I will agree that the public access on snowbank can be pretty tight for parking a truck and trailer on the weekends during trout season, especially on opening weekend. The folks at Snowbank Lodge are great people and are as accommodating as can be when it comes to helping people access through their establishment. Make sure to throw them some cash if accessing through their property. They indeed are not plowing a road out onto the lake this year but they have a couple of snowdogs for rent this year if anybody wants a unique way to get after Snowbank lakers.

I also offer a unique way to fish lakers in the Ely area, including Snowbank Lake with fully guided half and full day trips in my SnoBear.

I’ll just add that the Finicky Fooler hole covers are amazing! I put them to the test a couple times at -40 and they do a really nice job keeping the hole open.

Finicky Fooler all the way. Love em!

I think the biggest mistake i’ve noticed people making ice fishing out on Lake Vermilion, and maybe its the case other places too, is folks get too focused on fishing the rock structure out there. When you take a look at a depth map of the lake, you’ll notice tons of perfect looking points, reefs, drop offs from islands. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of times of the year that these spots hold fish, but in the winter I have definitely found that fish roam big flats adjacent to structure.

I’ve had some good success tipping spoons with the Gulp minnow heads. I really only use them when there are a lot of pesky perch around stealing meat off. Same applies to summer time when using a gulp crawler on a spinner rig. The perch just cannot peck the gulp off the hook like they can a crawler.

Ahhhh yeah I don’t think I can go back to gas…I’m running the 24V strikemaster with an 8″ liteflite in my SnoBear and am very impressed with it so far. I even contemplated selling my Tanaka powerhead that I put my 8″ Nils on, but am going to keep it for the spring time when I really want to swiss cheese the ice for crappies. The Tanaka motor runs soooo smooth and just absolutely rips with the Nils on it! This reminds me I should go fire that little guy up and burn some gas through it. MMMMM cold smoke 2 stroke!

Make sure you are using a swivel 12-18″ above the spoon. When you are working a spoon very slow and subtle, or when pausing to wait for the bite, the spoon will have a tendency to spin. When fish, especially big fussy bluegills are inspecting the bait up close, if its spinning in place down there, they are far less likely to commit.

As mentioned earlier, some sort of choppers. specifically, my vote is for beaver choppers! If you can get your hands on/in a pair of beaver choppers, you can go from frozen tip-up wrapping cold to toasty warm in a matter of seconds. Add some sort of wool liner and you have the perfect duo.

I just got some Toyo Celcius tires (load range E) on my Toyota Tundra a couple weeks ago. Really great traction in the snow and ice so far and nice and quiet going down the highway. The Coopers that were on my truck when I bought it were LOUD. My wife has had a couple sets of Celscus on her Honda Fit and has been pleased with them also.

The average size that we catch on both Burntside and Snowbank is around 22″ I’d say.

Check out Snowbank Lodge by Ely. Snowbank Lake offers pretty solid Laker action in the winter time and the owners at Snowbank Lodge are very friendly. Another great option would be Timber Trail Lodge by Ely, which is in close proximity to both Burntside Lake and Snowbank Lake.