Burntside Lake Fishing Reports---Lake Conditions

[lispeej]

For open water fishing for lakers,, do most folks use the same bait/jigs as when hardwater fishing?

Thanks

[Improvedarock]

I use sinking line and flyrod early on. In June I troll them. July, and August I take a different approach.

[Steve Foss]

All season long in open water I use a mix of trolling with spoons/minnowbaits and vertical jigging. The spoons range from 3-5 inches long, minnowbaits on the smaller side, vertical jig lures about the same as winter, or one size heavier.

[Steve Foss]

Saundra's first ever laker!

!

[Nathan6]

my dad and i are planning on heading up to burntside this weekend. just wondering how the bite has been lately? any help is appreciated

[Steve Foss]

my dad and i are planning on heading up to burntside this weekend. just wondering how the bite has been lately? any help is appreciated

For lakers? Walleyes? Bass? PIke?

I haven't gone out for other species yet this season on Bside, but have done well so far with lakers trolling with downriggers and spoons in 40 to 80 FOW. If you don't have downriggers, you can get Jet Divers, which are inexpensive and effective.

[Nathan6]

yes i was talking about lakers. we do have downriggers so we will probably give that a try this weekend. thanks for the info

[delcecchi]

Steve, what size jet divers do you use? Off on a canoe trip soon, and thought I would take one along just for fun.

[Improvedarock]

Nathan6 I'm catching nice size lakers as we speak on light tackle. Try sinking line with a wolleybugger if you into fly fishing, otherwise a slip bobber and crawler. I'm working the bays where it drops from 15-35ish. There shallow yet!

[Improvedarock]

Thought I saw the laker slayer legend G.H out there also.

[Steve Foss]

Steve, what size jet divers do you use? Off on a canoe trip soon, and thought I would take one along just for fun.

I never bother with anything shallower than 30 feet. Typically I use the 40-footers. If you want to run them shallower than 40, just let out less line.

[Improvedarock]

Lakers went crazy on top water right before sunset! Nothing beats a 34 inch pig on a flyrod. Walleye action was decent in the AM, then they disappeared.

[2thepointsetters]

Today was my first attempt at landing an inland laker during the open water season. On my way up to Burntside this morning I hit a large buck on hwy 135. Not the best way to start the day. I arrived at the Van Vac landing around 9:00 a.m. and was greeted with rain and a brisk north wind. I set my graph to highlight the 50 foot depth range so I would have a trail to follow around the shoreline. I started trolling a spoon off the downrigger as soon as I left the dock. I decided to work the wind swept side of the islands assuming the bait would be pushed tighter. About an hour into the trip I started graphing multiple bait balls in a large flat area that held tight to 43 feet with little rocks. It wasn't long after the bait balls showed up on the graph I hooked into a 25" laker. After a quick photo it was released to swim another day. I decided to make another pass over the area and within 15 minutes I was hooked into a second laker which I kept for dinner. The dog looked pretty wet cold and miserable so I called it a day. I had great time fishing inland lakers and I can't wait to go again.The water was 53 just about everywhere.

[Improvedarock]

Nice laker. Like the the shore lunch on the go setup!

[Steve Foss]

Quite a windy and sneaky-cold day out there today. We ended up with three fish, a 2, a 5 and a 7. Two came on a 40-foot jet diver (fished 25-30 feet deep) w/smallish chrome Williams Wabler. One came on a downrigger (fished 35 feet deep) with a large yellow/green Finn spoon.

All trolling over 45-80 FOW. No clipped fins. No concentrated action. Fished from 8 to 4:30. Fish came from 9:30 to 3:00. Surface temps 54-56. More than a dozen fish came up hard to check out the downrigger balls.

Here's the 7 lber.

I figured things would go well when the husband half of the husband/wife team walked down to the dock at Tamarack Resort wearing a Packers cap.

[JerkinLips]

2thepointsetters - where are the venison steaks?

[Improvedarock]

Lakers really shallow cause I just caught 2 nice ones on a crawler harness while trolling for eyes in 10fow!!! Bonus I reckon.

[Improvedarock]

Eyes where found shallow until 9am then they disappeared. Jogged lakers in 30-50 fow with here and there success. Eyes are scattered as I speak roaming a deep water flat!

[Wanderer]

I figured things would go well when the husband half of the husband/wife team walked down to the dock at Tamarack Resort wearing a Packers cap.

[Improvedarock]

I'll have to wait until I get my laptop running again for pics. Can't download anything from my IPhone.

