Burntside laker report

[fishgutz77]

don't give up dreamr, we took three nice fish off blueberry and one small fish just off Evan's island. this is the next spot I'm going to try before the N arm. N 47.56.116 W 91.58.257 I just know there's a big fish hang'in there. I can't wait to get back up. all our fish came on northland airplane jigs and buckshot rattle spoons, the big ones. The laker affliction is a sick, sick deal and I live to far away. good luck

[Steve Foss]

dreamer, there's a lot of structure around blueberry, and it's a popular island with locals and visitors alike. Not just any spot around blueberry is a good one. I had a sweet day on Friday on Bside.

Pretty cool of fishgutz to give you the GPS coords of that spot, though now that they're out here in front of 36,000 members and 180,000 lurkers I doubt you'll have the spot all to yourself the next weekend day you fish.

It's a lot about not only finding a good spot (if it looks good on a map, it probably IS good), but sticking it out for a whole day. You can jump around from location to location, but if they're all good locations it seems to me it's better to wait it out than go all over, unless going all over and exploring is what you're after.

I've noticed a pretty strong Bside laker activity pattern on many days that goes from 10:30 to noon and again from 2 to 3, no matter where I was.

[northwoodsdreamr]

Thanks fishgutz77, no I wont give up, if I can sit for 8 hrs. without catching a fish and be excited to go back asap I must be hooked. I tried both lures you mentioned plus chubby darter and a few others. I probably should have moved since I wasnt seeing a lot of smelt, but felt like a good spot. Good Luck when you make it back up.

[Steve Foss]

dreamer, also don't worry about seeing smelt too much. Smelt are kind of nice as a confidence booster, but a good half of my Bside lakers have come in places I don't see any smelt at all.

[fishgutz77]

stfcatfish, the location I gave dreamr is not Blueberry it's the east side of LG island and just on the north tip of the one next to it. you might be one of the few to figure this one out. If you have a thing for lakers you would have to try this spot. But like you said that lake has so much good structure why limit yourself. home in on this one and check it out, bet you won't be disapointed. The guy I came up to the bash with has to go to Duluth this weekend his father in law just had two small strokes and he's going up on friday, so I'll see ya on the ice when I can get back up.

[northwoodsdreamr]

stfcatfish, I think I might have been over a large boulder in one of my holes my flasher was showing a really large red band for the bottom mark and when I dropped my lure down it would go down another maybe ten feet after it hit the begining what looked like the bottom. I just started using a flasher so am learning how to read what its telling me.

That was really cool for fishgutz to share one of his spots, now I just need a GPS, lol. Actually though my lake map has some coords. so I have a rough idea of where he speaks. Thanks for the tips.

[Steve Foss]

Ahhhh, I know the spot. I've fished it a couple times. Pretty good success but nothing to write home about. You did much better there than I did.

Lakers are that way, aren't they? Give me some notice next time you come up. Us vintage Yamaha sledders gotta stick together.

[Steve Foss]

dreamer, if you were set up on a steep break with a lot of good-sized boulders, your electronics will deliver a signal just like what you described.

Sounds like a pretty good location.

When I set up, I make sure to use the setting on the electronics that shows the whole bottom, from the shallowest part of the cone to the deepest part.

That means if I'm in 55 FOW on a break, I'll use a setting that tops out at 80 FOW, so I can see the whole continuum of red marking bottom. If, for example, I was in 55 FOW and selected 60 feet as max, it wouldn't show me the whole breakline.

I only do that so I can get a sense of how steep and uneven the breakline is. If you're on a VERY steep break and have a 19 degree transducer, you may read from 40 feet to 90 feet as bottom.

Anyway, all I do that for is to get a sense, as I said, of the steepness. I always pull my lure up, even on a steep break, so it shows above the shallowest bottom contour of the electronics. Lakers are not bound as hard to the bottom as walleyes. They will come all the way up from 90 FOW to just under the ice, so I typically start my jigging pattern at least 10 feet off the bottom and work up from there.

Hope that makes sense, and hope it helps.

[fishgutz77]

I'll know about a week in advance so I'll get a hold of you by e-mail or a current thread. It would be great to hit the N arm with ya. Be good to get surface there too. I'll be looking for a warming trend as well so the hole hopping is good. till then I got raps to modify.

[Steve Foss]

gutz, surface tension is one of the best laker resources wherever you find him, and he has a permanent invite up here with me. Not that he needs it, or me, after 30 years of laker pursuit.

I have specific Bside stuff, but if you want knowledge hard earned over a lot of water, you buy HIM the beer, and then you and I can both sit there and listen to him.

[Surface Tension]

I'm up for another day chasing Lake trout on B-Side.

[lakerunner]

Folks--I've finally been able to registar into the forum eventhough I have been constantly monitoring for a year. It has been especially helpful as I'm relatively new to MN--I'm originally from Mich and only been here for a couple of years. I was glad to find the forum and see that MN has some trout water. All I fished back in MI was trout/salmon--in the rivers, in LK MI, and through the ice. I've been hitting b-side hard all this winter but no fish on the ice yet--I have had several one and way to many "lookers". stcatfish (and the rest of the FM'rs) thank you for all of the tid-bit info. It has really helped a newbe to the area.

