Ely - Babbitt Fishing Reports - Lake Conditions Too.

[crabshack]

anyone been up to snowbank? wondering how the ice is looking. I figure a guy should be able to cross the south end to get across to the BWCA entry point on wilderness bay by now

[Steve Foss]

Here's a detailed ice report from Burntside from this morning, Jan. 2.

As hoped, the overall lack of snow after Burntside freeze-up has yielded an excellent start to the ice conditions on that lake. I walked out from Van Vac landing to the staked snowmobile trail, about half way across the bay, and found 9 to 13 inches of clear hard ice everywhere I went. We got significant snow only a couple days after Bside skimmed over on Dec. 9, but that all apparently melded together and froze hard, and we haven't had much snow since then until the approximate 1 foot of snow that fell here since Christmas.

Now, for the bad news. The 8 inches or so we took in the last few days has created some slush on the lake. Walking out, I encountered conditions varying from 8 inches of snow over hard ice to no snow over hard ice to snow over slush. The slush was in in no place deeper than 4 inches, and was much more water than slush. Water gushed out of one hole I drilled and continued to do so as long as I was there measuring. There was 8 inches of good ice there, with 8 inches of snow on top, which of course explains the gushing, with that weight bearing down on the ice. There were a few hard windswept areas that had crusted over hard enough to bear my weight (+ power auger) with my feet breaking through only now and then. Clearly these were spots of pure slush that the wind has started to freeze. The crust was about 2 inches, with a couple inches of water underneath. That stuff will freeze up in the next couple of days, given the forecast. Spots with snow over slush over ice will take longer to lock up. All the snow I encountered had already dried and compacted because of the wind, so it won't be very good insulation.

We had high winds with this snow, and much of it blew into narrows and up against shorelines, leaving less on the open portions of the lake. The 8 inches of snow represented drifts, with some areas swept clean, pretty familiar territory for sure. I would say that in my walk out to and back from the snowmobile trail, I was walking through slush about 20 percent of the time. More good news is that, because the slush was nearly pure water, it'll form as much as 4 inches of very useful ice on top of the existing sheet. Some of it may be white ice, but it should be strong.

We don't have snow in the forecast in any meaningful amounts for the next several days, and we're looking at solid ice making lows and highs, so my guess is the slushy areas in the open will tighten right up by the Jan. 15 opener.

If we get much more snow, all bets are off, of course.

This report comes with the usual and important cautions against trusting any ice under deeper snow in narrows areas and along shorelines. It's also important to remember that Van Vac Bay and the other large bay west of Waters Island typically have the best ice conditions anywhere on the lake. Other locations that aren't as wide open tend to gather more snow and make less ice. (The North Arm comes to mind, of course, as quite a few people who frequent these boards can attest to. )

I'll try to get out the week of opener and give another report closer to the 15th, but unless we get some serious snow in the next two weeks, travel by snow machine and in some cases ATV (if they are big and strong enough) should be fine.

[ripstick]

Steve are you working opener or hitting the lake. Not much said about the opener yet.

[Steve Foss]

I'll be fishing the lake either way, Gary.

[caseymcq]

... travel by snow machine and in some cases ATV (if they are big and strong enough) should be fine.

So would travel by MPM be alright?

[Surface Tension]

Thanks for the B-Side Ice Report Steve.

With the cold temps we have now I'd expect any water and slush would lock up.

[Steve Foss]

I agree, Frank. No meaningful snow in the forecast, lows in the minus teens and highs in the single digits the next week. That'll help lock things up on all the lakes that have recently developed slush.

[leech~~]

Will be heading up for Laker Opener next weekend on Burntside and was wondering since I will be banging around by myself. If there are any channels or Isles that are not good to drive through or in-between on a sled pulling a porty? Thanks.

[Steve Foss]

Watch any known current areas, including but not limited to Slim Creek, Dead River, Burntside River, Crab Creek. The closer you get to them, the more likely you are to find thin/spotty ice.

Shorelines that are drifted in, as well as shallower bays, will have so much snow that there could easily be very thin ice underneath and a slush fest between the snow and ice. Sometimes it's the same when going between extreme narrows areas.

To be safe, simply don't go near the aforementioned locations. None of the spots you're used to fishing, or that I'm used to fishing, for that matter, require travel through risky ice areas. When in doubt, don't take the short cut, take the longer route through more open windy areas. When I want to fish in a bottleneck or narrow passage between islands or islands/shore and I'm a bit doubtful about conditions, I stop well away and walk in with the auger to check things out before driving in.

