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Ely - Babbitt Fishing Reports - Lake Conditions Too.


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Wheres the picture of this 18lb beast ive been reading about on here earlier....i need a pic of a biggun to fire me up!

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So, Steve. Uh, Foss Steve, finally got to watch the video. Nice.

Any advantage to having the snow shoveled away from the hole? Been wondering why some guys do that out there including plowing all the snow from around their fish houses down to bare ice.

Just seems like a slip hazard to me but if it stimulates the economy below the ice....?????

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Hey all, Thanks to your comments that we just had an "off" weekend, my buddy and I are thinking about a return trip on Thursday. Since you've all said we did things right, we wanna take another shot! My question is this: after the weekend snow, are we gonna be able to get around in a 4wd truck? We don't have sleds or wheeler, and wonder if it'll be worth the trip. We got the itch bad and wanna scratch it, but probably not if it means hoofing it from Van Vac. Any reports on travel would be appreciated, as well as any other hints of course. Thanks to all of you who chimed in with encouragement and feedback. It is much appreciated, and I hope to get to meet some of you at the Bash!

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Troutned, a full-sized 4x4 pickup or large SUV should be able to get around fine. Mike's Explorer is a mid-size SUV, and he only got it stuck a couple times and was able to get it unstuck. If you have a small 4x4 pickup I bet you'd still be able to get around. Always a good idea to bring a shovel or two, anyway. smilesmile

Good luck up here tomorrow! Gonna be a cold one, with -20 tonight and -24 tomorrow night.

Any advantage to having the snow shoveled away from the hole? Been wondering why some guys do that out there including plowing all the snow from around their fish houses down to bare ice.

Not generally. I did it this time because of the strong winds and having a shovel handy. With all that tip-up line blowing downwind when playing a fish, a flat smooth playing surface keeps it from getting caught on every ice chip in sight. I never shovel out when using the Otter flipover. Too much hassle for no good reason, and you are right about the slip factor.

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Thats a great avatar JIM.

Next b-side laker I get is gonna be that shot,thats great.

You are going to have to Thank Steve Foss for taking such a great shot and for putting me in the right spot to catch this big girl. It is my biggest to date with dreams of a 20+ Laker

On a side note he was using a wide angle lens for the shot so it may be a little tougher to duplicate with a Point and Shoot.

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Thanks, Jim. That was shot at 16mm, BTW, with the fish's snout only inches from the lens.

I remember that it was a wide angle but could not remember just how wide.

I have to get back on Burntside soon !

Fresh Laker with a lemon and dill aoli covered with Stovetop dressing crazy Make my mouth water grin

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Seeing all these nice fish, I’m on the verge of making a voyage up there myself.

Thinking about next weekend 2/5-2/8

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Greetings I'm from southern MN, well pertty much IA am coming up to visit sister in-law this weekend, would love to try this laker fishing. My 7 year old son is coming with, and he likes to fish. But I think jigging all day might get the better of him. Are some kid freindly fish catchable also on this lake. Thanks

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The only thing that might work is to get on a school of smelt with a small fly and he could catch bait for you.

Of course you do understand that he will then catch the biggest Laker winkgrin

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I am heading up to Burntside feb 2nd to the 4th. We are bringing the sleds up and are laker fishing 2 days and taking a snowmobile ride to the north shore 1 day. How is the snowmobile trail toward the shore? What are some of the best times to find lakers? Do they only bite during the daylight hours, cause thats the only time i have fished them.

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Quote:
Seeing all these nice fish, I’m on the verge of making a voyage up there myself.

Thinking about next weekend 2/5-2/8

Dtro just an FYI for you. That weekend is the start of Winter Fest so motel rooms may be hard to find if you don't get one before you go.

Nice fish all. Thanks for the pics and reports though it is just killing me sitting here at my desk in the cities.

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we had a great morning....from 9:30am to noon was fast action...unfortunalty only one laker hit the ice...we had a flag pop within the first 20min of fishing....my mom had it up to the hole and the line must have caught on the ice just right because it broke off....i then caught a 4lber on a small jiggin rap 20ft off the bottom....my mom had two good hits from two differnt fish but missed them both....and my dad had a nice fish double is rod over but got off after about 5 seconds...if all those fish hit the ice we would have had 5...we had a few other lookers as well. 55fow. all the fish but mine came off the bottom....after noon we only had a few more lookers...we fished till 3...great day on the ice.

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it was for sure north country style....the wind was brutle today! tomorrow will be more of the same...cold..cold...cold

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Jeez, how long are they staying up here? They oughta buy a house! If I wasn't booked tomorrow I'd tag along and enjoy the fun. gringrin

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Fellas,

I always enjoy reading reports and seeing all the pics and vids. My dad and I will be up this weekend, fishing Fri., Sat., and Sun., probably fishing off Van Vac or the Burntside Lodge, possibly Listening Point or that landing at the end of the road from Van Vac (can't remember the name). Too early to tell as we won't wet the lines until Friday morning.

This will be our 4th annual trip, 5th or 6th total (too fun to remember numbers right now), so if you see a Forest Green Ranger with an ugly grey topper (near a green Eskimo flip or blue clam pop-up), or a couple of guys swearing at a cold auger looking like fools, feel free to stop bye and say hi, we don't bite!! Hopefully the Lakers do... I am hoping one of these years we can make it a bi-annual trip, but it's a long ways from Norwood (sigh).

Hopefully we have some luck, I keep saying if I hook and land a biggin' I am going to snap a few pics and send her on her way, but like I say, I keep saying that... I landed a 6 #er a few years ago, lost a similar fish last year and can still feel my heart sinking to the bottom of the lake...

Good luck to everyone else and hopefully we'll have a pic or video to share as well!

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well today was the last day of fishing....another good day...had the first 2lber on the ice by 9am.....next fish was on at 12:30pm...it got off right after the hook set....then at 1pm my dad iced a nice 4lber..we had lots of lookers inbetween..sometimes two on the vex at the same time....the fish were tight on the bottom...my dad caught his 4ft up. im done laker fishing for a couple weeks and the folks are going back to illinois....it was a great week.

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Hope you left some fish in the lake Mike!

Neighbor_guy and I just made the last minute decision to pack it up and head there this weekend. We thought we'd have another shot in Feb. but looking at the calendar, if we don't shoot up there this weekend, it'll be nothing until the Bash on March 13th.

That's just too dang long to wait.

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we left a few for ya wanderer...good luck this weekend...i am back to work for another couple weeks...then its back to fishin.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Hope you left some fish in the lake Mike!

Neighbor_guy and I just made the last minute decision to pack it up and head there this weekend. We thought we'd have another shot in Feb. but looking at the calendar, if we don't shoot up there this weekend, it'll be nothing until the Bash on March 13th.

That's just too dang long to wait.

What! Did Neighbor_guy get his sled fixed? Or are you two riding piggy back! grin

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thanks foss...it was the best laker fishing i have ever had on burntside...hopefully this kind of action continues...i cant wait till march when the big pigs start to move.

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