Ely - Babbitt Fishing Reports - Lake Conditions Too.

[Steve Foss]

I'm not using the new ride yet. Work to be done (and money to raise) before it's clientworthy. I got it seriously on the cheap, and it's turned into a project boat. I'm likely to finish out the summer season in the Alumacraft, though it's now got 4 nice downriggers on it instead of two.

[walleyehunter80]

what kind of boat did you get steve?

[Steve Foss]

It's a nicely maintained 1989 19.5-foot Spectrum with 2.3 liter Ford inboard (same motor used in lots of Ford autos in the '80s) and OMC Cobra outdrive. Walk-through windshield, rain/sun cover, travel cover, spare tire, tires/rims/bearings perfect, galvanized trailer in excellent condition, hull near immaculate. New floor just installed. Lots of TLC on this one-owner boat, and I have all the owners' manuals and service records from the owner. Came with two excellent Riviera downriggers, a cheapo 'Bird electronics unit, kicker motor with drop-down plate. Vinyl all need replacing.

Thought I couldn't get to it until tomorrow evening, but I had clients cancel out today, and I'm waiting for the sun to go behind the house this afternoon so I can do some compression tests in the shade to rule out scored P&C.

It ran great when I had it on its maiden voyage for the first while, then locked up out on the water and would start up after that but not run quite well. Not sure what went wrong. Oil pressure was up, oil was fresh and full, water temp was good. Could be a dozen things, but compression will rule out or confirm the big one.

So things are proceeding. If I find P&C damage, I paid so little for this boat ($800) that I can get more parting out the hull, trailer and motor for rebuild than I paid. Of course I'm really hoping for good news on the compression testing. If that's good to go, then it's a spark or a fuel problem, and I can handle those, since I've put in about 100-120 hours servicing this Ford motor size/style (had it in two previous vehicles). Ain't gonna be rebuidling no motor.

[shamrock7]

Steve, Verify adequate grease in the drive. A reduced level of grease can cause the upper bearing to seize. That shouldn't cause it to run poorly after restart but it is still a possibility.

[Steve Foss]

Randy, there's a lot more going on. I'll e-mail you the specifics so we can keep this thread about Bside fishing.

Just as an update, all 4 cylinders were within 1 PSI above or below 120. Good news. Circumstantial evidence points to outdrive issues. Onward!!!

[Mike Stark]

trolled from about noon-4. not a bite. marked lots of fish. mainly over 75-120fow. most fish were down in the 60ft range. it was flat and sunny out there today...could have used some chop on the water. lots of other folks fishing lakers..didnt see any nets coming out tho.

[Steve Foss]

I had decent luck the last couple of weeks. We're in the midsummer blahs. Time to try EVERYTHING!

What happened to your leadcore Jones, Mike? I thought hard about leadcore several months ago, but on a relatively small lake like Bside (by leadcore standards), seemed I'd need WAY too much leadcore out to get down deep enough, and didn't want to sacrifice fine steering control that downriggers offer.

Thoughts?

[Mike Stark]

i was using leadcore again today...you do have to let A LOT of line out but i dont have many options with no riggers. the areas im fishing are big bays or basins were not a lot of tight turns are needed...as i was trolling i was trying to figure out how i could mount riggers on my boat..just not enough room. then i started thinking about buying a bigger boat....

[Steve Foss]

Forget the bigger boat. Just get clamp-on riggers. They are pretty cheap. Leadcore is not the answer on Bside.

Otherwise, for not much money at all you can get Dipsy Divers or Jet Divers that can easily troll at 50 feet down. They don't offer the same full-contact feel as downriggers, but if catching is more important than fishing show footage, they are right on!

[Mike Stark]

i have jet divers but wanted to get deeper than 50ft...i did see some clamp on riggers that looked pretty cool...it is the way to go for trolling summer lakers...there is no quessing about where you bait is...leadcore does work on bside tho...last time i was out fishing the same way in the same area i landed 3. im blaming todays luck on the flat sunny condtions...the fish were there but just didnt want to eat.

[Steve Foss]

Gotcha!

[Mike Stark]

got me?? im confused.

[Steve Foss]

Is in "I get what you are saying."

[JBMasterAngler]

Steve, as you know, I'll be hitting the big v next week, but I don't believe I'll be able to resist hitting up burntside for a day while I'm up there. Aside from long lining, 3 way trolling is my only option for reaching deep water. Flat raps would seem ideal in simulating smelt. Obviously I'll keep an eye on my electronics for baitfish or lakers, but what is usually a good depth to start out at this time of year? Do you do much jigging in the summer?

[losthikingguide]

Big lake has been hittng pretty well. nothing huge but the numbers are there. We had a pretty good weekend. any one else do any good?

[Steve Foss]

JB, I always have plans to vertical jig in summer, and they never pan out.

Get a couple Jet Divers. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Get a 40 foot and a 50 foot Jet Diver. If you can't find them locally, buy them online and get them shipped to you 2nd Day Air. They are all you need. My shallowest riggers right now are set at 35 feet. That's where we're finding temps in the low 50s, and we've had a lot of fish come up to smack lures at that depth.

I'm having my best luck over 70-100 FOW on Bside. If you are alone in the boat (one line only), I'd have two rigged up, one with each Jet Diver, and would switch from one to the other as necessary. Ten feet isn't much of a difference between them, but can sometimes make a difference.

