the updates. Looks like I may keep the wheelhouse off of vermillion this winter. Might still and try to come up once or twice with the wheeler and portable. Maybe after this warm up. 
 

dang storms messed the lake up. What do ya do though. It happens. 

[BWpineisland]

Your updates are much appreciated!  Thanks.  

[JerkinLips]

Wednesday's update - lots of trucks drove on the lake today going left around the bad spot out from the landing.  One guy even even towed a wheel house out with his big pickup.  Then he plowed a big opening about a half mile out and parked the house in 4 inches of water.  Didn't look like much fun.  The normal road going to the right had a very bad spot a short way out from the landing ( shown in the 3rd picture), so somebody created a spur farther to the right to bypass that.  After a half mile out the road gets very rough in several spots.  I didn't see any cars or trucks further out than 5/8 mile.  Lots of people on the lake today.  Mostly on snowmobiles, but there were also many ATVs and UHVs.  Several people even walked out to go fishing on the warm day.  One older man walked out about 1 mile to fish.  Must have been tough with the hard drifts.  If you venture out in a vehicle, be very careful of water/slush.  Good luck fishing and enjoy the New Year's weekend.

[travis_td]

Good morning!  Fished on the West side yesterday.  Traveled by snowmobile.  Lots of snow and slush but a lot of the slush was freezing.  Fishing conditions were very nice and the fish were active.  Perch and a handful of small Walleyes.  Threw  them all back.  Ice depth was about 15".  Back at it today.  Good luck all!

 

[Influenza]

Good updates, all. Thank you. Snowshoes and portables is my answer.  Happy New Years!

[JerkinLips]

Not going to make it up this week due to the winter storm in the cities so I thought I would share this report from Sunday.  At least Vermilion isn't going to get any of this snow so ice conditions should improve.  I will take a run on the sled early next week to check out the ice conditions.  Good luck fishing and be careful of the ice conditions.

 

[SkunkedAgain]

I was up last week on the west end. The slush wasn't bad but did seem to get worse by the end of the week. As JerkinLips posted, snowmobile travel isn't bad but the snow drifts make it a very bouncy ride. The snowmobile club put stakes into HeadOLakes and Wakemup on Friday, so I assume those well-traveled paths are smoothing out (maybe).

[Influenza]

Well, my ice report is ok at best. Measured 17.5” from tip to tail, but 5” is frozen garbage slush. So 12.5” of good ice standing. The roads out of McKinley are great, until they aren’t. Huge areas of ice chunked & bad roads.  I just walked & dragged my Otter popup with gear. EZPZ after a few Jim Beams & Aleve.

just got word from the Misses that a vehicle went thru on Leech. 

[Austin12345]

Did not make it over to Vermillion but did fish some smaller lakes close to it, Just didn't have enough time to make it over this trip up. My biggest went 25.5 caught some big fish and good amount of eaters. Fished by myself most of the weekend but when we got a group with a bunch of setlines spread out it was hot action. Slush was mostly frozen and there was anywhere from 1-6 inches of snow cover on the lake with a good amount of drifting. 15-16 inches of ice. 

[JerkinLips]

Had 24 inches of ice by my fish house, but the top 10 inches was white crap from flooding/freezing.  The water didn't come up on the ice in my house after 12 days away so that was good.  The 1st pic is of the park area on Monday.  Not a lot of houses out, and many pulled them off the lake Monday-Wednesday.  Not sure if it was because of poor fishing or the end of a long weekend, or just to get them off the mess.  Saw one ice castle get pulled out of the ice by two big pickups.  Guess they didn't pull the wheels up and/or block it up adequately.  The trucks and wheel houses were bouncing quite a lot as they were pulling off the lake.