That being said, the North Arm tends to be snowier and slushier than most other parts of the lake, and that seems to be more true the farther up you go. Haven't been up there yet this year.

Take a look earlier in this thread for ice/snow/slush reports from five days ago. I hope to get out again before next weekend with an updated version, but I believe the bottom line will be that snowmobile and ATV travel will be fine. We've got no real snow in the forecast, and it's going to be pretty cold the next week.

[Great Outdoors]

Will be heading up for Laker Opener next weekend on Burntside and was wondering since I will be banging around by myself. If there are any channels or Isles that are not good to drive through or in-between on a sled pulling a porty? Thanks.

I posted a Burntside slush report in the trail forum two days ago. Went out on the west end of the lake on the 5th, rode about 1/2 mile parallel to the staked trail, and hit 5-6 pockets of deep slush and/or double layers in that short ride. The tracked Ranger went right through them, but a snowmobile going slow could have problems. An ATV with tires will go nowhere, and not enough ice to support a vehicle.

I'll check it again tomorrow. Unless some drastic changes occur, the trout opener will be very interesting!!

[leech~~]

Thanks Steve & GO for the heads up. I was kind of thinking about trying the upper end of the north arm but if I do I may have to follow any tracks I may find ahead of me. So, the mainpoints are to check the map for areas where creeks and inlets and stay clear of them for the most part. Hope some one goes for a little snowmobile ride up the north arm and reports back before Friday!

[Great Outdoors]

My son and I will take a cruise from my house (Kaleva Bay, 2 miles past the Van Vac landing on County Rd 404) and travel on the lake over to the Van Vac landing, over to Brownell Island, then to Dollar Island. We'll check the ice thickness and slush conditions and report back tomorrow night.

May take a ride up to Chant Lake portage just past the North Arm Narrows to see what that's like if we get the chance.

[Steve Foss]

Leech, if you want to fish the Arm with your sled you can always trailer it to the public landing off North Arm Road up the Echo Trail. Then you're right at the northern end of the Arm, and good fishing is only a short sled run away.

The access is fairly steep and is not plowed in winter. They do plow a wider spot in North Arm Road for people to park, and usually a couple minutes with a shovel is all it takes to knock down the plow bank enough to get a sled over it. Could be someone will already have done that, too.

[leech~~]

Thanks not sure I will be doing any exploring by myself. I'll just hang out with the herd!

[Great Outdoors]

Checked Burntside Lake out this afternoon. Traveled from Kaleva Bay to the Van Vac Landing and hit various areas of slush. From the landing, we traveled to a fish house that was set out today about about 3/4 mile to the east of Brownell Island, and hit many areas of slush on the way over.

Next, we went from the fish house to Brownell Island and hit more pockets of slush, drilled a hole about 100 feet off shore, and found 15 inches of solid, clear ice.

Our final leg of the journey was from Brownell Island to the next island west of Dollar. Much more slush after leaving the snowmobile trail, and then stopped between two islands (Yup, Foss, you know the spot)

Walked in water, then drilled a test hole.

Found a double layer of ice, the first layer a soft two inches, then an inch or two of water, then about 7-8 inches more of clear blue ice. After seeing that, we decided not to drive to the North Arm Narrows.

If conditions don't change a lot before the Trout opener, DO NOT try to drive a full size truck on the ice, an ATV with tires will be stuck about 99% of the time, and be careful where you drive a snowmobile.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Was there a plowed road at all off of Van Vac?

Thanks for the update, G.O.!

[Steve Foss]

G.O. how deep did the slush range in inches? Four inches of slush isn't much of a problem for most sleds. Ten inches, well, that's more like the kiss of death. We were able to make it OK on la Croix last week traveling on a foot of snow over six inches of slush, and I was loaded down pretty heavy.

[Great Outdoors]

Stevo,

The slush varied, was breaking through double layers in many places. It's hard to tell since the Ranger stays atop snow pretty well, but was slowing down slightly in many places.

A guess would be 4-6 inches, but when breaking through the double layers, could be as much as 8+.

Snowmobiles with decent HP should be OK, as long as you make a few passes to pack your LZ before stopping the sled.

The last hole we drilled made us change our mind about traveling the big area from Dollar over to the Narrows.

As mentioned earlier, ATVs will be unusable on any areas that haven't had a trail packed, and the differences in ice thickness is a bit scary.

