6" ice on Vermillion

Finding some finicky fish, but there’s a good 6″ of ice on Vermillion now. I’ll be fishing Shagwa tomorrow and will report with its ice conditions then

Ben Putnam wrote:

Finding some finicky fish, but there’s a good 6″ of ice on Vermillion now. I’ll be fishing Shagwa tomorrow and will report with its ice conditions then

Thanks for the update, Ben. I was just reading in the Duluth paper this morninh that Shagawa still had some open water as recently as a few days ago. Is that correct?

There was a big area close to the sandy point landing that had open water on the 24th. There were also other areas on shags with open water on the 23rd. Burntside locked up on the night of the 24th. So I would think that the area by Sandy Point also locked up. But I have not seen it for my self. Most areas people are fishing have around 4-6″of ice. Top layer of 6″ is cloudy slush ice. Should finally start making some ice now.

Good to know, Ben. Vermilion is my favorite lake in MN, but I’ve never ice fished it and have always wanted to.

James Holst wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ben Putnam wrote:</div>
Finding some finicky fish, but there’s a good 6″ of ice on Vermillion now. I’ll be fishing Shagwa tomorrow and will report with its ice conditions then

Thanks for the update, Ben. I was just reading in the Duluth paper this morninh that Shagawa still had some open water as recently as a few days ago. Is that correct?

Like Mike said, there was open water a few days ago on Shags, but with the last few nights in the single digits it should have locked up nicely. I’ll be putting the chisel to it after sunrise and will try to report from the lake.
Vermillion had a slow bite today, but we had a lot of “action” with fish snooping baits between 21-26 fow, all the walleye were caught in 24 feet and needed very gentle coaxing. Really hoping to see the bite pick up soon as it has been quite slow through most of the early(late) season. Did you fish the harbor area this weekend James?

No, I didn’t make it down to the harbor. I spent the day sledding with my daughter instead.

Even better!

Ben would you know if Trout Lake would have any good ice for opener if I guy could take a wheeler to portage or not

Trout lake is the last to freeze over on any given year. There may be fishable ice, but I would imagine the main lake will still have open water a good ways into January. There really isn’t a backup plan in the area either, unless you want to go as far as Knife. If I hear anything about safe ice on trout lake, I’ll try to let you know.
On a side note, I don’t know if Vermillion is 4 wheeler safe through the narrows either.

Thanks Ben
I generally leave from Moccasin PT
I don’t know if that is the safest route or is there a better route

No one I’ve talked to has gone near trout lake yet, I would say it is safe to assume that it won’t be walkable by the first. However, vermillion has a lot of good ice and although it’s too big for me to know if it’s safe across the board; if trout lake isn’t walkable, at least you’re already on a good walleye lake!