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I am a first time message poster and Ensign Lake camper, so please bear with me.
I'm headed to Ensign Lake to set up base camp May 15 with 6 guys, a couple of which are novice BWCA'ers and fisherman (not that I'm going to win a tourney anytime soon). Any recommendations for eyes on Ensign or nearby day trip locations of Vera, Trident, or Ashigan? I guarantee an e-mail/posting on results after our return.

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Addiehunts...Ensign is a great opener lake! Forget about going into Ashigan, mostly bass! Vera is good walleye fishing, but you should not have to leave ensign Lake. I fish splash lake on the way into ensign and also fish the upstream current as you first get into ensign. What I've noticed over the years on Ensign is the walleyes hang really close to shore and almost every campsite I've stayed at in the past I have caught walleyes from shore. There are a couple of very good reefs you need to know about. One in the Northwest part of the lake and the other two in the East part. The first thing to do is find a campsite on the East end of the lake or the big part of the lake. Opener can be very hard to find a campsite because of the people, but if you can get in there a couple of days early you should be fine. Jigs and minnows and slip bobbers from camp is all you need. Bring at least two dozen minnows per person, trust me you will go through them fast on Pike and walleyes. I like to paddle the shorlines and cast with a lead head and minnow and also work the reefs. You will have a blast fishing there, I'm yet to see a bad opener!

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addie,

Walleyes hang in the currents at the beginning of the fishing season. I'd definately try Splash lake, fishing on top of the water flow. You'll see a lot of boats fishing on the Moose lake side too.

You may want to give the reefs a try, but if it's walleyes your going after...then I'd put a lot of effort into the currents.

[email protected]

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Thanks for the great advice! I'll be sure to reply on how it turns out.

Minnows sound to be the bait of choice. Last fall when we went up on the East side to Vista Lake we'd purchased some odd assortment of minnows from a shop up north. This year, we're heading up late and would like to buy bait before leaving the cities. Will regular fat heads work just as well?

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Addiehunts...Hey if you can find Northern Redbelly Dace..the ones with bright orange and yellow breeding colors, they work very well and they are usually lively as hell. Most bait stores just refer to them as Rainbow chubs. Otherwise regular fathead chubs work too.

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The rainbow chubs will definitely work better than the regular fathead chubs at that time.

We have always found them to be a lot longer lasting, for some reason they are 'tougher'.

Bring a few crawlers just in case your minnows run out or die off. Also bring some Rapalas that will look like the rainbow chubs. The Husky Jerk ones and the new Tail Dancers should work great.

------------------
John and Lynn O'Kane
Voyageur North Outfitters
Ely, Mn 55731
1-800-848-5530

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Thanks again for all the recommendations.

Now if that ice just gets off the lakes up there we should be set. I noticed from the DNR website it is still showing ice in BWCA country, though it appears historical averages for the ice outs is about now so I'm not concerned yet.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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