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I was wondering if anyone fishes smelt on Grindstone or knows where they hang out in the winter. I used to fish them alot in the Ely area and I think I was the only person up there that would fish for the little things, but you can keep a bucket full of fish and not feel guilty for wanting to eat fish. Plus it is kind of fun in a weird way.

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Smelt Guy,

All I can say is, welcome to FishingMinnesota.com.

I'm not sure I'd know a smelt if I caught one. There's got to be at least one other closet smelter on this site. Anyone care to 'fess up?

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Ray Esboldt
MarCum
Stone Legacy

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you would snag one once in a while while jigging for lakers. One evening just before dark I hooked a nice fat 26" walleye 20' down in 60' and hung around after dark. About 2 hours after dark the whole vexilar turned red, figured it was acting up till I stuck a flashlight down the hole and it was solid fish below. The little guys actually swim up the hole to be caught. According to the DNR they live in Grindstone, if they are there in numbers someone should have seen or caught one somewhere. Out in Maine and Vermont rental houses are available for smelt fishing it is pretty popular there from what I have herd.

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Ok, you guys ahve some good ideas.. I have lived around that lake and fished it my whole life and here is whata I can tell you about the smelt.... I am not sure if it is true but this is what I was told... DNR have no idea how they got in there.. when that lake was an experiement lake the stocked it with all sorts of fish but not smelt... they think they have gotten in there from Superior.. now I am not sure if this is true.. but i Ahve heard it my whole life... adn the fish in there... a school friends dad went diving in there on the north end where the caves are and he said he turned around and saw a sturgeon whos head was the size of a bowling ball.... no $%...I can sit here all day and tell you storied about that lake but you now..they might just be storied that are stretched alot.. buto ne thing I can t ell you is.... there are some nice fish in there... saw a 9 lb rainbow pulled out of there and many of walleyes on the east side by the humps..... tough lake to fish but once you learn it..... you can't beat it!

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I used to catch all the smelt I wanted right near the road and the outlet on the east side of Grindstone. Go out from the outlet north, until you find 30 or 40 feet of water. Try any small ice bait, very small, that you might use for sunnies tipped with a waxworm. You should have no trouble catching all the smelt you could want. They're bigger then the ones I've netted up by Duluth.

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DIRTBALL2

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The smelt fishing sounds interesting -- but is anyone going to hit the lake for lakers next weekend? I've done well on rainbows on Grindstone in the summer but no luck with open water lakers. Last winter we fished lakers in Colorado impoundments and hammered them (40+ fish days) using tube jigs and sucker strips in deep water -- wondering if that would be effective on Grindstone? Also caught some dandy smallies there last summer.

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I'll be out there next weekend jigging trout hopefully, never fished it before, but if it is like any other trout lake airplane and tube jigs should work. If I am marking fish that wont take the bait but chase it I put on a walleye size jigging rap on, they usually seem to take the smaller bait. 20 to 60 feet seem to work best for me. Dont Know anything about the lake Im just going to try what has worked in the past and make swiss cheese out of the lake. Someone should speak up about the trout pretty quick once they look at a calendar.

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Anyone going to try this lake next Sunday? I have been interested in this lake for a while now, and with trout opener right around the corner this seems to be a great and interesting challenge. Also wondering if anyone has the ice conditions for the lake?

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I am thinking about giving it a try this weekend, I have never tried trout fishing from the ice. What type of presentation should I try. What depths, are the fish suspended normally or are they on the bottom. What kind of trout are there in grindstone. Any Starting pionts are appriciated. Thanks, Johnsonator.

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Does any body know how thick the ice is out there? planning on going Sat morning and want to know if you can dive across the lake yet. I can already smell those rainbows in the frying pan.

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Shut up and fish!

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I went out on Grindstone and there is plenty of ice, about a good 12-14. Went out for crappies but didnt get anything. I saw alot of something on the vexilar, but ever time I raised my minnow or jigged a spoon they swam away, maybe they were smelt?? I will be going for trout this weekend too, last year i caught a couple in about 50 feet of water.

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I will be out there Sunday to see about those lakers. Can anyone tell me of any special regs.that I need to be aware of before I head out? Greatly appreciated.

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DNR site says you need a trout stamp if you keep any trout, but it's not a designated trout lake -- which I guess means you can use minnows and two lines (can only use one line through ice on designated lakes). Anyone hear anything different for Grindstone?

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I was out on Grindstone on Saturday, I didnt get anything, my friend just got a couple smelt. There were a whole bunch of people out there, but it didnt look like anybody was catching anything. Nobody was staying in one spot vary long and it looked like everyone home early.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • 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
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