Ely - Babbitt Fishing Reports - Lake Conditions Too.

[Mike Stark]

i dont see any snow on the ground this morning. looks like it missed us completely. the lake should firm up nicely in the next day or so.

[Steve Foss]

Not a single flake.

[reinhard1]

never thought i would get up this morning, with no gas for the blower, and find 10 inches of snow in the driveway. my wife went to work in 4 wheel drive. i think we all have had enough for a while. at least the snowmobile guys and girls will have a few mor days for fun. good luck.

[Tullibee]

Boy was I glad to be able to still see some gravel on the driveway this morning. Had a feeling this storm would miss us.

Dreaming of being out in the boat at this point...

[Mike Stark]

cory,

there is still 9 days left of lake trout fishin! after that i will be ready for sitting in the boat.

[Leaddog]

Ahhhhh! You guys could have allowed a couple inches of snow to land - just enough for the sled to track and for the dogs to scoop! Cuz like Mike said trout are still fair game. Plus the dogs are in peak condition and the trout should be biting. Still hoping for one more run provided I can get the truck and dog trailer out of the mud. Maybe after it freezes.

[Great Outdoors]

Not a single flake.

Yup, samething here at Burntside. We received "The Perfect Snowfall" which be, ZERO!!!!

[Mike Stark]

Ahhhhh! You guys could have allowed a couple inches of snow to land - just enough for the sled to track and for the dogs to scoop! Cuz like Mike said trout are still fair game. Plus the dogs are in peak condition and the trout should be biting. Still hoping for one more run provided I can get the truck and dog trailer out of the mud. Maybe after it freezes.

yea i was hoping for a little bit of snow as well. i wanted to get into the bdub one more time this season but i dont think its going to happen now.

[Great Outdoors]

Look at the bright side Mike, Burntside should be great traveling until the end of the trout season

Don't know if I'd take a truck out because the ice should have about 3 inches on the top level, but putting one or more tires through any double ice, may make getting out very interesting.

ATVs will have great going,(studding the tires or using chains will help greatly, but not necessary) as will snowmobiles it you can find some way to lubricate the slides.

See you out there!!!

[Mike Stark]

Look at the bright side Mike, Burntside should be great traveling until the end of the trout season

Don't know if I'd take a truck out because the ice should have about 3 inches on the top level, but putting one or more tires through any double ice, may make getting out very interesting.

ATVs will have great going,(studding the tires or using chains will help greatly, but not necessary) as will snowmobiles it you can find some way to lubricate the slides.

See you out there!!!

i am happy about the conditions for burntside. hopefully within the next couple days it firms up nice. calling for -8 tonight.

[Mike Stark]

driving conditions were very good today on burntside. everything i found was rock solid. its like driving on a big parking lot out there. iced one 3lber and lost a smaller one half way up. lots of lookers.

cleats are a must out there. there are some areas with rough ice and snow but other areas are like skating rinks.

[Steve Foss]

You can drive anywhere you want on the ice. We even saw two guys in what looked like a Ford Festiva tooling around. The landings have some deep frozen ruts, but everything's locked up tight as a drum now, so low-clearance vehicles with front wheel drive should be able to get back off the lake if some care to avoid falling into the ruts is exercised.

ATVs and pickups/SUVs are now the perfect mode of travel.

[Great Outdoors]

Conditions are great, just took a spin on the lake at 6 tonight. If you can stay out of the ruts at the landings like Steve said, you're home free to go anywhere you wish.

Going to be a great end of the season

[Steve Foss]

If you can stay out of the ruts at the landings like Steve said, you're home free to go anywhere you wish.

Hmmm. G.O. and I agreeing on a conditions report. I hardly know how to act!

[Great Outdoors]

Hey man, that means you're coming around

I saw where you and Mike had fished today (I think) and you could have gone another 100 feet west to be in the spot we talked about the other day.

The snowmobile tracks that are between the island and mainland actually go right over it.

I'll be cruising the lake early tomorrow afternoon, and will swing by if you're in that area!

