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

[gritsnham]

Good to see that some fish are being caught can you access the lake anywhere else but van vac and does anyone ever plow roads on bside?

[caseymcq]

There is a short road plowed out from the Wolf Lake Road(County Road 404) Landing.

I went out today. Had a lot of lookers but not takers. A few of the lookers were defintely smelt.

I walked out and I drilled quite a few holes(I would guess 20). The ice thickness was 14" to 16" with the majority of it at 16". The 14" spot looked the best, about 2" of the frozen slush on 12" of good ice. The 16" spots were any where from 3" to 6" of frozen slush on 10" to 13" of good ice. Snow depths varied from 4" to 16".

I drilled holes from where the plowed road stopped headed north and west of there. I was about 100' to 150' north of the snowmobile trail at my furthest point north.

[Steve Foss]

Ahhhh, testing out the new auger, eh?

[caseymcq]

Yes. It cuts like a hot knife through warm butter, and I was trying to locate some structure that isn't on my LM chip but on that huge map I got from a buddy and it was recomened to me by a portly bait peddler . I am almost afraid that the steeper and deeper side of the structure where the good fishing may be is in the same location as the snowmobile trail

[Steve Foss]

I was trying to locate some structure that isn't on my LM chip but on that huge map I got from a buddy...I am almost afraid that the steeper and deeper side of the structure where the good fishing may be is in the same location as the snowmobile trail.

Yep, guy's gotta know who his buddies are.

There's no such thing as good fishing on the snowmobile trail. Um, unless it's a weekday.

[caseymcq]

There's no such thing as good fishing on the snowmobile trail. Um, unless it's a weekday.

Makes me wonder how easily those poles marking the trail come up .

I suppose some one might get suspicious when there is a huge curve in the trail on the lake.

[Dave S]

Originally Posted By: Steve Foss

There's no such thing as good fishing on the snowmobile trail. Um, unless it's a weekday.

Makes me wonder how easily those poles marking the trail come up .

I suppose some one might get suspicious when there is a huge curve in the trail on the lake.

towards open water

[Great Outdoors]

Steve,

The part of the lake I checked that had about 17 inches of ice was not off the Van Vac landing,had never been driven on, and had 12 inches+ of snow covering it.

I'll check it again tomorrow, and go further out to see the consistency of the thickness.

[Great Outdoors]

Don't worry about the snowmobile trail Leprechaun lips, they don't go by that often!

Just go fishing where I told you to go.

[Mike Stark]

how do i go about getting one of those big maps???

[Finns]

Minn. Bookstore has them. Ten buck (I think) last time I bought one.

[Mike Stark]

comes to 18 with tax and shipping

got one on the way

thanks finns

[caseymcq]

Don't worry about the snowmobile trail Leprechaun lips, they don't go by that often!

Just go fishing where I told you to go.

Leprechaun lips... I am probably a foot taller than you .

I think one of the spots you told me to fish is what I am talking about. I will probably try the other spots you recommended before I resort to setting up next to the trail.

[dogsbestfriend]

Nice to be able to read some of these reports that people are at least catching a couple of fish. My question is more of me reaching out for help and advice.... me and my buddy are thinking about heading up to Bside on friday, does anyone have advice for us... neither one of us has fished trout through the ice, let alone been up to Bside, where could we go out of and is it possible to fish without a sled/wheeler, and can you use a power auger up their, thanks in advance.

[caseymcq]

Get a good map. There are several versions and the better ones show a ton more structure. The maps on LakeMaster and Navionics chips that I have seen are not the versions showing a lot of the structure. If you stop at one of the local bait shops there are some knowledgeable people that can give you some good advice. You can go out of the Van Vac Landing or the Wolf Lake Road Landing and drive out a little ways and walk to areas to fish from there. I walked 1/2 mile yesterday. That is about what you might walk from either landing once you drive out on the ice and park.

Power augers are allowed on Burntside. So definitely bring one if you can because you may end up drilling a lot of holes.

