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

[lakerunner]

Originally Posted By: 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.

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?

Yep. That was me. The fishing really died down around 10:30-11 when the wind picked up a bit. As I was walking out, I was really wishing that I had taken the time and loaded my sled up but I was in too much of a hurry. The walk did a nice job of clearing out the black tar in my lungs though!

[Great Outdoors]

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....

Sheeeeeeeeeeesh, Kids:)

[grousehunter]

Did you get out yet at all GO? if so how did you do?

[Steve Foss]

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

We came up from the south. No slush.

[Northlander]

Steve can we get to the dead river area from Van Vac ok by sled?

[Great Outdoors]

Yes you can get there OK.

[Great Outdoors]

You'd get slush if you went as far up as they were

[Mike Stark]

hey GO

that one spot you showed me has a perm on it now.

you think working a little deeper will produce?

what about off the sides?

those guys are right on the money now.

[Steve Foss]

Steve, there are no probs getting to the Dead from Van Vac. You can take the staked trail east from Van Vac and turn left onto the Dead River trail after you pass Miller/Lockhart (which is a bit the long way around) and then you're only 100 or 200 yards off the Dead River trail when you fish. But I didn't bother with the long way around. I just cut north off the main east-west trail after I got east of Blueberry Island and made a beeline toward the Dead and had no slush trouble.

We're also getting three-four days of cold weather starting tonight, with lows of -20 or colder and lows in the teens below zero for Monday and Tuesday, so there'll be even more tightening up of whatever slush is out there.

I'm sure there'll still be some slush pockets here and there because cracks in the ice come and go, and some might still be as bad as the one just south of the North Arm public access, but all the spots I've hit so far off Van Van and Passi Road have been smooth sledding. There are now established sled tracks crisscrossing all over the darn place, and it's a simple matter to stick in one of those if a person doesn't want to risk the deeper snow and possibility of slush by breaking their own trail.

I will add that I haven't even tried using the standard shortcuts between islands to get from spot to spot (ex: from Van Vac to the North Arm). Too much risk of deep snow and slush and thin ice there, so I've just been using the longer routes across open areas.

[Northlander]

Thanks Steve Im going to stay on established tracks. My sled is too heavy to be getting stuck.

[Mike Stark]

went out today for a few hours. one looker. no taker.

i was using a 4in tube and an airplane jig head when the laker came up. i was only using that big thing to get them in. i quickly changed to a smaller buckshot spoon but the laker was long gone.

i got my big ol map of burntside today....it has a lot of detail.

[Great Outdoors]

mstark83,

Move on to greener pastures if the perm is there. Try the other spots, or stop in and we'll go over the map for you.

[Great Outdoors]

grousehunter,

Didn't get out yet, maybe Monday or Tuesday.

Just finished plowing a road close to where I want to try first.

[Capt.Blaine]

Has anyone driven back to the Crab Creek area?

Thanks

[Wanderer]

My sled is too heavy to be getting stuck.

No doubt.

Here are some pics of Saturday's fiasco. Like was mentioned before, I knew about slush - now I understand it.

Why is Nick's sled so dang heavy?? Ohhh.....

Some progress.

One push/pull/grunt at a time.

Crud, this is a lot of work.

BTW, those watery looking trails had a full 10 inches plus of pure water underneath the snow and 3 inches of slush.

[ripstick]

Truck !!! Good luck. Word has it 12" here 50 ft away 4" .

[ripstick]

wanderer For sure that doesnt look like fun. What a mess. Good you got out.

[caseymcq]

Is anyone going to brave the frigid temperatures and fish Saturday?

[Mike Stark]

i will be out today

[caseymcq]

I went out today. I set up in about 35 FOW. That lake is lousy with smelt and I think that is all that was in the area I fished today. The wind was blowing like a banshee so I didn't set up a tip-up. I tried a lot of different lures but nothing was enticing enough for a lake trout to hit. I had one big smelt get itself hooked on a Jiggin' Rapala so it went on a Bionic Bucktail for a little while.

[hans_ely]

Casey, thanks again for the ride. It would have been a very long walk. I like that hump you set up on and fish it in the summer. I'm amazed you made it that far out, but then again we had smooth sailing most of the way down the south shore.

I was looking forward to your report and was hoping you nailed them due to the additional good karma you earned helping someone else out.

[Far-I]

miners was slow today for stream trout. (if anyone with laker fever cares)

[caseymcq]

The ride was no problem at all. It was nice to meet both of you and put faces to names on the board.

If I don't have to make a puppy delivery tomorrow (Sunday) I think I am going to try that spot again but move a little deeper.

Good luck fishing tomorrow.

[PiedmontAngler]

Back from the weekend at duNord.

Thanks Steve and others for the info. it really helped us out.

Here's my results.

Fish: 1

Time stuck in Slush: 30 minutes

Temperature while stuck: -14 F

Inches of slush: 14

2 sleds 2 tubs 4 guys at 7:30 pm. UGH!!

We did have a great weekend other than that.

[Lee Lane]

heres my biggest laker from burntside last year i cant figure out how to get pictures on here the right way can someone help me?

[tedl]

Try the photo sharing forum, it will guide you along.

[Lee Lane]

thanks its been so long since ive dealt with a computer its kinda hard for me

[Wanderer]

Congrats on your catch.

Slush suxx.

[Tundra]

Hey guys, How far is the road out of the Wolf Bay access plowed or able to get out? I like that area cause i my experiences there are way less people and just as many trout!!

-Tundra

[Great Outdoors]

Are you referring to the Wolf Lake Road access??

If so, the road isn't plowed out very far.