[Steve Foss]

I didn't fish in that spot today, Jimmy. But someone ELSE did. You know I don't drill a 10-inch hole.

[Great Outdoors]

The spot I went by didn't appear to have 10 inch holes, looked like 8".

There were about 6 or 8, maybe more close to where Mike was fishing last Saturday.

I didn't swing by the spot I saw you last Sunday.

[Steve Foss]

Mike started at a different spot, and came over to fish the Maki Trough with me.

Then we finished the day where you saw me on Sunday. I doubt we'll be on any of those locations today. You know.

[Steve Foss]

I was just flabbergasted that, given the amazingly fine driving conditions on Bside on the final weekend of winter laker season, there were so relatively few people fishing it today. Landings locked up tight (though rutted, still frozen solid and easily accessed), and lake like a parking lot. Looks like it'll stay that way through March 31.

The lake has gotten very little pressure this winter, compared with other winters, because travel conditions were so abominable the first month of the season. Even though they improved tremendously for the last half of the season and we've been driving trucks all over the place for a month, it's still pretty quiet out there because what pressure there's been has been spread all over the lake.

[Leaddog]

We found fast ice as expected, dogs tracked just fine. But the clear skies and warm sun was tough on the older ones. Had the dragpads chained up to keep them slow. Plenty of snow on the winter trails and all lake entries were froze hard. The creek was running open so made for easy dog watering. Over all, a very good March, much improved over last year's disappointment.

Saw the first daytrippers all season.

[Steve Foss]

Well, I had some boating adventures on Saturday and was not able to fish. Got the boat issues completely ironed out and was able to fish half a day today on Burntside. Not a lot of action, but hooked and lost one, and landed this one, a 32-incher.

Surface water temps ranged from 40 (North Arm) to 44 degrees.

Both fish came via downriggers about 50 feet down over 65-70 FOW.

[Redlantern]

Wow, nice fish, Steve!

[reinhard1]

awesome catch steve. looks like you had a good day to get out. good luck.

[fishnut2]

Fished the Eagles Nest chain over the opener. Did not get a long time to fish because I was home helping family with yard and house chores. Fished Saturday 9-11 pm and picked up a 17, 18, 18, and 27 inch walleye in 8-10 feet of water. Fished with my 15 yr old daughter. Great memories made. Long line trolling rapalas. Wish I had a water temp but I don't.

[Wanderer]

We saw water temps from 47 to 57 between the three lakes we hit. It depends on the part of the lake you're on. White Iron had a 7 degree difference from the north end to the south today with that north wind making the southern temps the highest.

Most of the fish I marked were in 10 - 11 fow. We only caught a few that deep though. Only one walleye for us. We only fished the mid-day hours on Saturday and an hour and half before heading home at 3 pm today. First time up this spring so there was housekeeping at our place as well.

The 28 1/2 'eye on a jig and rainbow.

The release.

And the smallies were going great guns. For the record - I like smallies and the girls liked the smallies AND they had fun!

It was a good time for us.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Nice fish!

Smallies are always fun!

Cliff

[chaffmj]

Nice fish Steve and Tracy. I was in Chicago moving my daughter so I have nothing to report except the traffic really sucks there.

[Steve Foss]

It has been an odd coupla weeks, with weather system after weather system separated by only a day or so of nice weather. No real weather pattern available so far, with lots of barometric pressure swings.

But that's OK. We've been on trout every time out.

Been doing a lot of traveling, too, but have been out several times since opener with good luck. Burntside surface water temps are still 48-51 degrees, thanks to some very cool weather, so you don't have to get a lure deep to connect with lakers.

Here's the largest one from today, a 30.5 inch 10.5 lber. Came on a gold/silver Sutton spoon trolled 2.4 mph 30 feet down (with the aid of a Jet Diver) over 65 FOW. One honkin hard strike and big fight!

[delcecchi]

How hard do the jet divers pull? (wondering about behind a canoe with a 2 geezer motor)

[Steve Foss]

They don't pull that hard, Del. Nothing like how hard a Dipsy pulls. Medium-heavy rod is just right, though a medium will be OK, too.