[Great Outdoors]

Was there a plowed road at all off of Van Vac?

Thanks for the update, G.O.!

There won't be any road plowed for a while with the varying ice conditions and thickness.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

I'm sure someone will attempt to plow a road by weeks end.

How's your herring supply these days? Are you the only one in Ely who sells them?

[Great Outdoors]

I'm the only one with the Herring,about 100 dz left in two sizes (5-6 inch, and 6-7 inch) We also have treated Ciscos.

As far as the lake goes, I'll be very surprised if anyone is foolish enough to attempt plowing a road by the opener with double ice and slush conditions.

Looks like snowmobile only fishing without dramatic changes.

Remember, we found as little as 7-8 inches of ice yesterday!

Smitty's had about 3/8th's of a mile of their road plowed a few days ago on Snowbank. I'll check with them today and see how that's progressing.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Thanks G.O.!

How late will you be open on Friday?

[Great Outdoors]

On Fridays, I try to be out of there by 5 once trout season opens, but was there until after 6:30 last year.

[the angler]

ANYBODY HAVE ANY INFO ON ICE CONDITIONS FOR BURNTSIDE AND TOFTE LAKES?

[Steve Foss]

Burntside report here. Scroll through and note the post dates. I'll be updating the Bside conditions report tomorrow.

Haven't heard boo about a Tofte report. If you don't get any reports on this thread, check in with Joe at Red Rock Wilderness Store.

[finnbay]

East side of Snowbank - lots of slush. Road to Wilderness Bay not plowed. Twelve inches of ice or less. Haven't heard about Smitty's houses, yet.

[Steve Foss]

Spent the morning running around Burntside with auger and measuring stick. I came in off the East Arm snowmobile trail, and avoided the staked trail while traveling around the Dead River, Miller/Lockhart, Blueberry, Brownell, Oliver, State, Honeymoon, Waters island areas, north to Crab Creek and west to about Dollar Island. I did not go west of Long Island, since I rarely fish west of there.

While I sledded through plenty of narrow areas between islands, I did not drill holes in there so don't know about thin ice in those locations. I found 10-14 inches of ice everywhere I drilled. It was all good ice. There was some that was milky on the top few inches from frozen slush, but it was strong.

There are many areas off the snowmobile trail that are slushy, but none of what I ran through and checked was deeper than 4-5 inches, and I didn't have any trouble zipping through it on my '92 Indy Trail DLX 2-up 488. When I wanted to stop to check things, I just ran in a circle and back on my track just in case, but could have started up just fine without doing that. I'd estimate I was running through slush about 25 percent of the time on my run.

There is from 2-10 inches of snow on top of slush and/or ice. I did not find any double ice, but I don't doubt there is some out there. It's normal to find that with slushy conditions, since the slush freezes from the top down.

There is no road plowed from Van Vac, though there is a road off the Passi Road public landing, and there was a full sized pickup this morning on 14 inches of ice off that big reef around the corner after leaving the landing. The bank on the Passi landing has been knocked down and plowed out.

There are a handful of permie shacks out in various places.

I traveled about 1 mile up the North Arm with no worsening conditions, but the North Arm being what it is, it could be worse the farther up you go.

Snowmobiles not pulling heavy portables should be fine. If you're pulling a loaded portable, I'd definitely take the precaution of circling and setting up on your packed sled trail before fishing, just in case, but it should still be no problem.

ATVs, as of today, should work if they are strong and have chains. Slush is the biggest factor there, as is double ice, but I did not find deep enough slush or double ice in the open areas I and most people typically fish, so probably that will be OK.

Truck travel is for sure doable based on snow/slush, but would be very risky, IMO. I don't doubt there are areas of ice thinner than 10 inches around, even though I didn't find them.

We are expecting a few more inches of snow today through tomorrow night. That shouldn't make the slush much worse, but if they are undershooting the snow totals and we end up with 6 inches or more, I'd expect slush and overall lake travel conditions to worsen.

The Van Vac landing parking lots/approach were plowed, but not plowed out completely. Access to the upper lot is easy, while there's only a one lane approach (very slippery) plowed to the lower lot, and the lower lot is only about half plowed out. It may be completely plowed out by the end of Friday. The county folks are usually good about getting it ready for laker season.

[leech~~]

Steve

Thanks great report, very helpful. Good to hear about the parking being plowed a little at Van Vac.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Grazie!

[Mike Stark]

thanks for the report foss. how far was the road plowed off passi?