Birch Lake

[DavidA]

I’ll be on Birch Lake - Ely - in late July. Anyone familiar with good spots? 

[monstermoose78]

Watch for rocks. Where there is current. 

[Raven77]

What moose said.  Tore up my lower unit there several years ago up toward the Kiwishiwi.  

[Graham Smith]

I’ve fished this lake one week a year, at the end of July, for the last 8 years.  We stay at Timber Bay Lodge and I have fished the SE part of the lake, all the way up to the Stony River. I almost solely target walleye.  I say almost because I will fish bass or northern at times for fun.  I’ve yet to target crappie on this lake and this year will be the first. I’ve caught a handful of big crappie by accident on this lake.  I’ve heard they are in there.  For walleye, I’ve typically used Lindy Rig with crawler or leech, and Jighead with a minnow. I typically tie a 3-5 ft leader, red hook, gold bead, 1/4 oz weight. If the wind and waves kick up I’ll use 1/2 ounce weight.   I’ve often used a worm harness with gold or silver spinner too.  Sometime I’ll throw crankbaits and that can the ticket. If I’m covering a flat I’ll use lindys or harnesses, if I’m hitting specific points and structures I’ll use a jighead.  I’ve had the best luck in 8ft to 14ft but every year is different.  For the record, I’ve never caught a huge walleye on this lake.  I’ve caught countless eaters.  But I’ve yet to connect with many big ones.  I know they are in there.  It seems like each year the fish are hot in June to mid July.  Since we go at the end of July, we can be in the doldrums of Summer, so perhaps this is why Ive missed many big ones.  There’s also a chance I’m targeting the wrong areas.  Who knows.  As for areas, I’ll typically target shorelines that have been hit by the wind for the day, or previous day.  If I work an area for 15-20 min with little results, move on.  I’ve experienced the fish stacking up on very specific points before too.  If a point is holding fish, don’t be afraid to drift a small area and use your motor to return to the starting point, over and over.  I’ve done this many times and limited out in an hour.  One thing I have noticed is that the walleyes don’t seem to be active in the early morning.  In fact, the best action I’ve seen has been 10am to 1pm, and 6pm to 9pm.  I’ve never fished after dark. I have fished as early as 6 am on this lake and do not connect with the walleyes.  I’m guessing it’s due to the dark water and low visibility.  I hope this has been helpful and welcome other advice.  If anyone would like to add or refute, feel free.  This has been my experience on this lake and I’m welcome to hear other tactics,  I’d also love some advice on the crappie.  Where and what time of day?  Best of luck on your trip.

[Rick]

Great info @Graham Smith

 

Thanks.

[Raven77]

I've only fished Birch a couple of times so I'm no expert.  My best walleye on Birch is this 28"er caught on the west end of the lake in mid September .  Caught this one and several eaters trolling Rapala deep taildancers in about 25 FOW.  Since you are new to the lake I recommend hiring a guide for a half day.  If you want the name of a good one you can pm me.

[Phosphene]

Timber Bay Lodge is a good spot, I always go there when I go to birch lake.

[Graham Smith]

Spent the last week fishing Birch and learned a lot.  First of all, the walleyes were tough.  They were not active in the slightest.  We did catch fish but had to work for them.  We picked up some trolling lindy rigs in 13-19 feet of water.  And caught more with a jog and minnow combo.  I saw many more fish deep this year than any other year I’ve been there.  I’d say the most consistent bite with this method was 15-16 FOW.  I did find stacks of fish on specific structure and in a few bays, and often deep 19-22 FOW.  Again, these fish had lockjaw.  However, I started to target very specific structure with marked fish.  I vertical jigged and picked up larger fish. I decided to tie on a Snap Rap and vertically jig in 19 feet.  Within 10 minutes I caught and released my biggest open water walleye to date at 29”.  It was a hog and fought exceptionally well. I’ve only caught 2 walleye bigger and both ice fishing. Most of the keeper walleyes were around 15 inches with another 18” on the snap rap.  That was the only day the snap rap produced fish for me.  I didn’t use it that often but did try it a handful of times without success.
 

I also targeted crappie on this trip.  It took me a few days to figure out that they were tight to underwater stumps.  Once I found some of these I found fish.  We never got on a complete tear but did catch enough for a good meal.  And catching slabs is a blast.

 

We spent one afternoon casting for smallies.  We threw crank baits and caught some nice fish with biggest being 18 inches.  This was all catch and release.

 

Lastly, we ran into a lot of northern with every method.  Mostly snakes but the biggest one was 36” and put up a great fight. We never saw any true monster northern but didn’t target them either. We always release northern.  I’m not against eating northern and I know when prepped right, they are great.  But why keep northern when you have a bunch of walleyes and crappies, right.

 

All in all this was a great trip.  We had great weather, ate exceptional food and had amazing hosts at Timber Bay Lodge.  And...we had one morning that offered a very special treat.  My son and I were fishing around 6:30am.  The boat was roughly 20 yards from shore when we heard a rustle and large crash. Moments later 4 otters came zipping out of the woods and into the water with a bear on their tail.  The bear stopped at the waterline, looked at us, and slowly turned to walk away.  The otters popped their heads up shortly thereafter about 100 yards from shore and checked us out for a minute.  It was awesome.
 

I couldn’t have asked for a better trip.

[henryevery]

Mr. Smith,

 

Thank you Sir for the trip report.  Sept 19th I will be taking my wife and 10 year old daughter to Birch.  Taking the canoe and camping on the far northeast end of the lake.  We are from St. Louis and this will be their first trip up north.  Everyone is excited.  I really appreciate the info.  Hopefully I will be able to post something worth while.  Though I am not expecting too much fishing from a canoe.  Thanks again.

[delcecchi]

How does the old song go....

I got those BWCA Blues

They got us fishing from Canoes 

And all the good spots

are upwind.... yodelaye hooo