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

[Neighbor_guy]

My feet are still giving me problems today, . We opted to try the North Arm access to avoid the potential for the big slush spots (shorter trip), only to run head long into the worst slush I have ever seen in my life. Not cool. As Wanderer said, early signs of Hypothermia and shock for a few of us.

Closed circuit to Wanderer...

If you have pics you want posted, I can try them from here, should it come to that.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, Tracy. I know the spot. I've hit slush there in other years and wonder if it's a regular slush hole. The wolf and the good company made it a great day, and putting a couple lakers to bed in my freezer last night didn't hurt, either.

Patrick, my Exciter is black indeed, but that wasn't me. I wasn't fishing Sunday and haven't fished near Van Vac yet this year.

[Xplorer]

Steve,

Sorry we had to pull out so early but it was just one of those days. Really enjoyed the wolf, in fact as I went back I looked at the area that he was rolling in the snow, and it was a spot that someone had been fishing previously. Must have smelled either blood or cisco. It sure was having fun tho. We saw several other sets of tracks that crossed the ice on the way out.

Good luck out there, sure glad we didnt get into that slush pocket, sounds nasty!!

[Steve Foss]

Sometimes those things just happen, Dad.

Oh, BTW, if you need your little camo foldup chair, you know where to find it.

[Xplorer]

Guess I was in a little too big of a hurry.

[tedl]

Van vac access is very very slippery. I had trouble slowing down to turn into the lot, I just pick up speed missing the driveways. Do they ever sand the hill?

[Steve Foss]

Yes they do.

[tedl]

Good!!!

[Wanderer]

Tracy,

Where exactly did you hit the slush hole??

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

As the bay necks down heading up through the wide part. Just past the small island on the left. The slush may extend all the way across the bay at that point for all I know. The deeper part was closer to the island (left side) but still pretty much in the middle of the bay.

The open ice spot was pretty much straight out from the North Arm landing about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way to the other side. There's a pretty good ice chunk above the snow out there about in the middle as well.

[PiedmontAngler]

Hey guys, we are heading up to YMCA Camp DuNord on Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It's just south of the access on the B-side North Arm. Any recommendations on where might be the best place to get onto the lake? Most of us have Snowmobiles with tubs. DuNord doesn't allow access thru their property.

Sorry to hear about the slush problems. I figured that is right where we will be going, so I thought I'd better ask some experts.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

As always, if you're going to be up there, LOOK for the flag... Stop by to say hi.

~PA

[Steve Foss]

You'll either have to brave the slush (it appears from what Wanderer said to stretch pretty much all across the Arm at that point) or trailer your sleds to a different access. We've got cold weather coming back by Thursday (-20 lows) so it's very possible the tracks used last weekend through the slush will be frozen enough for safe travel. Also, there's poor parking at the North Arm Road access unless someone has plowed out the lot this year. Most years it's not plowed, and you have to park at a wide spot along North Arm Road where the access is. Not the safest since lots of drivers who visit the camps there aren't familiar with the road and usually drive too fast for conditions.

You might also get ahold of du Nord and see if any of their staff or guests who like to snowhshoe would shoe out and pack a trail across the slush. It doesn't sound like it's overly wide, and a few back-and-forths by a handful of snowshoers side-by-side may pack the snow enough so the cold can tighten up the slush underneath.

If you do opt for a different access you have three possibilities, but only two that matter because of your location.

On the the Echo Trail on the way back to Ely from du Nord is a (righthand) turn for Passi Road. Toward the end of that road there's a public access that's about a 15-minute drive from du Nord. I've used it in the last few days and had no problems with slush. There isn't room for many vehicles/trailers to park, though, and there's no road out onto the ice so parking on the ice isn't a good option. There's one very steep hill on Passie that will require 4x4 to get up in winter when pulling a trailer. Pulling a two-sled trailer, my V6 Toyota 4Runner in 4x4 had no trouble with the hill last week as long as I kept up my RPMs.

