Ely - Babbitt Fishing Reports - Lake Conditions Too.

[delcecchi]

I looked and the big C and the online place named after a rainforest both sell monel wire line and bass pro has both stainless and monel wire line. So if you get desperate....

That stuff is sort of expensive, eh?

[Steve Foss]

how does the multistrand stuff work for trolling directly with a spoon?

i dont have any experience with it. i am just using the equiptment that is in the cabin now, its the same stuff thats been used for the last 50 years, so i am sure there is a better way to do it, i just dont know what it is

There's no better way to do it, Ben, just a newer way to do it.

Pick up the Jet Divers in 30 and 40 foot models. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Put them on medium-heavy action rods with superbraid in 24/8.

[Bandit155]

ben h, I saw some on the flyer I get from Reed's Sports in Walker,MN. Call and ask for Jeff Arnold. He has found a lot of stuff for me that I couldn't find elsewhere and gets it shipped out fast. Hope this helps.

[Steve Foss]

OK, long report coming.

It was a gorgeous day on the lake today. High of 72, light east winds, not a cloud in the sky all day.

The fish were NOT very interested in eating. Luckily, got a couple though. Just myself today, so it was one rod the whole time. Had a 1.5 pound stocker that's chillin' in the fridge right now and an unclipped 5-6 pounder that went back in the lake. The little eater came on a small green/chrome hammered Finn spoon trolled behind a small silver dodger about 60 feet down in 105 FOW. The bigger fish came on a small clown pattern Husky Jerk trolled behind a set of cowbells on a different part of the lake, but also 60 feet down over 105 FOW. Go figure that one!

About half the day I had on cowbells or the dodger as attractors. Had a couple bumps that didn't hook/release on those, and it may have been fish hitting the spinners or dodger instead of the lure. I had no bumps or releases on plain baits.

I spent a couple hours in some of the earlier season haunts over 50-60 FOW, but hardly marked a single fish there. My Dead River and East Arm area milk runs that put so many fish in the boat in May, June and early July dry up for me come August, and this year has been no exception. Same thing with the productive south shoreline around Van Vac. Bumping out to 70-110 put a lot more marks on the Lowrance. Surface temps ranged from 66 to 69, and I didn't graph a single fish higher in the water column than 50 feet.

I'm really liking the matched set of Riviera manual downriggers I picked up awhile back. I fish them out to the side, and those 4-foot booms really spread the baits. Really makes a difference when S-turning to speed up/slow down the baits. Love those swivel bases and 2 feet per crank on the handle, too. My Cannons are a bit easier to fish because of the clutches, but I have a sweet spot in my heart for those Rivieras. Both excellent brands!

New aluminum drop-down trolling plate is sweet, too. I rarely need to drop it down, even. Just being on there produces enough drag at lowest throttle that I'm going 2.5 with a tailwind, and that's slow enough! When the tailwinds are too strong, down comes the plate.

There were three other laker boats on the lake today. Had a group of three guys come by about 50 yards away and one fella put the binocs up to get a good look at me. Should've mooned him!

I'm going to start keeping a 7-foot MH baitcasting setup in the boat every time. There were a number of locations I had 3-5 fish oriented near structure that I couldn't get to go with trolling lures. No way to know for sure whether or not they were lakers (suspended fish on Bside could still in some cases be mature whitefish, which I've caught a couple times under the ice). With winds as light as they were today, if I'd have brought along a jigging rod, I'd have spent half an hour targeting those clusters.

And very little sign of spiny waterflea. Just a few small gobs here and there on my rigger cable and line, although I did see small dense clouds of stuff about 40 feet down over deep water that did not look at all the way smelt look on the graph, and I figured those might be waterfleas. There are DNR signs at the landings now alerting people to the issue.

In the evening, my wife joined me for slip bobber smallmouth fun anchored off the point in front of Camp Van Vac. She brought supper, drinks, and her lovely self.

Good times!

[Steve Foss]

Short version: Eight hours on the water, 5 hits, 3 hooked, 2 landed.