There are two threads with a ton of information on gear and lures for lake trout fising. Check these out:

Top Five Laker Lures? (for inland ice)

Inland Lake Trout Gear & Tactics

[Mike Stark]

yes you can fish burntside without a sled or wheeler. it is harder to get away from the crowds though. there is good laker fishing right off the van vac, maybe a 100yards. walk out and find 30-60fow to the left or to the right and you have a chance at catching a laker. just dont set up too close to another house, it will kill your odds of hooking up with a laker.

check out the threads casey put above....lots of great info

[Steve Foss]

Well, the Van Vac road network has expanded, with a plowed road over to a permanent shack near the southern corner formed by Waters and Oliver Island. Anyone with no transportation now can walk down that road towing their gear for half a mile or so, leave the road and spread out along the breaks of Waters and Oliver, which are pretty popular spots.

Please do NOT drill holes on or near any road, because with snow this deep bearing down on the ice, flooding is a likelihood, and it's simply common courtesy to get 30 yards or more off a road before drilling.

Fished today with jmalm, LisaTealz and Xplorer. Hit a nice spot far up the North Arm and found no slush at all on the trip. About a foot of snow on the ice up the Arm too, with lots of dual layer ice. Four inches of frozen slush/ice under the snow, then four more inches of slush, then about 10-12 inches of hard clear ice under that.

It was easy sledding the whole way.

Fishing was pretty slow, with scattered lookers on and off all day but few takers. Two lakers hit the ice, one on a tip-up about 2/3 of the way down the water column baited with a dead cisco and the other on an untipped buckshot spoon. A 3 lber and 1.5 lber for size.

We saw a wolf goofing off when we stopped up the Arm to start drilling holes. I looked back just as we pulled up and about a quarter mile behind us it was trotting/galloping across the snow and ended up rolling around and having fun in plain sight for a couple minutes before heading into the woods.

Very cool.

[fishnhuntnboy]

was out on van vac today and did crappy. I didnt even get a bite. Other than when i was goofing around and fished for smelt, but one of them to my suprise was a laker and was like 8 inches long. so i guess i could say i caught one. other than that i never had a looker.

There were full sized trucks out there all over the place. A coule people did plow a road. There was a truck that plowed one to his perminant and then a 4 wheeler plowed to what looked like for the heck of it. The ice was around 15 inches i would say. there was 4-5 inches of slush ice and the rest was black ice. it was double layered. once drilled through the slush ice there was a pocket then the black ice. so be carefull if you drive out there.

[fishgutz77]

Steve, are you storing up your laker karma for the 31st?

[Steve Foss]

Nope, gutz. Three Bside laker trips so far this young season, four lakers. Looks like I'm actually using up my karma. Probably I'll get skunked my next three times out.

[Wanderer]

Hit a nice spot far up the North Arm and found no slush at all on the trip.

Ohhhh! That's funny right there!

I'm just starting to recover from the slush pit we hit up there on Saturday. The first stuck took three of us four hours to get out. We were working in that foot of snow on top of a foot of water. Hats off to our crew for all the hard work!

That left me with an extra heavy ice block to ride on that got stuck twice more before the day was done.

Sunday morning we spent about a half hour with the spud bar on the tunnel and track carriage to get her lightened up before going out and used HNTNBUX's 600 to relay my house across the slush. I think I could have made it but wasn't taking any chances.

BTW, some people were setting up on our tracks up by the North Arm access. They were walking out, so I don't blame them but in a effort to not come too close at 40-50 mph, I swung out further. Well, I hit more slush and as I was trying to drift my sled back toward our tracks, I passed within maybe 6 feet of about a 14 inch hole in the ice.

Seriously, be careful. About 10 minutes before that, I was watching the sun cast its afternoon glow on the scattered clouds and thanked God for the beautiful day. I thanked him again for watching out for me on that one.

What I didn't know about slush before, I sure do now. I'll post pics once I get my camera to cough em up. Bad USB cord, I hope.

[Steve Foss]

Tracy, I see you came off the North Arm Road public access. We didn't get up that far. Where did you hit the slush? We came over from Waters Island up the usual route and stopped just over half way up the Arm.

