Burntside Question for Stfcatfish

[Netman]

My family and I are heading to Burntside Lodge for a week of fishing / relaxing June 12-19. I have just recieved my "Burntside Lodge Guide Book" and under the fishing section it basically states that if I want to catch fish I should fish somewhere else. Is it really that bad? I have two boys with who are good bass fisherman (and good walleye guys too if they are biting) and they are rather concerned.

I was also wondering how the lakers bite at that time of the year?

Thanks in Advance

[Steve Foss]

Netman, lakers bite great that time of year. You can troll long-line with deep diving plugs if you don't have downriggers or dipsy divers, and you may not need to get down to the thermocline, which usually forms about 25 feet down but some summers doesn't form at all and most summers doesn't form until July.

You can also vertical jig lakers with any heavy jigging spoon, bucktail jigs and the like. Quite a few folks vertical jig in summer.

Walleyes can be found on the reefs from 12-20 FOW, give or take, and there are good numbers of VERY healthy fish, but the water is so clear that the fish are spooky, so once you find them they aren't always that easy to catch.

Smallies are there in good numbers, though, and if you like fishing for them Bside has enough to make it interesting. They'll probably be off their spawning beds by that time in June (not for sure, just probably), and may have moved into slightly deeper water.

I think Bside Lodge is just taking good care of their customers by keeping expectations realistic. Fact is, if catching good numbers of 'eyes is important to you, Shagawa is a much better bet than Bside any time of year.

[Netman]

Well now that sounds much more positive! I'll let the boys know all may not be lost.

BTW - I was thinking of vertical jigging for lakers with jigs and frozen smelt like I have done in the Quetico; am I off track???

[Steve Foss]

Nope, not off track at all. That'll work. More hassle than you need, though, IMO. Any bucktail jig tipped with a powerbait (power minnow, power smelt, power tube) will get you lakers with less rigamarole than live bait, as will a decent sized Kastmaster spoon or sonar or, for that matter, the largest size jigging Rapalas.

Fact is, a number of vertical jigging fans I've known or read don't bother tipping any lures at all. It's the flash and the chase that gets the lakers pumped up.

I've been leaving my winter jigging lures untipped more and more often of late and have been having more success than I did before. Allows the lure to keep its great action instead of deadening the action a bit with bait on there.

But we each do what we're comfortable and confident with, and the rig you mentioned will produce lakers as well as anything I mentioned.

[Netman]

Thanks Stfcat, Power Bait it is!

[Great Outdoors]

Netman,

Don't worry about Burntside and catching fish, especially that time of year.

Stop in the shop before heading out on the lake (Lonnie at Burntside Lodge will tell you where my shop is and phone number).

There is no reason that you and your sons will not pound the heck out of the fish that week.

All you need are some sound tips that I can help you with.

I've lived on the lake at a permanent residence for 35 years,(59 if you count having a cabin there for 24 prior years) and fish it almost daily from the opener until October 1st.

[Jackpine Rob]

Netman:

Talk to GO - although he is a crusty old fart, he knows a thing or two about Burntside, and can steer you in the right direction for you and the kids to maybe catch a fish or two.

[Steve Foss]

That's a great deal, GO. I'm sure Netman will be happy to get those tips!

[Great Outdoors]

Jackpine Rob,

Suave, dashing, and debonair, yes!!

Crusty old fart, oh paleeeeeeeeeze!!!!

[hanso612]

Burntside is a hard lake to fish for first timers. You are doing the right thing by looking for help well in advance. Many lodge guests are disapointed by the fishing because they didn't do their homework. Burntside is huge, 7000 acres, and if you count Twin, 11,000 This size works against many first timers. Too much time is spent traveling and not enough time with lures in front of fish. Another huge psycological obsticle is the clarity of the water. It is just hard to stay confident when you can see the bottom in 15 feet of water and not see a living thing near your bait. There is little moving water on Burntside and no shiner bite. Locals will be pounding other lakes in the area the week you are up there and you will hear reports of huge catches of small males stacked up below falls in the area. No bite like this occurs on Burntside, so when you are back at the lodge reading the "Fish Wrapper" it's hard not to think you are fishing the wrong lake.

Fisherman who ply the shallows with topwater looking for bass are often disapointed as well. Burntside has tons of tiny smallmouth in the rocks but unless you move off the first break you will catch nothing but these dinkers hiding from the real fish in Burntside. If you insist on trying old ways Burntside can be bitterly cold. They don't call it the dead sea for nothing.

All this aside, Burntside is the most Beautiful lake in the world. Solving it's mysteries is a lifelong endeavor. but when it gives up it's secrtets, hold on because you will be handsomely rewarded.

I have three boys 10,8,and six years old. They have all caught fish in Burntdside. They love the adventure of taking a trip up the Tamarac or into Twin lakes or catching giant suckers on the Burntside river. Find a reef and at dusk you can't

keep the rockbass off your bait. So there are many opportunities to get the skunk off if you haven't done your homework. Hans

[Netman]

Thanks GO for the offer. I've been to your place a few times to get bait in the past so I'll stop by and introduce myself, lake map (and bait money) in hand.