Long version: All three hooked fish came in the morning on pink/purple spoons trolled 60 to 70 feet down over 90-120 FOW. A 2 and a 5.5, both stocked fish. Two of the hooked fish hit a pin/purple willow leaf spoon, and the third hit a purple Finn spoon. The fish that got off was heavy, but not sure quite how heavy as I was not on the rod. First lakers ever for the 11-year-old son of today's client. He was pretty darn happy. The first fish was the one that got away. He let slack develop when he was pumping and reeling and the fish got off. He learned FAST, and did a great job on the next two.

We had three rods out all day, with two spoons at all times and the other rod rotating between dodger/cisco and dodger Husky Jerk. All 5 hits came on spoons. Two releases from fish in the afternoon both came about 3 p.m. For most of the day I ran all three balls within a foot of the same depth with the dodger in the middle to act as an attractor. Probably 20 times I saw on the electronics that fish came up to a downrigger ball and then went back down. Typical August behavior. S-curves didn't trigger any of these fish, nor did sudden throttle changes. No lakers marked shallower than 50 feet down, so if you want to troll instead of vertical jig and don't have downriggers, diving aids such as Jet Divers and Dipsy Divers are on the menu.

Saw two other laker boats today. Got a little windy there later, and a couple boats were driven to the landing by it, but we were able to tuck in out of the big waves and finish out the day over water 80-100 feet deep.

Third outing in a row the North Arm produced nothing (about 1.5 hours first thing this morning). All fish came off the two main basins/bays. Spiny water flea present again, but not as profuse as they were a few weeks back. Surface temps were about 68.

I'd say the "August doldrums" are still somewhat with us, but five hits is an OK day, so the doldrums need not be fatal, and things are picking up this last week. It also helps a lot to be able to run 2 to 4 rods. I expect it'll just keep getting better from here on out, with next month firing up hot and heavy.

[JohnnyFunTimes]

Headed to Shagawa last Friday amidst the constant drizzle. Fished from 8am - 11am in our normal walleye spots without success until we accidentally ventured in too close to shore and caught about a 2 pounder in 5.7 feet. That is the depth we stayed at from 11am - 3pm and went home with a stringer of 12 walleye and 1 northern. It was a great fish fry Friday night!

[tonyp]

Hello Gang Just joined... Great forum and advise HERE!

Just booked a trip for Burntside lake (last week of September)

The only way to get my retired dad out of the house these days is fishing! LOL....Can anyone tell me historically how fishing is on Burntside going into the 1st of October?...Thanx in advance!...tony

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Welcome to HSO Tony!

Should be great fishing in Oct.!

Cliff

[Bandit155]

Hi Steve,

We moved back up to the Range in late June and finally got out on Burntside last Saturday. Trolled spoons with a downrigger most of the day. Marked a lot of fish on electronics in the morning after the fog lifted but no takers. Had some trouble keeping the lines untangled because we were using only one rigger but got it figured out later (too late) in the day. Only saw one other laker boat all day. I'll have to break down and get another Cannon I guess. Beautiful day and great scenery. Never been on Burntside in the summer before. Tried for walleyes late in the day but only got some perch and rock bass. We had a good time though. I think we will be heading up there early Friday morning and try it again if the better half has the day off. Have a good one. Glenn & Vivian (Meeko & Bandit too).

[tonyp]

Can anybody recommend a Bait-shop in Ely?

[deadeye]

The great outdoors

[Steve Foss]

Can anybody recommend a Bait-shop in Ely?

Tony, welcome!

Check out Babe's and Great Outdoors. There are a few others, but these are the best. Babe's is the first business you see entering Ely from Tower. G.O. is about mid way through town on the left side of the main drag if you're headed east. If you're heading through "after hours," when most businesses are closed, you can get the full line of bait at Lucky 7, a C-Store on the main drag about half way through town. Jim Maki at G.O. has been fishing Burntside since before electricity was invented, and has forgotten more Bside fishing lore than most others will ever learn. And Russ at Babe's is one knowledgeable and helpful guy with plenty of Bside knowledge of his own. Go to both places, bend their ears a bit, buy some bait/tackle from each. Spending 10 minutes in each place looking for locations/tips is time well spent.

