Franklin Lake Acces

[Neiko]

Can anyone tell me if they allow wheelers back to Franklin still? I heard they posted a lot of trails closed up there and was wondering if they close the trail back to Franklin. We are looking to head up there after Xmas to do some fishing and would hate to drive all the way up and find out we can't take the wheeler back there.

[89Bronco]

I plan on being up there on Dec. 18-19th, so I'll try to find out for you if nobody else replies. I've always walked-in in the past, so I haven't looked for those new signs. We haven't decided exactly which lake were going to be on...Franklin, Marion, Pauline or a couple of others off the Echo Trail. Can you guys drive back there to Franklin later in the winter when the snow is really deep?

[Neiko]

Usually they have had it plowed upto the T intersection and then we just go the rest of the way if it isn't too deep. We have been lucky the times we have gone I guess. Maybe it is early enough were there isn't that much snow. Let me know what you find out. I was going to call the CO upthere and ask him but haven't got around to it.

[Hibbingite]

Hello there,

I am very familiar with the lakes mentioned in this thread + a few more. I fish Franklin regularily in the summer, and a couple times early winter season. This fall, they did post no ATVs due to the rain and the condition of the trail. There are 2 bad spots pretty deep. We also had a couple trees go down during the storms this summer. I haven't been down the trail since June and am unsure if now that the ground has froze if the wheelers are allowed again.

Now for the gossip: You all have good luck here? I usually fare quite well on the north end by the rock ( in front of the campsite. 13ft of water produces some real "Honey eyes". Marion is my 2nd choice, lots of little pike and a few nice eyes. Long Lake is an excellent lake for wallies. Early season, tipups w/ small sucker. How about Silver Lake there as well? Now this lake I have gone in on in the summer and pulled monster pike but never a walleye. Are they in here? how bout the crappies? Anyone try it in the winter?

Well good luck all, I will probably hit Franklin soon, but am waiting for colder temps to better the ice conditions. Last year I was startled when my wheeler went through a slush pocket up to the fenders. There are a lot of under water springs here so be careful!!!

Again, good luck and please share your results, will do the same here.

[8-Ball]

Hibbing- Is this the Long lake south of Orr in Kabetogoma State Forest?

[Neiko]

There is a weed bed edge that we do pretty good at just out from the landing and in between the 2 camp sites on the side of the lake. As for the slushy part we hit the samething out there. There is a spring on the way to the Island that we steer clear of. I would hate to go in because it might be spring when they find you. We tried Marion one day in the summer but no luck. I wanted to try Long Lake but wasn't sure if there was a way to get there. Can you get there with a 4 wheeler? I have never caught a crappie in these lakes. We plan on hitting Franklin on the last Thursday and Friday of the month. I would really like to hit Long Lake if possible so if you could email me directions I would appreciate it. If not I understand. Thanks. [email protected]

[89Bronco]

Hibbingite... I'm just the opposite of you, Marion being my first choice and Franklin my 2nd. I've caught a few nice sized pike out of Franklin and some small walleyes, but not as much or as big as Marion. Maybe you've found the "spots" on Franklin like I do on Marion. I seem to do well in front of the cabins. I mostly fish these in the summer, but try do make at least one trip in the winter. I used to be there a lot more about 8-10 years ago when I still lived in I. Falls. I would carry a big green Old Town canoe back in there. Now I have a solo so I'm planning to go up there this summer once or twice. I was on Pauline last summer and did quite well. My co-worker talks about Long Lake being good for fishing, but that's not one I've tried yet.

[Neiko]

I talked to Troy Fondie and he said you can drive a 4 wheeler back to those lakes legally. He said they were suppose to get 7-9 inches of snow coming so he didn't know how accessable they would be by 4 wheeler.

89Bronco, could you give me an update after this weekend on the conditions on getting out there? I would hate to go all the way and not get out. Good luck and thanks.

[89Bronco]

I'm going to try! I hope the road up to Franklin is accessable. I've been back there before after a heavy snow and I don't think too many people use that road. I think I'll have to pack the snowshoes with me. A week and a half ago I thought it was going to be easy trekking!

[Hibbingite]

Hello All,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, been real busy at work. I just called Mr. Stein today and he said the signs were taken down on the Franklin trail. He and the Orr warden went in last weekend. He said people have been going in on wheelers and had a nice trail. I am not sure how much snow we got up there. I am sure it did a number on the trail, but I did a test run through the woods here in Hibbing on the wheeler and went just fine.

As far as the Elephant lake road, yes they do not plow it all the way. They only plow up to about mile marker 4 which is about 4 miles past the trestles on Elephant. I have the solution for you though - when you come into Orr, take a right and hop the tracks on your way to Echo Lake. After you go through Byuck, take the next left onto a dirt road past the Nelson's resort turn. From this turn you are about 5 mile from the Vermillion falls and about 7 from the sharp turn to Franklin. This is plowed or at least it was last year. You can park by this turn and the trail to Franklin is 1/2 mile from here.

Believe me, I have a 2wd and this is the ONLY way I go.

Well good luck and have some fun!!!!!

[Hibbingite]

In case I didn't make sense, when I say 1/2 mile to Franklin trail from turn, that is after traveling down this road the 5 or 6 miles. When you see Nelson's on the right, take the next left.

Well, Again good luck, I am going to probably hit Franklin next week. I am gonna hit Vermillion this Saturday because I don't have the whole day to fish because my wife says I still need to do some shopping. (The bonus to this is Duluth has that new Gander Mtn and I am sure to score me some more nice jigs he he..... also can't forget Marine General.)

