Camping on Burntside

[coldwaterfan]

I'm looking at hitting up Burntside on Sunday or Monday. I've never been up there and am wondering if anyone could help me out with camping locations. Any on the north eastern part of the lake, say near dead river or any of the islands. I'll be in a 14' aluminum by myself, so having camp close to deeper water would be nice. Just need somewhere to put up a tent and cook a meal. Hopefully someone can help me out and keep me on public land. If posting is not preferred, please email me at [email protected] Any tips for this time of year are also more than welcome.

Thanks,

Eric

[Casaloma]

Campsites in the BWCAW style are located at some locations on Burntside, as are public land sites. In the Twin Lakes up the dead river ( careful navagation ) there are 2 BWCAW style sites. Meaning Fire grate & Biffy. Several brand of lake maps will show them.

Have fun on that beauty of a lake!

-CLoma

[coldwaterfan]

Thanks Casaloma! Yeah, I don't need a BWCAW style site or anything,but thanks for the heads up about the sites on the maps. I'll check them out. Anyone camped on any of the islands?

[Steve Foss]

I don't know of camp sites near the Dead on Burntside.

There are a couple nice sites along the North Arm, which is a good deep-water fishing part of the lake, with lots of points and reefs, sunken islands and holes to 100 feet.

They are easy to find from the lake, because they both overlook it. One is on an eastern point looking west over the big bay (bay is easy to see on the map). The other is a bit further down the arm toward the main lake, and sits on a nice rock shelf on the west shore of the arm.

I'm not sure whether there are biffies at either site, since all I've done to this point is troll on by them a million times. From the Arm to the Dead isn't a long boat ride, and there are enough islands and rock reefs in between to give you some shelter from wind and wave.

[chunkytrout]

There's also School Section bay which is nice and the big island on the North Arm has two sites. Enjoy!

[Leaky]

I'll second the school section bay and the Twin Lakes sites. Haven't ever seen the ones on North Arm. It a nice (slow)cruise up the dead river and the site I'm thinking about is on East Twin (go straight), on the east shoreline about 3/4 of the way down.

[Steve Foss]

The north arm sites are exposed to the wind. The one up at the end of school section is very sheltered.

[coldwaterfan]

Thanks for all the info everyone! Have any of you been out on the lake lately? Any advice on depth for lakers this time of year? I'm thinking starting around 40-50ft? I assume they have started moving deeper? Thanks again for the camping info. It does not sound like finding a spot will be a problem

[bmc]

I live in Deer River, but this applies to your question. I caught 2 lakers this past Thursday on Caribou Lake, north of Grand Rapids. They weren't that big, 17" and 19", but they sure smacked the crankbait hard. I'm guessing the water temps were in the mid 40's on this lake, 100+ foot depth and extremely clear water. I caught these fish trolling a Rebel D20 black/silver crankbait about 15-18' down in 20-40' of water. I bought a trolling bible with alot of good info on particular crankbait running depths etc. It's a wise investment for sure. I also trolled smelt on a inline spinner with using 1 oz and 2 oz snap weights, but no luck. I hope this helps.

While trolling, I saw a teen aged kid use the rope swing by the landing and sure enough in the lake he went. He screamed so loud, I thought he got impaled on a stick! He got out real quick and stood on shore hunched over for a good 5 minutes. I could not believe he took the plunge!

Brian

[knoppers]

a little late for ya, but I have stayed at the north arm sites, and they are close to laker land. there are no biffies thou.