Burntside Fishing/Conditions Report...(updated-3/30/09)

[Mike Stark]

made it out today around 8am after a little class from GO. took a while to haul out and set up.

had lots of lookers and only a couple takers. had two on, but both got off. nothing big but would have been good eaters.

fishing 45fow. tons of smelt in the bottow 15fow. most fish came up from the bottom, some came in around 30fow.

both fished that i hooked were on a #7(i think) pimple glow...not tipped with any meat

had lookers on pretty much everything else.....airplane jigs...rapalas, buckshot spoons

nothing on the tip up with rainbow.

best time was between 10:30am to 12pm...fished from around 10am to 5pm

12in of ice....7 of it is snow/slush ice and 5 are good clear ice.

lots of people right of of the van van...full size trucks in all....dont know how much ice they got on the road but i think im going to wait a while before driving out.

all in all good cold day

might be out tomorrow

[Tullibee]

Lindyrigga and I also fished Van Vac today from about 12 to 530 in about 50-55 fow. Lindyrigga hooked up on a solid 3 pounder about 30 minutes into fishing. Another hour or so later I hooked and lost one. No flags all afternoon though. I would agree on the waiting a bit before driving out. Not much solid clear ice out there yet.

Too bad I missed you out there Mike. I was thinking that you would be out there but never took the time to go walk around and chat (too cold). I will be back out there tomorrow afternoon in a orange and black team wild 3 man shack so stop by and chat if you would like.

[Sailordude]

Hi all! I've been watching all the talk about Burntside and it sounds like a good place for a novice to get the Laker bug. I've been fishing around the Twin ports for the past 10 years but got the hard water itch 2 years ago and was fortunate to catch many Coho's that winter just off the Lester (maybe again this year) Thanks for all the valuable info, many questions, but will only ask one. I have all the gear I think I'll need cept for a sled or a wheeler. Have seen where the landing is on the map and sounds like 50 fow is fishable (thanks Tullibee) My question is can I pull my gear that far out? I see the recomend not to drive out. Thanks again for the tips!! Tom

[Great Outdoors]

mstark83,

What part of Burntside did you guys finally end up fishing??

[Steve Foss]

Sailordude, welcome to HSO/FM, and to laker fishing. Great to have you interested in both!

It's only a couple hundred yard walk to 50 FOW off the Van Vac landing, and you can then turn left or right and walk up or down shore to get away from crowds, if there are crowds.

Mike and Tullibee, thanks for the reports!

[Great Outdoors]

Steve,

About 9 houses in close proximity to each other at 5 tonight off the Van Vac landing.

You will have crowds, best to take a 20 minute hike and get away from people.

[Wanderer]

Mike and Tullibee, and G.O.

Have the conditions on the lake gotten to the point a guy could run a wheeler with chains?

One of our crew's sled broke down last week so we're 4 guys and 3 sleds at this point. Thinking if the slush firmed up, he could follow on the wheeler?

Thanks, and congrats for even making the opener this year. Brrr..

[Great Outdoors]

If you break a path for the wheeler with the sleds, you should be able to pull that off unless you hit some massive slush hole.

[Sailordude]

Thanks Steve, I see you all over the place on this forum, also gleened some info for your postings. Got word of this forum last year and have come to realize it's value. I grew up in the Fish lake area but left for the Navy out of Hermantown in 1979, retired in 99 and moved back here from San Diego. It was fishing culture shock for me after those years away... Trying to make up for lost time! Been around the world once and to many different ports, but by far we live in the BEST. It's great to have the dellema of fishing Chequamegon Bay this saturday or heading up there to a new spot. Thanks for all your info and the welcome.

[grousehunter]

i think you could do it. I probably walked around a mile out today and didn't hit a single ounce of slush on foot. I'm not sure if a wheeler would break through, but it seemed pretty firm.

[Steve Foss]

No prob, Sailordude. Reliable, useful info is what we're here for.

While I have hit a lot of far-flung spots on Bside, I've ice fished the stretch of shore along Van Vac landing many times, and it's produced lakers as well as spots miles away from the landing.

If you see a cluster of houses, just move up or down shore a couple hundred yards at least, and target 40-60 FOW. The 50-foot line meanders in and out along that whole shore, creating bends and turns, with some points and humps not shown on any map.

More than a few times I've been sitting in my portable with lakers on the electronics and on the ice while wheelers and sleds whiz by heading for spots far away. Later, I hear reports from some of those folks that they caught nothing, while the Van Vac folks did well. Particularly true as long as you move far enough away from the clusters of shacks. Well, I've had some very good days far away from Van Vac too, but it can all be good. Just depends.

[Mike Stark]

GO..we were at the spot you showed us..worked out alright...seems like we didnt miss a whole lot...and there were for sure fish in the area.

on my vex there was a couple soild green lines at 40feet for most of the day.

was this smelt? the only reason i didnt think they were is because they didnt move around and come in and out.

might go back out today....wait for it to warm up just a little bit 39.6 below...COLD!

my ford is KILLING ME...will not start AGAIN...getting a block heater put in next week..im tired of be at my SUV's mercy

i want to be laker fishing

[Steve Foss]

I hit the area near the mouth of the Dead River today. Put in about six hours on the ice and saw four lakers. Caught two of them, both clipped-fin 20-22 inchers.

Sure was great to get out finally. No wind at all until noon or later, and that made it easy to get stuff set up at sunrise, -40 or not.

I had 10 inches of solid ice with about 8 inches of snow on top. There was no slush where I was, but I saw darker snow about 50 yards away and walked over. There was about four inches of slush under a couple inches of crusted snow, but it wouldn't hold me up so the cold spell didn't take care of it. But all the places in the Dead area I ran over where there was slush last week were tightened up completely.