If you try the Passi Road access and there's no room to park, you can get back on the Echo Trail and continue toward Ely and use the Van Vac access along Bside's south shore. To get there from du Nord, you'd head back along the Echo Trail and turn right when you hit Cty. 88 (Grant McMahan Blvd) instead of turning left for Ely. You continue west on Cty. 88 around Shagawa and take a right on Van Vac Road (Cty. 404), and the access is up about a mile on your right. There are no slush problems along Van Vac. There's lots of parking, and if both lots are full vehicles have been pulling trailers and parking them on the ice near the access. Van Vac would be about half an hour's drive from du Nord.

There's another public access over on the lake's western side off Wolf Lake Road, but there's no need to go that far.

[PiedmontAngler]

Thanks Steve I'll pass the info along to the rest of the group. Perhaps we'll see ya on the lake.

~PA

[Mike Stark]

made it out today from 8:30am to 3:30pm. iced one little 1lber. fishing 50fow with a #5 rapala glow. had a couple other lookers and one nibbler that would not commit. fished anywhere from 18fow to 64fow. moved around quite a bit. it was slow and i needed to keep myself busy. not too many folks out today.

ice was very inconsistant. some areas no slush ice all clear ice. some areas half and half. some areas mostly slush ice. i still found a couple spots(not far from the road) with only 12 to 14in of ice, with half of the ice being slush/snow ice. it will be a little bit till i drive on the ice, the conditions vary way too much for me.

[PiedmontAngler]

Steve, mstark83, others...

If we can access the No Arm just to the south of du Nord do you think we will miss the majority or all of the slush?

~PA

[Mike Stark]

i have not been up that way...sorry cant help you

im sure someone will chime in

[magic_minnow]

Hey all: I'm a newbie to lakers. Just wondering what your GO TO lure is for lakers. Thanks!

[PiedmontAngler]

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

[Wanderer]

~PA,

According to MapQuest, Camp DuNord is on the main basin of the North Arm. That is well south of the slush.

Really though, it could be better conditions by the time you're there since we opened it up so much. Just don't hit it overloaded or too slow.

We knew we should have taken a trial run with just a couple machines and no gear but alas, laker fever made us lose our senses.

[magic_minnow]

Thanks PA! That info is worth its weight in lakers!

[magic_minnow]

Ok another quick question for anyone:

this may sound stupid, but when fishing w/ tipups, what kind of hook do you use? I would imagine it would be a similar setup for pike. I use Quick Strike rigs for pikes, would QS also work for lakers? Or would it be better to use a circle hook or something? What size should my hook be? If this question is too stupid to answer its ok

[Mike Stark]

check out this thread. there is some info there.

Tip Up

[magic_minnow]

Thanks for the info mstark! I feel like everytime i read through it I have more questions than answers! lol! Steve Foss is a real knowledgeable guy! Hats off to you!

[Mike Stark]

keep askin and you will get answers....this site as an amazing amount of info to be shared

[caseymcq]

...Steve Foss is a real knowledgeable guy! Hats off to you!

Alright, how much did he pay you?

He is a pretty smart guy.

[Steve Foss]

Alright, how much did he pay you? He is a pretty smart guy.

Too smart to pay somebody to tell a truth they were going to tell anyway.

Fact is, there are plenty of people who know more about lakers than I do. While I rarely ice fish for anything but lakers once the season opens, I've only been doing this six years, and there are folks on this board who have been at it a lot longer.

[Casey Sunsdahl]

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.

hey that was me and the phazer! my partner got a little antsi so we moved on.. should have stayed hey.. lots of baitfish there! you had the purple otter?

[fishgutz77]

Foss, I hope I don't catch you rolling in that heady compliment like that wolf you guys saw. LOL!!!!!!!!!!

[fishgutz77]

If you look in that avatar pix above that is the entrance to the north arm. that one was just under 30"s on the chubby darter

[Great Outdoors]

Wanderer,

I believe I told your fishing partners to be very careful about slush on Burntside, in fact not risk going up the North Arm when they stopped by on Friday.

They said you really wanted to go there, so perhaps they forgot to tell you this tiny, irrelevant bit on info!

[Neighbor_guy]

We came down from the north, you said not to go up.

You know what they say though.....

You can lead a hoarse to water, but you can't make 'em drink.

or something like that....