[Wanderer]

It's crazy easy dude. On the reply window there's an icon of a house with blue upward arrow. Click on choose file in the text box, then select your pic. It'll go into the text box. Then click add file and wait till its done downloading. Then click on done adding files. Preview your post to see how it turns out.

I just did my first from my iPhone below and it took less time than typing this did.

[chaffmj]

Next year I'll make sure to leave milk and cookies out for Santa to eat so he doesn't get hungry on his trip.

[Steve Foss]

We had a nice half-day charter this afternoon, which yielded three lakers. Two were about 10 lbs and one was a 2 lber. The large trout (both pictured here) went back in the lake, and the small one is, I reckon, about to be consumed for supper by happy clients.

They all came on spoons trolled 30-50 feet down over 40-80 FOW.

[Wanderer]

Next year I'll make sure to leave milk and cookies out for Santa to eat so he doesn't get hungry on his trip.

I thought it was lack of cookies too but I could hear him mumbling something about this sucker wouldn't fly.

Steve,

You're making some happy anglers out there.

[Steve Foss]

Steve,

You're making some happy anglers out there.

And if they are happy, I am happy.

Forgot to add some stuff in yesterday's report. Weather was coolish, starting in upper 50s and hitting upper 60s. Very little wind, and from the west (for a change this spring/summer so far). Surface water temps 56-59.

Last week we had some type of massive bug hatch. On one of my trips, the surface of the main lake was filthy with bugs and aspen cotton, and we were fishless for quite awhile. Headed up the North Arm and saw less cotton and no bug hatch, and we got into fish up there. Yesterday there were no signs of the remains of the bug hatch.

One 10 and the 2 came yesterday on an unhammered copper/nickel Sutton spoon, and the other 10 on a hammered small gold/orange Cleo.

[waterfowler85]

I have always enjoyed reading the laker reports, they are much appreciated! I have been coming to ely for years but could never get any of my friends to go to burntside to try for some "uncatchable lakers", so this 4th of july will be my first trip on burntside. Staying on the far west side of the lake. Do the lakers wonder over that far or should i be boating up to the deeper portions of the lake? Looks like a pretty flat bay on the southwest side so i am not sure about that area....I plan on using walker deep divers. I realize that come July 4th the water temps will be a lot warmer so i'm wondering if i will have a long boat ride every day to get to the deeper holes. Any advice would be appreciated for this newbie. Catching one 15 inch lake trout on this trip would be a success for me!

[Steve Foss]

I have always enjoyed reading the laker reports, they are much appreciated! I have been coming to ely for years but could never get any of my friends to go to burntside to try for some "uncatchable lakers", so this 4th of july will be my first trip on burntside. Staying on the far west side of the lake. Do the lakers wonder over that far or should i be boating up to the deeper portions of the lake? Looks like a pretty flat bay on the southwest side so i am not sure about that area....I plan on using walker deep divers. I realize that come July 4th the water temps will be a lot warmer so i'm wondering if i will have a long boat ride every day to get to the deeper holes. Any advice would be appreciated for this newbie. Catching one 15 inch lake trout on this trip would be a success for me!

That time of year, you'll want to troll at least 30 feet down. Assuming a thermocline forms this year (it doesn't form every year), it's usually around 25 feet down. Not knowing the lake, it makes the most sense for you to head as far east as at least Dollar Island, where you can fish that big deepwater basin. It's not really that long of a ride from the western end, only a few miles, and it's a beautiful lake, so a ride isn't a bad thing.

You can surely find plenty of water from 40 to 60 feet deep west of Dollar, but if you don't know the lake you'll be hitting lots of structure and probably will lose some tackle. In the deep water, not so much chance of that.

[waterfowler85]

Thanks Steve. I sure do like the look of that open basin! Hopefully I can provide a good report when I return. I even convinced the girlfriend to purchase a trout stamp so would love to see her reel one in.

Any fish caught will be CPR. Hope they aren't as fragile as the browns...

[Steve Foss]

Thanks Steve. I sure do like the look of that open basin! Hopefully I can provide a good report when I return. I even convinced the girlfriend to purchase a trout stamp so would love to see her reel one in.

Any fish caught will be CPR. Hope they aren't as fragile as the browns...

Generally, if a laker starts bleeding through the gills, it'll bleed out and die. So if a person can bring one from the net to the hands for pics and then get it back in the water without dropping it in the boat (not easy, since they keep fighting after they are landed), then it'll be OK.

Works best when one person puts a strong finger under the chin through the gill plate and an arm around the rest of the fish while the second person removes the hooks and works the camera.

Good luck out there!

[Improvedarock]

Burntside lakers are shut down there deep impossible to catch. Miners has 8 pound Brookies hitting!!