[Nate McVey]

Welcome lakerunner! You will find a ton of helpful people and information on this site. It's nice to have a fellow Michigander on the boards! Don't forget to check out the MI forum as well! I grew up in the UP (Bessemer), how bout you?

[Steve Foss]

Hey lakerunner, glad to see you took the plunge and signed up. Great to have you here.

Just keep putting in your time and sooner or later you'll put some on the ice.

[lakerunner]

I'm not going to admit that I'm a troll but I am. I went to school just outside of GR but my family always had a cabin just west of Cadillac and that is where I spent all of my time. I then moved up to the Great White north and spent 10 years at Mich Tech. But between work and my "Lewis & Clark" attitude (as my yooper wife calls it)I have traveled the all the backroads of MI--from the IN/OH border to Sault Ste. Marie to Ironwood to etc...

[Nate McVey]

Sounds like you have been all over the state! I went to school at CMU and spent a lot of time in the Traverse City/Lake Lelenau area. Nothing wrong with being a troll, it's just the view is so much better from the top of the bridge

[Mike Stark]

so i was out on burntside today from 10;30 to 3;30. only had one take my lure while i was letting line out to reach the bottom. i dont have electronics so i didnt know the fish was there. by the time i relized it was a fish it was too late. that was at 11;30 in about 45fow on a glow jigging rap. no action after that. it was a nice day out on the lake. nice and quiet. people were driving all over van vac...including me.

maybe next time!

mike

[Great Outdoors]

mstar83,

Best time for Burntside is around 7 am until 10:30 or 11 am.

Anything later, say 11:15-2:30 is hit and miss.

You may do all right about 5-8 pm, but who wants to stay out that late.

[fishgutz77]

Surface, what kinda beer ya like? I'm looking at March 1 for another go round on Bside. that way If things really work out I can close things out the 15th as well. catfish you got any specail requests on the beverage front? Might be a tall order but I'm lookin to put one on the ice over 10. If the weather is good maybe thinking over nighter to fish sunday morning as well.

[fishgutz77]

all most forgot- welcome lakerunner hope I see ya on the ice someday.

[Steve Foss]

Hey gutz, a 10 is always a good possibility on Bside. just shoot me an e-mail and we can talk those kinds of beerish details off the forum. As always, my e-mail is in my sig below.

Hey G.O., this winter and last winter I've had my fastest windows of laker activity from about 10:30 to noon and again from about 2 to 3. Guess I better start getting out there at 7 a.m., eh? Mostly I'm not getting on the ice until after 8 or 8:30.

[Surface Tension]

lakerunner welcome aboard.

Fishgutz, lets hope for a day we can fish outside. Temps in 40's and no wind. I'll get in touch with you and we'll set a date.

[lakerunner]

stfcatfish, are you going to be on the ice today? I'm going to try to play hookey from work today and hopefully be out there 1:00ish. I'm thinking about hitting Brownell Island or there is a sunken island west of Waters that I also like. I'll be in a white chevy 1500 w/ a brush-guard and backrack w/ a purple otter. If you see it on the ice, swing by.

[lakerunner]

 Originally Posted By: shiner2367

Sounds like you have been all over the state! I went to school at CMU and spent a lot of time in the Traverse City/Lake Lelenau area. Nothing wrong with being a troll, it's just the view is so much better from the top of the bridge

Shiner2367, did you ever fish Green Lake south of TC for smelt through the ice at night? I used to love doing that--great fun and an awesome fishery for taking kids (if you can keep them up that late). If I can ask, when did you graduate from CMU? I have lots of friends that went there. I also liked hitting the trout lakes between Sigma and Grayling.

[Steve Foss]

lakerunner, no fishing for me today. Had meetings with clients this morning and I'm prepping to fish tomorrow. Supposed to be pretty rough out there tomorrow, though, with lots of wind, so we'll see.

Good luck out there!

[Highway2Allstar]

Hey stcatfish is there any fishhouses on the reefs on North-armski?

[fishgutz77]

Surface, we will hook up with catfish in a couple weeks. I just sold my Fl-8slt and got the 12 with dual beam I cant wait to set that puck in Bside. We need the good weather to do some heavy hole hopp'in. are you game to check out the N arm? I need to get a new tip up my old one has had it too much abuse I guess. I'm looking at the first of March how's that work for you guys?

[Steve Foss]

H2A, I haven't been up the North Arm all winter yet, but I've never seen a permanent up there. In recent years there's been a portable that seems to stay out on the ice for days at a time alongside a very steep shoreline break but I don't know if it's been there this year.

I'll be making my way up there eventually. One of these winters I'll just dedicate myself to the Arm. It's great trout water, and I've had lots of luck up there in open water and in past hard water years.

I've been exploring new waters and new reefs and points on the rest of the lake this winter so far.

gutz, March 1 is working for me. Don't know about Frank. Just gotta pick a date and settle on it and hope for the best weatherwise. I'm booked fishing lakers the weekend of Feb. 22/23 and March 15/16, so March 1/2 is all the open weekend time I have left for Bside other than this weekend. May make the walk into Trout Lake for the later season, though.

[fishgutz77]

Is part of Sag or Snowbank open until the 31st?

[Steve Foss]

I believe Sag is wholly within the BWCAW and as such is open until the 31st (don't have the regs in front of me.)

Snowbank, as a lake partly outside the BWCAW, closes on March 16 for lakers.