Burntside laker report

[Steve Foss]

gutz, if fishing the North Arm is what you're after and you're using sleds, it's really six of one or a half dozen of the other.

Trailering sleds to the public access off North Arm road is a longer drive from Ely and a shorter sled run to fishing. Trailering them to Van Vac is a shorter drive from Ely and a longer sled run to the North Arm.

Because of the snow and drifting we've had in the last few days, I'm not likely to be driving around on the ice in my Toyota 4Runner 4x4, though full-sized 4x4 pickups with good clearance won't have problems.

[caseymcq]

I drove from Van Vac to the north side of Brownell yesterday. There is a plowed road for about 2/3 of the way. After that it wasn't too bad driving in 4wd.

There was a little Toyota car on the road when I drove out. Gone when I went in so either it made it back to shore or that monster lake trout/artic char hybrid that Highway2Allstar talked about New Years Eve ate it.

[grousehunter]

I went out from van vac today for a little while(way to cold for me to stay long) up towards crab creek and as long as i stayed closer to right side of dollar island and beyond it wasnt that bad, but to the right it was drifted pretty bad. Where i went it was no prob for a 4wd s-10 though. Hopefully it doesnt get drifted everywhere since i dont have a sled..

[Great Outdoors]

Huey

Your question about the native Burntside trout is interesting.

The ones we used to catch years back, were rather silver sided with white spots, much like the norm you see in trout from Canada, as opposed to the darker fish (Gilis strain) you now see in Burntside.

The meat was a bright orange in color.

I did catch one about 4 pounds that had the silver sides earlier this year, but heard the DNR put a Mountain Lake strain?? in Burntside also.

I do not know if you could ever catch what could be considered a true native trout from Burntside anymmore unless it was in the 20+ range,wearing a shawl and drool bucket, & sitting in a wheel chair.

We noticed the smelt starting to make a difference in the cisco/whitefish population in the early 70's.

I think you can safely assume the trout started to decline at the same time.

[Huey]

Guys-

Thanks for the info.

Casey- Thanks for the pic.

Great Outddors- Aaaahh. I've been scratching my head over that one all winter. I've been icefishing on Burntside since about 1990 and don't remember the fish looking different over the years. I probably missed the native fish. I do remember some fish tasting differnt though. I've had a couple that were just plain bad, sort of a liver flavor. Most are delicious.

Here's my contribution to the "Burntside report":

I drove out from Van Vac yesterday morning with plans to drive all the way to the North Arm. I chickened out right away, turned around, and took the blacktop. I saw what Casey snapped a pic of. The lake seemed OK for driving, you just could get onto it, without some shovel work as Steve says. I walked out instead. Got skunked.

Today I drove out from Burntside Lodge. It was too cold to walk a long ways. I've never fished in that area. I took a guess and set up on a spot that looked good on the map. Luckily, I got a nice trout on a tip-up right away. That was enough for me to decide to stay for the duration and avoid moving in the cold. I picked up a second fish on a tip-up. Only about a pound but hooked deep so I kept him. I pulled the tip-ups and jigged until dark. Got 1 more little guy. Hated to head home at the end of the day.

Huey

[Steve Foss]

Huey, thanks for the report, and glad to see you got into some fish.

[fishgutz77]

Steve, thanks for the report.

I may have to come up the 8th or the 15th now due to a trip that I forgot that I had planned and guys are counting on me to drive and such. We are going to LOW for 4 days out of Morris Point.

I remember you had somethings booked in March as well how does the 8th look for you and surface T? I definetly want to check out the arm in one of the hot periods of the day morning or afternoon.

[Steve Foss]

I'm booked both weekends, fishgutz. Sorry, man.

[lakerunner]

stfcatfish---you have mail.

[Steve Foss]

lakerunner, so do you.

[Highway2Allstar]

Last weekend I was catching the new hybrid splake-bow's. It's a cross between a a female splake and a male rainbow. Dem sons-o-nitches put up one hellava fight. Also caught a nice walleye in 90 fow water I was jigging a cowbell tipped with a marshmellow