Also, on rods with diving aids like Jet Divers, it's best to spool 24/8 or similar superbraid. That gets the divers down as deep as possible with as little line out as possible. Sturdy rod holders and about 8 feet of 17-lb mono between Diver and lure are the recipe.

Forget the cranks. I've had so much better luck on Bside with the usual array of spoons over any minnow baits that it's not even funny. I'd say that, on guiding trips when I can use a goodly number of lines and put a minnow bait on one of them, the spoons still get hit five times as often. When I'm fishing alone, it's ALWAYS a spoon. My most productive spoons tend to transition from wobbling side to side to "rolling over" at 2.3 to 2.8 mph, so that's what I do. A spoon the goes side-to-side and then rolls over and dodges and darts and then drops back to side-to-side is a productive spoon. When in doubt, drop the spoon over the side and experiment with speeds, and run the boat right at the speed the spoon rolls over. Because you'll be doing some S-turns, the spoon will variously speed up (roll over faster) and slow down (slower side-to-side wobble). Good triggering technique.

Suttons, Krocs, Williams, the smaller salmon trolling spoons in a variety of colors. If it's sunny, I go with flash. If it's cloudy, I go with dark color (so it is silhouetted against the pale sky for a fish rising to hit it).

Good luck, and tell us how you do. You can always e-mail me at the addy listed below. Could be I have a bit of a bonus for you if you do.

[JBMasterAngler]

Thanks for the tips. You talking about spoons just reminded me that I lost a few in grand marais last month...and here I thought I didn't need to buy any tackle before I head up there

[Netman]

Were you trolling cranks, live bait rigging, slip bobbering...?

[ben h]

gotta admit i am a little worried

where are all the pics? i am gonna be up monday for a week or so and im wonderin if i will catch a fish on b-side or should i just be content with general cabin activities?

[Steve Foss]

Ben, already posted more detail about my last two outings further up the thread, but had two four-hour outings in the last week or so, with a couple hits/releases in the rain all of one morning and two eaters coming the very next morning.

Pics are nice. We like our fish pics. Lack of fish pics doesn't mean we're not catching them.

I'll have another report up by sometime Sunday.

[JBMasterAngler]

So I was at gander mountain today replenishing my stock of little cleo's, and I seen those jet diver's you were talking about. I passed on buying them today, but I have to make a run to fleet farm this weekend, so maybe I'll grab one there. How far of a leader do I run behind the diver? The package said for every 2 ft of line let out, it will go down 1 ft...is that pretty accurate?

And maybe I don't know what I'm doing, but where is your e-mail listed? I have alot of questions that I don't want to clutter up this thread...some of them aren't even laker related. But I'm pretty excited about getting on burntside next week, and just want to be able to make the most of the limited time I'll have. So far all the info you've provided has been very helpful and much appreciated!

[Steve Foss]

JB, my e-mail is listed in blue in each sig. Maybe it doesn't show up well unless you're using the "dark" HSO forum display option. It's [email protected].

The Jet Diver info is pretty accurate. My leaders with divers are about as long as my rods, so if I'm fishing alone I know I'll be able to reach a fish with the net. I'm pretty much always using downriggers anyway, but the Jet Divers work when we fish out of a boat w/out riggers.

[lakerunner]

JB--I concur with Steve on leader length. My leaders (for my dipsies) are usually the length of the rod unless I'm pulling a flasher/fly combo in which case I'll shorten it. You just want to be able to reel the diver in all the way and still be able to net the fish.

[JBMasterAngler]

Sounds good. And they don't impede the action of the spoon at all?

[Steve Foss]

With a 7-9 foot leader, the spoon action is not impeded in any way.

Today's report: Fished from 8 to 12:30 with three fish in the boat. One eater about 1.5 pounds, a 4 pounder and a 5 pounder. All three fish came over deeper water. The shallowest came up to hit a spoon trolled in 45 FOW (black/blue back, chrome hex hammered underside). Got the 4 off a small silver/green Finn Spoon trolled 60 feet down over 90 FOW. Caught the 5 on a rainbow trout pattern spoon trolled 80 feet down over 110 FOW.

All three smacked it hard and fought hard. All three were stocked (clipped fins).

Trolled a clown pattern Rapala Husky Jerkbait on one rod all morning with nary a sniff of action.

Gorgeous day to be on the water. Sunny, light NW winds, two other boats after lakers and lots of general boat traffic for a Thursday.

Here's a pic from today:

[Mike Stark]

those guys look familar..i was up on basswood with them the other day....looks like they are having some good fishing!

did they talk about big basswood walleye???

[Steve Foss]

Yepper. We had a good conversation about that Basswood outing.

[caseymcq]

... My leaders with divers are about as long as my rods, ...

So I am deducing by your previous thread you are using 8 ft rods, is that correct?

What power are the rods you use (med? med-hvy? hvy?)

[Steve Foss]

Casey, I've got some 8-footers and some 9-footers. I guess you'd call them medium to medium-heavy action, but also slow action. They can handle a lot of weight but load up the whole length of the rod. Basically they are downrigger rods. For a dedicated Jet Diver rod, I'd prefer something with more stiffness in the butt and a bit of a faster tip. I have a Loomis rod that doubles as a good downrigger and Jet Diver rod that's 9 feet long. A bit more of the butt/tip action I mentioned, but also loads really well on the downrigger.

[caseymcq]

So for a jet diver rod you would still go with a med to med-hvy power but a fast action... thanks for the info.

And with the jet divers are you using just spoons?