Drilling holes brought up some seeping water, ending up creating about two inches of slush under the snow. Top of the hard ice was milky, bottom six inches was clear.

Untipped Chubby Darter (glow/black/red) was the lure of choice today. It caught both fish. They were very reluctant, and I had to work with both fish for a few minutes before they got mad enough to hit it.

One of the others I got up to within 10 feet of the ice and sight fished it with all the flaps over the windows to darken the Otter. Very cool as always. Looked like a 10 lber in the water so probably was about half that.

Warmer weather on the way!

[Mike Stark]

nice work steve...glad you got a couple on the ice..how deep were you fishing? did you move at all or stay on one spot? was there anyone else fishing around there? when did you catch them?

i think im going out tomorrow to fight the crowds...maybe travel light and hike away from van vac...just now got the ford started after putting the charger on it for a few hours...now im thinking its a battery issue

[Steve Foss]

Well, three inches of snow overnight, with 1-2 more expected yet this morning. On the bright side, that'll smooth out the staked lake trails, where frozen slush ruts have made for rough travel.

On the dark side, it won't help to add more weight to the ice, so the slush could get worse in some places. And so it goes.

Good fishing today, everyone!

[Casey Sunsdahl]

darn that old man winter! ill be up there to try my luck tommorrow, ill post my report. hoping it doesn't involve getting the gear and sleds stuck!

[JBMasterAngler]

Does anyone plow roads on burntside? I won't be doing any laker fishing until march...but with all the snow that has hit the north, the grand marais lakes I want to fish might be in-accessible...so wondering if I'd be able to drive around on burntside since it's so much more popular if I was to make the switch to ely instead.

[Steve Foss]

I had easy sledding everywhere I went today.

Had to dodge a LOT of shelters along Van Vac. I counted 21, more shelters than I've ever seen there even during the Burntside Bash. I fished near the bay coming out of Crab Creek and could see seven more shelters within view, and the C.O. that checked me said Wolf Lake Road access was very busy as well.

He said not a single person he'd checked had caught any fish, and I ran into a guy I know at the landing who said the C.O. had told him the same thing. That's a lot of people paying into their account with the lake trout gods!

This guy saw three, had one hit but couldn't stick it. I saw two and had no bites. Packed it in about 1:30 because the fish were so sluggish. Hopefully folks fared better in the afternoon.

Anyway, there's a foot of snow on the ice in most places, and there are some pockets of slush, but I didn't have any problems heading north off the staked trail toward Crab Creek, not did I have any problems yesterday up by the Dead River, though as reported I did find some shallow slush up there.

This was all in wide open areas, of course.

JB, there are a bunch of short roads plowed off Van Vac, and it's pretty likely as the ice thickens there'll be a longer one. Most years, contractors who have winter work on islands keep a road or two plowed. It's just a bit early for that, not to mention the slush was so bad early.

[Mike Stark]

went out today from 10:30 to 3. marked one fish, thats it. tons of smelt. went over to oliver island to avoid the crowds. there was a boat load of people fishing this morning. it thinned out pretty quick in the afternoon though. did hit a couple pockets of slush walking over but nothing too bad.

taking a day or two off from fishing....lets the crowds die down and let the fishing pick up

[Dave S]

Steve,

how far out are the roads going out from Van Vac? I'm still hoping to make it for the Bash. If it snows, I have driveways to clean out so hopefully there won't be any snow events that weekend.

[grousehunter]

went out today and picked up one 18 incher. They were very sluggish..not wanting to chase with a bad case of lock jaw today. Hit some shallow slush where it use to not be. Hopefully there will be more wiling biters tommorow.

[Steve Foss]

LEP: The roads don't go really far offshore, but they do go up and down shore. By the Bash it's anybody's guess how far off they might go.

[Mike Stark]

folks were driving on only 12in of ice today...7 of that was snow/slush ice. i really hope no one does anything stupid and puts a truck through

give the ice some time its not safe to be driving your truck on the ice

[Mike Stark]

grousehunter

how deep were you fishing?

[grousehunter]

55 feet.

[Great Outdoors]

Steve,

I checked Burntside tonight where I had only found about 8 inches total (with a double layer) on Christmas Eve.

Top layer, semi hard was about 9 inches, then about 1 inch between that and the second layer.

The drill battery went dead before drilling through the bottom layer, but seemed to be over 17 inches total when that happened.

Don't know how far this extends out, but was about 40 feet from shore. Will check further on Monday.

This was in one spot, don't take it as a green light to be driving all over the lake.

[Steve Foss]

This was in one spot, don't take it as a green light to be driving all over the lake.

G.O., I imagine all the traffic even before opener packed down that Van Vac area immediately off the landing and she got thicker faster. We know a foot of snow on most unsheltered parts of the lake of course means the rest of the lake will thicken slower.

Away from any trails/traffic, I had 10 inches of solid ice near the Dead on Friday and 14 inches where I fished yesterday NW of Waters Island.

I don't plan on driving on Bside myself anytime soon. Maybe in a week or two, and then probably only along whatever road system is maintained by Van Vac. There's just a bit too much snow, and for sure too much variability in ice thickness/quality right now to suit me.

[Mike Stark]

go

the spot you showed me had 12in of ice only 5 of that was clear.

i saw a truck in that general area yesterday off the plowed road.

how much ice is there on the road?

[Mike Stark]

anyone make it out today???

i think im going out on tues.

day of service tomorrow

[grousehunter]

I went out for a while...one 21 incher. on #7 pimple..54 ft. of water.