Thanks too to Hans for the insight. Sounds like low light and windy overcast days may be the times to hit her hard. I can see us bouncing over to Shag as well.

I noticed the Twin Lakes there, what do you fish for in there? I'm bringing the canoe and I was going to head in that direction for an adventure with the boys.

[Great Outdoors]

Netman,

You can catch fish in Burntside everyday of the week, overcast, sunny, etc, unless it's dead calm, then it gets tougher.

[Netman]

I'm definetly liking the positivity GO! I'm liking it a lot!

[hanso612]

Twin is a long haul from any of the lodges, but once you are on the dead river and out of the wind its a super enjoyable paddle. I took a 16 foot tracker with a 40 horse up there last year with no problem. My parents take the pontoon boat, but for that adventure feel, nothing beats a canoe.

Very few fish in the dead river, but lots of bass pike and some walleyes in Twin. This is the place to fan cast a search bait for what ever bites. You need to target a specific species out in the main lake and stick to a plan. Crappies are also in Twin and around docks at Burntside lodge.

Fish fast, fish early, and fish deep and you will do well in many parts of Burntside. By fast, I mean pick out a milk run of likely targets and move on quickly. Rarely do I pull more than a few fish of a single reef. Windy days are great especially if it has been blowing from the same direction for a couple of days. Water from big bays pushes to one end of the lake and refills the basin in narrow pinch down areas. Look for smelt in these areas of moving water and match the hatch.

June has been a hard month for me for walleyes on Burntside, it gets better after the lake stratifies. June is a great month to fish lakers.(tons of great info in FM archive) Big pike are still shallow but have moved from back bays to rocky points adjacent to big water. Troll something huge!

Shagawa is down stream from the hatchery and there is a great evening bite longlineing stickbaits in front of the Burntside river. If your heart is set on a walleye fish fry, try there, or were the Kiwisiwi dumps in to White Iron. If you are looking for a trophy, gut it out on Burntside but you have a high likelyhood of getting skunked.

Burntside locals are notorious for leaving set lines off their docks, very illegal, but it does point to a proven method. If you want real adventure for the kids pitch a tent on an island and soak a sisco and take turns sleeping. Great way to pick up the ever elusive pout as well. Hans.

[Damage, Inc.]

 Originally Posted By: Great Outdoors

Netman,

You can catch fish in Burntside everyday of the week, overcast, sunny, etc, unless it's dead calm, then it gets tougher.

Man, that's the funniest thing I have read all week!!!!

[Netman]

You know, I imagine if you've spent a life time on a body of water, even one as complex as B-side, you will learn it's quirks and secrets. When I'm not getting bit on a lake I know that there are fish feeding somewhere and therefore vulnerable to some presentation that I have not thought of, so I keep trying different tactics until I figure it out or run out of time. Now, if I fished a lake as much as Great Outdoors has B-side over the years and lived there like he does I know that time wouldn't be as large an issue and patterns would emerge eventually through hard work and observation.

Maybe someday I'll know a lake as well as GO knows B-side and I'll be able to make bold statements like that.

[Great Outdoors]

Damage, Inc.

Spoken like a true amateur!!

But I'm sure you do just fine at the trout ponds at the sport shows.

[Steve Foss]

Netman, somehow you've opened the floodgates and are getting more good info about Bside walleyes than I've seen shared on this board in the five or so years I've been here.

Let's keep it on topic, gentlemen.

[walleye365]

catfish how thick is the ice on Bside is extsion needed. are you going to be out the 8th or 9th.

[Great Outdoors]

Burntside ice about 20 inches where I've been fishing.

[walleye365]

thanks GO for the info how about you. going to be fishin this weekend

[Great Outdoors]

Tomorrow morning, 7-11, if the wind isn't 700 mph!!

[walleye365]

sounds like its been windy,how has the weather been up there? it doesnt look to bad, but im not up there and the weather man over here can be hit or miss.

[Steve Foss]

It's not windy today and it's not supposed to be windy the next few days. Cold after today, though, with lows from -15 to -20 and highs in the single digits.

[walleye365]

thanks for the forecast catfish. hows fishin for you

[Steve Foss]

I did OK last Friday with a 2 and a 4, and others reported catching fish on Saturday and Sunday. Haven't been out since. I'll be out in another day or so, though, and will post a report.

[chaffmj]

Does the season end on Sat the 15th or Sun the 16th for lakes outside of the bwca?

[Steve Foss]

Sunday the 16th, chaff. You've got two full weekends still to go.

[ditchpickle6996]

I think it's Sunday the 16th.

[chaffmj]

 Quote:

Sunday the 16th, chaff. You've got two full weekends still to go.

Thanks Steve. Now can you tell me which weekend the fishing will be better? How about the weather?