I've found slush on the Arm even on a good year, and was surprised we didn't find any today.

Sorry it was so tough on you guys last weekend, but thanks for the report. I'd toyed with the idea of going up to the North Arm Road access this morning instead of sledding up there from Van Van, and I'm now MIGHTY glad I didn't.

[Mike Stark]

hey steve,

did your group get two total? how deep were you set up in?

[Steve Foss]

Two total. From 35 to 60 FOW.

[Jim Almquist]

I feel for you Tracy cause I have been there and done that and my back if finally stating to feel good. It was a pleasant surprise at how nice it was to get around even though I had a 2 up sled with the wife and I plus towing Otter lodge and a Otter cabin with all are gear. There is plenty of snow but I never did see any slush and I was always the last sled. I think a big 4 wheeler or one with chains could have ran in our tracks without too much problem.It was great to get out again on Burntside even if I never set the hook (paying dues) and seeing the wolf made the trip even more of a treat.

[ripstick]

Hey Jim, I tried to get a hold of that guy today, but no luck. Left a message for him, should get wed eve. See what happens. Shoot me a email [email protected]

[fishgutz77]

Nice job steve, save alittle of that old trout magic for the bash. It's nice to a least release a fish when a guy gets out even if ya don't get and eater.

Are going to get out and fish away from Van Vac this year or are you and surface going to hang at the bash headquarters?

[Wanderer]

Yeah, which access to use was a coin toss for us too. We lost.

You all stopped short of it going up the arm. The big spot is just past the small island on the left, heading up. Right as the bay necks down. It's probably an honest 100 yards north to south and 200 yards east to west (if memory serves).

I was going 40 mph when I got stuck. Too much weight. Jim, you and Lisa never would have made it through as that's how we were riding (2 up w/ 2 houses).

On the way out Saturday night I was alone with just my Voyager and I still couldn't make it skirting the broke trail. Too much ice on my sled and gear. Fortunately I got on a trail so it only about an hour to get out.

I was the only guy wearing tall rubber boots so consequently I was the only one with dry feet that day. I think Neighbor_Guy went borderline hypothermic. He was wet from the chest down. By Noon all three of the guys were stripped and drying their goods in their shacks just so they could get wet again.

We went to town though and had a blast making last call at the laundromat. Yay! Memories!!!!!

I did ride the narrows and it was nice. I'm glad you guys made the right choice. I don't want anybody else to hit that without warning. That fresh powder covers things up well.

Wish the fish would've cooperated better for you. But I'd give up a laker to see another wolf up there - especially how you saw him for a while and playing about.

Any suggestions on why my computer isn't connecting with my camera? A setting being off? Windows XP and Nikon Coolpix L11. It started with our daughter's MP4 player I guess.

[lakerunner]

I was out on Sunday morning to the east of Van Vac. I setup on a decent gravel break that goes from roughly 20' down to 60' relatively quickly. I managed two lakers before 11:30 with 2 others on and hooks pulled out and one that snapped 12#test.

Steve, is your Exciter black? Were you fishing with one other guy/gal on a sled to the east of Van Vac and pulled up and left around 10ish? If so that was me that setup about 100 yards back towards Van Vac. I was thinking of walking over but I was whooped from the walk out.

I had roughly 6-8 inches of black ice, 2" of slush and then 3-4" of harder packed snow/slush. No water geysers.

G.O. very nice to meet you and chat with you even if it was past store hours. Thanks for the tips. If I see your truck on the ice (or you see mine) swing by, I usually have a beer or two with me and sometimes some apple pie.

[Great Outdoors]

Tracy,

Where exactly did you hit the slush hole??

Was it just off the north arm landing by Slim Creek??

NOTICE TO ALL: NEVER TRAVEL TO THE RIGHT (EAST SIDE) OF THE TWO ISLANDS AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE NORTH ARM NARROWS.

The first one has a cabin facing south, the second being basically a large rock island with only a few trees on it.

There is a reef there, and the water never freezes solidly.

You will drop through if you go there.