Burntside FAILURE!!!!

[Walleye Wisdom]

So I struck out on the Lakers today on Burntside. Tried all I had available. From what I saw, all the fish I was marking were in 80-100ft of water with one group on a ledge in about 50ft of water. Not sure if all the arcs on my graph were really fish or not, but sure looked like it to me. I just have a hard time believing that the were that deep... Most of the deep fish I marked were at the entrance to the North Arm. The few "shallow" fish I marked were on the main lake areas. I think it's time I invest in downriggers... Still a very nice day to be out, very very neat lake.

On a side note, where do you find Pike and Walleye in that lake, or is there not much of a population of them? I cast and trolled in 10-20ft of water in areas I thought would hold Pike, but no luck. The water was like glass today with FULL sun, so I understand why the eyes were not biting really...

I was there most of the day in a 16ft Lund with a 35hp Johnson if anyone saw me. Saw two guys in a Lund with downriggers fishing the entrance to the North Arm when I was headed back to the ramp. I launched out of the North Arm, won't be doing that again, horrible road leading to the ramp...

[Steve Foss]

WW, sorry to hear the laker gods weren't putting out for you.

Those marks might have been lakers, but marks on or right near bottom in deep water could just as easily have been eelpout, and for marks on or near bottom in water to 50 feet or so you can add walleyes, pike, and a few other species of fish.

I generally believe suspended hooks that appear on the graph are lakers, but those could also be some of the few large whitefish and tulibee that remain in the lake.

So the bottom line, IMO, is that there are a lot of fish graphed on Burntside that I don't think are trout, and I don't tend to get excited about graphed fish unless they are suspended or are associated with a cloud of smelt. This time of year I like to have one bait about 30 feet down for the high-flyers and other baits deeper so I can hit the deep fish on the head with them. I've caught lakers right off bottom in the deepest basins in the lake.

At least 3/4 of the lakers I catch trolling in Bside come when I've got nothing on the graph.

I like downriggers best because when you get a release it's just you and the fish with no weight between you, but jet divers, pink ladies and dipsy divers are inexpensive diving aids that work just fine, too.

Bright sun and dead calm can be tough, with all that light penetration and potential for the boat spooking the fish. A dipsy is good in those situations because you can get it to run out to the side somwhat, a bit away from the boat, and I also will longline a jet diver (150 feet or more of line out) in flat calm bright sun, so I'm not only running 30-50 feet down but am far behind the boat.

Can't help you with the 'eyes and pike. I've caught a handful of pike trolling cranks over deeper water, but have found no walleyes that way. There are some nice shallower bays with excellent weeds that must hold pike. The folks who fish 'eyes there often do that along deeper humps and points, say 20-40 FOW, but I'm only going off what I've been told, since I don't fish 'eyes on Bside.

[Walleye Wisdom]

I can't wait to try that lake again though, it's just the challenge of find them and fishing them! Thanks for the help!

BTW, ran across a book that had your name on it Steve, Fishing Lake Vermillion, looks like a fun read!

[Great Outdoors]

Many of the Burntside walleye hang out on reefs in 12 to 14 FOW once the temps reach 65 degrees at that depth.

The temps just reached this last night.

Walleye stay there, even when the water temp at that depth is in the 70's (which isn't very likely to happen this year)

Simple methods work best, which are a plain hook tied directly to your line with a leech or part of a crawler, and weighted with 1 BB split shot.

A 1/8th oz two tone green jig with the same bait also works well.

Troll both verrrrrry slowllllly.