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2022-23 Lake Vermilion Ice Fishing Reports


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Restarting 22-23 Vermilion Ice Fishing Report. Stay safe, good luck fishing and help out your fellow anglers with a few tips on what's working best now.

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I'll be up 12/28 thru new years, anxious to be back on the ice and happy to see above zero temps in the forecast. Will update on ice conditions and successful techniques as soon as I catch some.

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Will be up Dec. 26-28 and will report of ice conditions and fishing.  I have had good luck so far this winter on small-medium minnows on a plain hook.  Avoiding heavy traffic definitely helps.  Good luck and be safe and courteous.

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Fished Monday-Wednesday out of McKinley Park.  Pretty slow Monday and Wednesday.  The bite was much better on Tuesday.  Most were only 9" to 13", and the biggest eye I caught was only 15".  I did catch a 25" eelpout.  Should have kept that for a meal.  Chubs were slightly better than shiners (on a plain hook).  I caught several fish dropping my line to the bottom to check depth, then triggering a bite while setting the bobber.  Maybe I should have done that more often.  Several fish would check out my sinker 2 feet up from the bottom.  Probably should have tried a jig to help trigger bites.  Guess I was too busy lifting the house out of the ice and blocking it up.  Good luck fishing, and be courteous to others.

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JerkinLips, I heard yesterday from a cabin neighbor on Pine that the slush had pretty much froze up?  Is that what you found on Big Bay?  I going up Saturday and if the slush is froze I might have to do some fishing after I removes snow from the roof and awning.

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41 minutes ago, CFD200 said:

the slush had pretty much froze up?  Is that what you found on Big Bay?

My ice reports have been mostly out from McKinley Park.  Once the water under the snow is exposed it will freeze pretty quick as long as it is not disturbed before solidifying.  That is the problem out from the park now.  Trucks keep driving through those spots breaking up big chunks of ice and keeping the water open.

 

You never know where water has come up under the snow (near shores with a lot of snow load are likely spots), and with the thick snow cover it will take a long time to freeze.  Travel by snowmobile is pretty safe.  ATV and UHV travel should be okay because of the wide tires and lighter weight.  Truck travel off the beaten path would be very questionable.

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Fished the Moccasin to Fectos point area Thursday. Travel by snowmobile is rough due to hardened 2'-3' drifts everywhere including the staked trails. Slush is still a problem particularly once you drill a hole as the water level will be about 2" above the ice.

Fishing was slow so far for me, so no good tips yet

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9 hours ago, CigarGuy said:

Brian, don't be knocking "Wheel", as we call it🙂


We used to take bets before the show on what color Vanna’s dress would be when she walked out. 😊

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Had better luck Saturday with 13 & 14" walleyes in 35' off a point using dead stick with 4" rainbows from. Y store.

Sunday tried same spot, no bites. Went to VC to watch Vikings and things went from bad to worse. Oh well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice walleye! Wife and I fished a few spots off Comet island accross from Birch pt Friday in ~20-26' with shiners. Didn't catch any fish, lost a big one when it ran from 1st site of the hole. Lake travel still slow due to snow berms and a few slush pockets. Doesn't seem to have improved since new years.

Good luck anglers!

20230114_074837.jpg

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Caught a few last night, slow this morning. Hopefully we will get a couple tonight to make a meal. Jigging better than dead sticks last night.

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On 1/21/2023 at 8:29 PM, Austin12345 said:

What are slush conditions right now up there?

There are small spots of slush here and there.  Didn't run into anything major.  Water did not flood the house.  It is painful out on the lake with the hardened drifts, slow going with the otter behind the snowmobile.

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When I was up a little over a week ago, all of the previous slush spots were gone. The ice itself was in great shape generally. As CFD200 said, the snow drifts in the big parts of the lake are make riding above 20mph difficult. My daughter and I did find one slush spot in a completely unexpected place, so it's not totally gone. It looks like the snow will generally continue to hold off until we get this nice freeze next week. Now all we need is 6" of new snow to smooth out the lake.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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That's pretty neat. I thought that you were going to say that he tossed him into the air and the eagle caught it!

 

I bet that eagle was surprised to get a fish meal out of season.

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