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First Time Burntside Laker Trip This Weekend


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Hello Everyone,

I have been following the Bside and Laker threads for a couple of weeks now and this is my first post of what I hope to be many in the future. My father and I are heading up to Burntside this weekend for our first 'stab' at winter Laker fishing, 3/3, 3/4, and possibly 3/5. Thanks to everyone who has posted their tips, techniques, and fishing reports. We have both been reading up on everything here and are optimistic about our chances. In the summers we have been known to land our limits out in the Apostles, but I realize this is an entirely different beast.

With that being said, my father has a particular location he would like to fish for mostly nostalgic reasons. He is a member of the Listening Point Foundation and we have permission to park and enter the lake via that location - on foot of coarse. I am wondering first - if that road is plowed all year, and second - if anyone has fished down that way this season and/or if they had any luck? I was also wondering if I should persuade him to change his plan and head out from 'Van Vac' (NE of Listening Pt. as far as I can tell) as many of you have stated on this board?

We have a 4WD pickup, albeit a Ford Ranger - is the snow piling up on the ice like it is down here west of the Twin Cities?

We are planning to jigs with spoons and set a tip-up or two - is there any place on the way up in particular we can find smelt? I realize the regular fishing season is over and we might be a bit pressed to find good bait - I really can't remember what the bait shops were like this time of year up that way.

Like I said, we'll be out all day Saturday, and if I have my way, all day Sunday, possibly part of Monday. I lived in Ely for two years while attending school there and I cannot believe all the things I missed out on. Plenty of Grouse, Rainbows, and the occasional eye or Splake, but I never tried my hand at the Lakers ...

Any advice you guys might have would be greatly appreciated. You know approximately where we'll be, if you see a Forrest Green Ranger or Green portable, stop on bye.

Andy

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son_of_fishlein

I live about a half mile from the LP road. The main road,(Van Vac RD, aka County 404) is plowed to the end, but the LP road isn't plowed to the best of my knowledge, so you'll have to walk in. I was on the lake yesterday and didn't have any trouble driving smile.gif, but a small Ranger could be in trouble mad.gif. So far today, no snow in Ely, but the forecast doesn't look good. We have been lucky dodging the snow this year and hopefully the luck holds.

You probably won't find smelt, but we have ciscos and live bait available. Justin G.and I saw some trout circling our lures yesterday, but they weren't very aggressive. You could fish off shore at LP. If not familiar with that area confused.gif, give me a call 218-365-4744 today or tomorrow until 4:30 pm, and I can let you know something about the structure and depths there.

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Great Outdoors,

Thanks for the report. The 'Danger Ranger' is of the '05 ilk, not that small, but then again its not a 1/2 or 3/4 ton either. I will definitely drop you a line tomorrow. I have a few spots in mind right around the point - do you think it is worth giving a shot? We actually dropped a few lines down ice holes kept open from the melt about 5 or 6 years ago in that spot but as I recall we weren't really seriously fishing that day earlier. This is our first actual targeting of lakers and any info on the structure and depths in that area would be great.

I just hope we can get out of the metro tomorrow, we have been getting hit all day with snow.

Thanks again and I look forward to talking with you!

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son_of_fishlein

So far, no snow in Ely as of 9:30 tonight, just alot of wind. We'll see if we make it through unscathed. The trouble with driving on the lake is the snowmobile packing of the snow which makes it hard for a lighter truck to plow through it, you have have to break through it, which can make travel slow, but not impossible. I have a 3/4 ton Dodge deisel with a V boss plow on it, and travel was not a problem with all that weight. cool.gif

Off LP has some varied depths, which have some promise, so fishing there should be as good as many places on Burntside.

I'll be able to tell you more on the phone tomorrow, providing we don't get a foot of snow mad.gif

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How is laker fishing on burntside compared to other lakes in the winter? I'm going to gunflint for the first time next week. I'm already thinking about lakers next year, our success next week will determine if I go back to gunflint. I'm willing to try a different lake for sure though because the resort I'm staying at is SUPER expensive! Burntside is close enough to town where I could just stay at a $30 a night hotel.

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Great Outdoors,

Hey, you and Justin had some lookers and only one taker huh?

As you know, I'm no Laker expert but last time I was there and fish were slow I called em in with a chrome/blue back rattling rap. Once I marked something I would change to a gold Buckshot spoon and they would nip it. I changed to a silver Buckshot and finally hooked up. I got that one to the bottom of the hole before he said good bye.

Just adding that since you all have shared so much. Maybe it'll help put one on the ice for ya some time.

Thanks again guys....