If you're fishing lakers, the season closes last day of September, but September is an excellent month for those lake trout. The 'eyes and smallies will be going strong, too. Reefs, main lake points and humps that top out around 10 feet are great. Like 'eyes anywhere, work them deeper during the day and shallower toward evening/nightfall. While Bside is deep, cold and clear, that doesn't mean you need to fish 'eyes and smallies in 50 FOW. Find structure in 12-30. And fish the wind for walleyes, as always.

Glenn, glad to see you're living back in God's country. Burntside has been good this summer. I'm sure you'll get a couple next time out.

[caseymcq]

... Jim Maki at G.O. has been fishing Burntside since before electricity was invented ...

More precisely it was shortly after the glacier receded and right before the boreal forest was established.

[Steve Foss]

More precisely it was shortly after the glacier receded and right before the boreal forest was established.

Oh, yikes! Here we go with the Finn/Irish war!

[Great Outdoors]

More precisely it was shortly after the glacier receded and right before the boreal forest was established.

[Mike Stark]

trolled b-side from 4pm-7pm. 1 5lber. 1/3oz lil cleo. 5 of diamonds. 70ft down over 99fow. had one other good hit.

[caseymcq]

Hmmmm,

The Forest Service should have deported you to Siberia, instead of Silver Bay

I could still get internet access over there...

[sheephead2]

Was on Burntside this weekend Wife caught a 24 inch laker right away jigging had several hits lost 3 all jigging seemed to be in the 70 foot range.

Very very winding all weekend

[Mike Stark]

sheephead2 were you out in a crestliner?

[sheephead2]

Yes 1650 fishhawk

[sheephead2]

Went there Sat 6:30 am to noon Nothing Sat evening 1 13 incher and a smallie this lake has kick my but every year

[Mike Stark]

i was the one in the white 14ft starcraft messing around with a downrigger in 20mph wind.

[Steve Foss]

Anyone recall if they were stocked or not? All through late July and August, I've only caught a couple unclipped fish.

[Mike Stark]

the fish from yesterday was clipped. it looked like an old fish too. tail was really beat up and other fins were worn down. she was full of eggs.

[sheephead2]

If it has a fin on back about 3 inches from tail would that be a unclipped ??????

[Mike Stark]

there should be 2 fins towards the back. if there was only one then it was clipped.

[sheephead2]

She had one big fin in middle of back and a small fin on back by tail

[Mike Stark]

trolled b-side again today from noon-5:30. landed two small lakers. around a pound a peice. 1/3oz lil cleo. had 3 other hits on the downrigger and one hit on the deeper diver rigged with a gold thin doctor in the bigger size. is it very common to get hits on a downrigger and not get fish or was i doing something wrong with the set up? only one other laker boat out today. looked like there was a game warden crusing around too. he stopped and talked to a couple other boats but never came over to us.

[Casey Sunsdahl]

Pretty common to lose fish on a rigger! you can try to tighten up your releases and or shoten the lure ditance behind the ball... glad to see your getting out there beating the wind!

[Steve Foss]

The DNR will clip the adipose fin (the small one on top in front of the tail), and any of the four paired fins on the fish's belly surface. Sometimes two fins will be clipped. They vary the fins with each year class so it's easier to figure out how old the fish is.

The Tower DNR office sent me out a chart that detailed which fin clips went with which years. I've got to get another chart. Can't find the first one.

Since I switched out all my spoon trebles to single Siwash 1/0 and 2/0 hooks, I get a better hooking and holding percentage on trolled inland lakers. I'm missing very few fish now if they actually have the bait in their mouths. Keep those hooks sharp and don't let them run in packs!

But after spending a bunch of years now sight fishing lakers through the ice and watching them shoulder and tail slap baits, I believe that some of the releases or bumps we get while trolling are lakers doing the same thing in open water. No doubt they pursue trolled baits just like they do in winter.

Beat up fins don't necessarily mean the fish is old, just beat up. I saw the C.O.'s truck/trailer out there last week in the middle of the week, too. Never saw him on the water. Great that they're spending time on Bside.

Mike, I'm not able to fish Bside until Sunday this week, but shoot me an e-mail if you want to hop in my boat for a day next week. I can't show you how it's supposed to be done, but I can show you how I do it.