Ely Area Lake suggestions??

[Bassboy1645]

trying to decide on a Lake to learn this summer....I fished shag last summer and I was thinking white Iron or Fall for eyes?? Burtside looks liek a neat lake to learn but I hear its kind of a dead sea. Any lakes to try with decent access closer to town?? I got a bigger boat. Thanks

[Great Outdoors]

Burntside is not the Dead Sea!!

Well, maybe for the likes of JustinG!!

[JustinG]

Well, Well, Well.

I haven't checked in here for about a week, but I should have known you would be trying to dish out smack talk, Jim! Don't worry, Bassboy- I had the girls at Subway put a tracking device in Jim's baloney sandwich last week, so I can let you know exactly where Jim is catching those cigar walleyes and eelpout on Burntside!

Give Birch Lake a try....

JustinG

[Great Outdoors]

G Man

I hate to rain on your parade, but that tracking device has long since taken a tour of the Ely sewer system But it's good to see that you are going to great lengths to find out where I catch those Burntside "cigars"

[Steve Foss]

BB, Burntside has a good population of 'eyes. The water is very clear and, as with most clear-water lakes, the 'eyes can be spooky.

Jim has a lifetime of solid knowledge about Bside walleyes. Maybe we can get him to open the rusty recesses of his mind and put out a few tips.

Biggest 'eye I've caught in the last several years came out of Bside. It was the week after spring opener (surface water still very cold) and I was casting a small orange/gold countdown Rapala over a shallow reef near deep water on the North Arm, hoping for lakers, when a 28.5-inch fat girl piggy still full of eggs smacked it. She tipped the scales at 9 lbs.

Luckily, we caught two 5-6 pound lakers later in the afternoon, so the day wasn't a total loss. Sorry, I'm a laker dude, not a walleye dude.

Seriously, though, I've yet to see a predator fish come out of Bside that wasn't fat and healthy, with all that forage to chow on.

[Bassboy1645]

haha I hear ya...That lake is just soo cool lookign though I might have to explore it anyways.

HEY G.O.!!! With the smelt and cicoes is it best to mimic the forage and say cast cranks and troll the basins for suspended fish?? Or can these fish be commonly caught on something else like spinners or jigs?? Are there any techniques that outproduce the others in general??

[Steve Foss]

BB, Jim has far more Bside experience than I do, so I'll let him help you out there.

I just responded because there are no ciscos left in Bside. The smelt have fully taken them over. It's been a number of years since the DNR has found any cisco in their survey nets.

[Great Outdoors]

Bassboy1645

Like Steve said, no Ciscos left in the lake.

Sounds like I'll have to try and break you of that bad habit of throwing crank baits Burntside is a great lake to fish, lotsa action, but catching Walleyes takes some patience. Most of them are in the bays early on, then move out to the reefs when the water temp hits about 64-65 degrees, 12 feet down. In fact, you won't see any fish on a reef until this temperature appears !! Then comes the 2-3 week spurt and you can get some nice Walleyes. Smallest caught last year were a few 18 inchers, biggest just shy of 31 inches. This year will be surprised if I get any smaller than 21 inches. Chartreuse and green jig with a minnow or leech. Stop in the shop, I'll show you what works.