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Wanderer,

We had one taker (about 4 lbs.) yesterday, about 3 pm, in 15-18 foot depth while fishing in about 42 feet of water. grin.gif Saw about 5 others all in less than 22 feet. White glow airplane jig with a white glow squid tube is what the trout hit. Started to see more fish, but bailed out of there with the wind and blowing snow increasing. The trip off the lake at 4:30 was interesting at the Van Vac landing, to say the least. Went back out today to try and re open our road and no go, mad.gif so had to plow another top secret access road on another part of the lake. cool.gif

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WOW!!! Was the snow that deep?? Secret access road, huh...sounds like I need to stop in. grin.gif

Justin

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The snow wasn't that deep, it got hard as a rock where the road was plowed. I tried to open it by Bobby H's fish house where we drove yesterday, and the truck stopped dead within 15 feet, so I had to ride the snowmobile tracks to the secret spot. wink.gif

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Hi Guys,

My dad and I made it back home safely last night from the weekend spent Burntside. Thanks again to everyone, especially Great Outdoors for all the tips and information.

We made it out Sat. morning a little later than expected because we had to register ourselves at the Park. Headed into town to talk with Great Outdoors and get some bait, and we arrived at Listening Point around 10:30 am or so. Ran into Mr. Chuck Wick as he was also heading out onto the lake. Walked out from Chucks Yurt and spent the morning and early afternoon trading stories and trying to get our ancient Lowrance flasher going, to no avail. Chuck took off around 1:30 and borrowed us his Vex FL-18 for the rest of the day. We were marking activity at the bottom pretty regularly in around 50 f.o.w., probably smelt. Around 2:30 my dad saw a bigger blip on the screen near his lure and had a few good hits but couldn't hook up. I immediately reeled up to the action and on my second attempt hooked up with my first Burntside laker! While not a huge fish, he fought harder then I expected and shortly thereafter we landed our Listening Point Laker - 19 inches. We were both using Lindy Frosty Spoons, my dad a piece of cisco, and I had shiner head.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with our eyes glued to the vex and my dad had a couple more hits, but nothing panned out. We tried reeling up and dropping back down over and over when some activity moved in - all lookers. Marked activity all afternoon until right after sunset (by the way, did anyone else see the eclipse sat. night?) and decided to call it a night. We figured our spot had promise for the rest of the trip.

We left the portable over night and returned Sunday. Drilled a mess of holes hoping to move around all day and almost as soon as we sat down, the wind picked up and we were forced to sit in the portable. Nothing was biting, flasher still on the fritz, and the wind . . . WHEW, blowing snow everywhere, tip-ups buried, it was miserable. Walked out just before sundown with the point as a wind breaker and met up with a doe and a couple of fawns in the parking lot.

We decided to do some exploring Monday and take the long way home down the North Shore. Ice build up on Superior was quite impressive and at the French River they were fishin out of portables for Loopers.

All in all, it was great weekend. Great people, great sights, and the weather was great for the most part, excluding Sunday. Long story for only one fish, and although I can't speak directly for my father, I am hooked!

I doubt we'll be able to make it back up this season, but I can't wait for next year! Does Van Vac or any of the other places rent ice houses? Also, does anyone know of any good spots up on the North end of the lake? We did some poking around up there and thought there might be some potential.

Until next year, if anyone knows where I can get a deal on a vex or marcum, I'm all ears. It is definitely on my priority list. Thanks again to everyone and good luck the rest of the season! I post a pic or two soon

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smile.gif Its funny how us rookies to Bside Laker fishing can go through the travelling, looking, confusion, full days in sub-zero temps or hurricane winds, MAYBE catch a fish and say WERE HOOKED! crazy.gif

Most people I know don't get it, but thats fine, I'd rather spene time there with the people who do. Cheers! wink.gif

Its all about the stories.......... smirk.gif

Its fun to hear the same excitement in others. Thanks for sharing!

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There is a great deal on a Marcum LX2 at a place in the area, one left (I bought the other one this morning) grin.gif. Call me, 218-365-4744 tomorrow and I can give you the phone number.

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With B-side it's more than how many fish you catch. (though it's a plus to tie into a laker or two) I'd argue there isn't a prettier lake in the state. It's a great place to spend the day,,,, any day!

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Great Outdoors,

Thanks for the tip once again. I ordered the LX-2 from my portable, way to good of a deal to pass up. I am hoping to try it out this weekend!

How are your new toys working out? Hopefully you guys land a lunker or two before the season ends - Good Luck!

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I think you got the last one he had, great deal like you said, way too good to pass up!!!! smile.gifThe rest of my toys just came in today and am in the process of assembling, Justin G and I should be trying them out on Sunday (but I'm sneaking out on Saturday to build up a lead on Justin) grin.gif

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smirk.gif Sure, Jim, Sure-

What Jim really meant to say was he has a long way to go to catch the "Fish Master"!!! grin.gif I like your trick of having Alan White down there in scuba gear putting frozen fish on your hook!

Justin- a.k.a. "The Hand of Doom"

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Hey, Alan White told me you hired him to take them off my hook so you'd have a chance to keep within a half dozen or so! grin.gifgrin.gifgrin.gifgrin.gifgrin.gifgrin.gifgrin.gif

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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