 

Somebody blasted out the ice chunk obstruction in front of the boat landing so now it is a straight path out.  The road that goes to the right is pretty rough and bumpy, but no water or slush on it.  It goes all the way to Ely Island but is fairly narrow with no good turn-around spots.  The road that goes out straight towards Birch Island is well plowed and very wide.  There is a bypass about half way out due to bad slush/water (2nd pic) and the road gets very bad around the small island before Birch (3rd pic).  Some trucks went by that, but it looks pretty bad.  Talked to someone at the park who lived there since 1957.  He normally has his wheel house out by Birch, but pulled it off before the big snowstorm and was apprehensive about putting it back out.

 

Travel by snowmobile/ATV is quite bumpy due to the hard drifts (4th pic) but I didn't hit much slush.  If you venture out, be very careful.  If you use the plowed roads, be very courteous to those that spend the time and money maintaining them.  Don't park your house on the road or right next to other houses.  Good luck.

[travis_td]

Good morning!  We arrived at Lake Vermilion yesterday and decided to drive over to the Vermilion Club for an early dinner.  Our place is in Oak Narrows.  It is about 9 miles to the VC.  The ride on snowmobile was terrible.  Average speed was about 20 mph.  My Wife made the comment that this is the worst she has ever seen the riding conditions on the lake.  We have been riding on the lake since 2014.  So, be careful out on the lake especially at night.  I am going to try some finishing today on the West side and will post an update tomorrow.

[Influenza]

Welcome home, Travis!

 

Edited January 14, 2023 by Influenza
Welcome home, Travis!

[travis_td]

Fishing on the West side was a little slow yesterday.  A few Jumbo Perch here and there, and the Northerns were having fun with the tip ups.  All and all a fun day to be on the ice.

Edited January 15, 2023 by travis_td

[SkunkedAgain]

Agreed. The snow berms/waves/drifts in the big sections of the lake are pretty hard to navigate especially in low visibility conditions. Because of that we stayed near home base, but all of the smaller bays are in reasonable to good shape, such as Norwegian Bay or the river up to Black Bay. Even Black Creek was in great shape. All of the slush that I encountered at the end of December was frozen solid. We only hit one bad slush spot where Wakemup transitions to Norwegian, just east of Woody's Cove. My daughter handled it like a pro, pinning the throttle and enjoying every second of it.

 

Six inches of new snow would really help level things out.

 

Ironically, I forgot to bring my snowmobile jacket. Luckily it was a warm weekend out there for sledding. If you saw someone out there riding in a fleece jacket, that was me!

[Influenza]

I love the low visibility days.  LV is the most beautiful place on Earth.

[leech~~]

14 hours ago, Influenza said:

I love the low visibility days.  LV is the most beautiful place on Earth.

Looks like a Bob Ross painting, and he just hasn't added the cabin in the middle yet!  

[SkunkedAgain]

...but do those really look like Happy Trees?

[Brianf.]

Just returned from Lake Vermilion.  Travel conditions by snowmobile have improved with the light fluffy snow that has recently fallen. The big hard drifts still remain, as do small pockets of slush, but overall riding conditions are better.  Where you can find smooth riding in wind-protected areas, I’d even say the riding is fun again. 

[JerkinLips]

Was up Tuesday-Thursday.  Travel by snowmobile was much better than 2 weeks ago, but still fairly bumpy.  Didn't hit any slush, but I didn't travel much off road.

 

There is only one road plowed out from McKinley Park now.  It heads toward the first group of fish houses to the right then turns toward Birch Island by that village.  This road was very wide and well cleared before last nights light snow.  Don't know if the wind caused much drifting with this snow.  The good road goes to just before the west end of Birch Island, then there is a small plowed road that goes behind the north side.  The slush spot from 2 weeks ago has frozen and the road is now straightened out there.  There are numerous small spur roads plowed off of the main road.  A few spurs about half way out hit some heavy slush, so that is still a concern if going off-road.

 

Good luck if you venture out, and be careful and courteous.  Enjoy the lake.

 

[Influenza]

Wow, bitter cold this weekend!  And not even a nibble. At least the Jim Beam poured freely.