I hit a rock while driving my boat on Eagles Nest Lake. I put the spare prop on, but didn't put on…read morea bushing. Needless to say, I screwed up my spare prop and lower unit gear housing. Thinking my trip was over, I was driving on SR 169 going to another lake, when I noticed their sign by the side of the road. I turned around to have them check the damage and see if they could make the repair. John came out and reviewed the damage. If I were to continue running the boat, more damage would be done. He checked to see if they had the part to fix the lower unit, and prop. They did, but couldn't get to it until after lunch. We went back to our resort and a couple hours later, Gretchen called and sent a text message telling me my boat was fixed! Great service, nice people, saved our vacation!

From the owner: Aronson Boat Works was established in 1914 and has proudly been family-owned since. We are a full…read moreservice marina on beautiful Lake Vermilion offering sales, service, and storage. We also have a gas dock that is open to the public. Another hidden gem we have is the Mailboat. With that we deliver mail to patrons on the lake and also provide Mailboat excursions (Mon-Sat, June 1 - Labor Day).

Our family of 6 had a lovely vacation on #18 Lake Vermilion Houseboat. It was clean and everything…read morewas in working order. We were given a good complete orientation on how to drive the boat and where and how to moor for the night. We had the boat for 3 nights and stayed in a different spot on beautiful Lake Vermilion each night. We had great weather the first 2 nights and had no issues finding a site to moor. The 3rd day was windy and the water was choppy. Luckily, we had 2 strong teenagers to tie the rope to anchor the boat to shore. We appreciated getting a text from Joy and Kyle about the wind speed and direction that day. They told us a time to get our boat anchored and gave their recommendation on which spot to choose. Overall, positive experience for an adventure we had never done before. Thank you Joy, Kyle and staff!!

This is my favorite vacation. For us it is a week of rest and solitude. We sleep, hammock, read,…read morehot tub, explore our campsites, play games, swim, and make ourselves really good food. We've had Kyle be our excellent fishing guide, bringing back and cleaning a Walleye feast. And, we know that there is still more to explore and do. The Soudan mine. The casino. Hiking trails. More. We will be back again and again. The boats: We've experienced 4 different boats. They're all clean and comfortable. Each has its strengths. They are easier to drive and park than you think. Kyle makes navigating the lake a breeze with good maps and easy to use GPS units. The campsites: Vary pretty wildly. Some are groomed. Others are pretty wild. Some remote. Some very near civilization. Some are rocky. Others are beach. Some are shoreline. Others are island(our favorite!). The people and the service: Kyle and Joy are the best. As mentioned above, we've hired Kyle as a fishing guide twice. One time he had to coordinate another guide and he was awesome. Scheduling responses are fantastic. Service to the boat is timely and efficient. And, emergency response is immediate and thorough (a very long story I'll tell you over a beer!).

I don't have enough great things to say about Steve and Ginny and the rest of the crew at Spirit of…read morethe Wilderness. We were out on Knife Lake on Tuesday July 14 2026 (the day of the closure and evacuation of the wilderness). I had rented a one way Spot and picked up my permit from Spirit. Unfortunately with the device we had no one could communicate with us, but the crew at Spirit was tracking us and keeping everyone back home aware of our situation. After we got back into Ely, they even offered a bunkhouse for us to stay the night before heading home.

Five stars isn't enough for this crew. We fish with Craig at Lake Vermilion Fishing Guides just…read moreabout every year, and our Boundary Waters trips into Basswood are the ones we talk about all winter. From the first phone call he asks the right questions about what you want out of the day, then builds the whole trip around it. Getting into the BWCA on your own takes real planning, but Craig handles all of it, and once you're out there you've got world-class fishing with almost nobody around. He reads the water, adjusts constantly, and genuinely cares that everyone on board catches fish. He handles the big fish with real care too, quick photos and healthy releases. This is what a professional guide service should be. We're already planning next year's trip.

We did a full day tour in a small boat with six total customers. Our guide was Brent and he was…read moreextremely knowledgeable since he's grown up in the area and had all kinds of wonderfully crazy stories about his life here in Minnesota. The personal experience was exceptional. The small group made it an extremely personal and wonderful experience. It was a glorious day that we will never forget!

My husband and I did a tour with Captain Tim yesterday on the six hour Kettle Falls tour. Tim was…read morevery knowledgeable about the park and the area. He had a wonderful personality and as other people have said became our friend right away. I loved his sense of humor. It was a very nice boat and a top-notch operation. We would highly recommend this.

Rented the nicest pontoon. The guy was so knowledgeable, gave us a quick tutorial and off we went…read more Had an engine hiccup that the guy figured out right away. Would 1000% recommend this place! 5 stars LOVE

Horrible customer service. We dropped our boat off on the 5th for a service appointment on the 7th…read more By the 12th they still hadn't looked at it. And we were clear when we dropped it that this was our transportation to our island lake house. They didn't seem to care. If you want to be ignored, have to call multiple times to get someone on the phone, be treated rudely and have to wait five times longer than promised to get service, then by all means use these guys.

I was looking for a seat for my fishing boat. Salesperson showed me a swivel mount he said would…read morefit on seat, it clearly wouldn't fit, though. He continued to insist it would, making me feel like I was an idiot. I took the swivel out of packaging and held it up to seat- the screw holes were off by more than 2 inches! Salesperson (who appeared to be the boss) was insulting and disrespectful, and I do not recommend this business to anyone.