Again good luck

[Neiko]

Thanks for the tip. We usually go in from the Crane Lake way in the winter. Let me know how you did getting back there.

[89Bronco]

I fished on Marion on Saturday from about 10am to 3pm. I drove in from the Cusson side. The road wasn't bad at all. I walked in the last part after parking the truck in the little clearing. I caught two walleyes and 8 northerns and missed several others. I was set up in about 6ft of water in the weeds and you could see the fish come in to get the bait. When you can see your rapala about 3 feet down the hole and some 25" northern comes blasting out of the weeds to nail it---now that's a rush. It was a lot of fun. I did hear auger sounds coming from the north-northwest. Would that be Moose Lake? Does anyone have any experience fishing on Moose?

That evening I drove the other way out to check the roads. Someone had plowed from the highway by Anderson's all the way to the T. Then, to the right they plowed past Franklin (but not the little parking area) and to the left all the way to where you turn to get to Marion. I could see where others have gone in with 4-wheelers on the Franklin trail, and on the Marion trail there were a few 4-wheeler tracks and snowmobile tracks. The snow on the trail was hard packed with about 2" of fresh powder on top. If another storm doesn't hit, you guys should have no problem getting in there. Hope you have fun!

[Neiko]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like you had a good time. I am guessing the auger was on Long Lake which is just west of Moose. According to the netting report I don't think Moose is too good of a lake. Too shallow. Did they have the road plowed once you passed Elephant? How about 493 which is about 4 miles past Elephant going to the left? That is the way to Long Lake. Hopefully we don't get a big snow storm so we can atleast get to Franklin at the end of next week. Thanks again for the update.

[89Bronco]

I didn't go down the road to the left of Elephant, but that's the way the plowed road went. To the right toward Marion it wasn't as plowed, but it looked like someone did it at least once because there were some small banks on the sides of the road. It wasn't too bad, (I've driven through deeper stuff), but it was a lot clearer coming from the Crane Lake side.

[Neiko]

I don't mean the road that goes by Melgeorges but once you go past the Public landing on Elephant. There is a split that goes left that will loop all the way back to 53. I believe it is 493 but comes out on 53 as sheep farm road or something like that. I hope that is the one you are talking about being plowed because I wanted to try and ge back to Long lake. We will be coming from the Crane Lake side since that is where we will be staying.

[89Bronco]

Ahh, the Sheep Ranch Road. I did not know that it looped all the way around like that. I guess I drove by the forestry road you want to go on and didn't notice if it was plowed.

[Neiko]

That's the name. I knew it had something to do with a sheep gathering. How much ice was on Marion? Does it even pay to bring the LX-3 with since it is so shallow? Hopefully the road will be good enough to drive down to.

[89Bronco]

I would say there was about 6"-8" of clear ice under 1"-2" of that crusty, white ice on the top.

I brought my Vex along. It was nice for checking depths when I first started, but I did turn it off after I got settled in. I didn't want to be sitting there thinking "I wish I had brought the Vex...I should've brought the flasher..."...you know, it's hard to fish without one now that I have one. And you never know, you might set up on the deeper side of the weedline and then you'll want it because you won't be able to see the bottom.

[Neiko]

Well looking at the forcast it doesn't look like much snow in the next week so hopefully we will be good to go. I really want to try Long Lake. Looks like a healthy population on perch in there also. As for bringing the Marcum you are probably right so I will pack it in because I hate kicking myself afterwards. It packs nice in the cargo box so it isn't that big of a deal.

[Neiko]

Anyone have any reports? I am heading up Thursday AM and want to know if it is still accessable or what they are hitting on. Can't wait!

[RonZ]

Do they still have the road gated off to Marion off the main road? I went back there 3 or 4 years ago during the summer. Then the next year it was gated off. They looked suprised to see me and acouple of kids show up back there. That ticked me off.. Is there another way to get back there? I suppose its impossible to get to little johnson? I never fished johnson in the winter but have had good luck in the summer.

[89Bronco]

RZ----There was no gate as far as I could see. I drove in all the way to where we usually park and then it's about eight-tenths of a mile walk to the lake (unless you have a 4-wheeler.) I've been to Marion at least once every winter, but I haven't been there for a couple of summers now. I don't see how someone could gate the road going into there. There are two cabins in there but I don't think they own the land all the way out to the road. I've never been all the way into Johnson or Little Johnson so I can't help you there.

Neiko---Good luck and send a report! I won't be able to get up there for awhile...too many relatives to visit during this holiday break.

[RonZ]

Hmmm..... Thanks for the update

[Neiko]

Well we did get to Long Lake and started off good. Caught some nice jumbo perch and a walleye. After a hour of being there we saw a pack of 9 wolves cross the ice. We tried howling to see what they would do but a couple stopped and looked and then kept running. We decided to head down to the other end by the Island and fished until 7:30. We caught 1 more little walleye and were checked by the CO's. We ended up with 8 Jumbo and threw back as many small ones and 2 walleyes. The perch had worms which I understand are ok to eat as long as you cook them thoroughly. I was surprised we didn't get 1 northern there.

Day 2 we went and fished Marion but I think the weather really shut them down. I caught 2 northerns on my rod that hit just like walleye. I couldn't believe it. Not 1 tip up. I did do some hole jumping and was marking fish but they wouldn't bite until I tried some pink Powerbait Crappie bites. I did manage to get 1 bluegill but we ended up packing up after that one and head back. Did run into the CO from the previous day and BS'd for awhile. Nice guy and he gave us some ideas for some other lakes in the area. We did not make it to Franklin unfortunately. I would like to try and get upthere again this winter but I am not sure if it is in the cards. I am still trying to talk the wife into it.

[RonZ]

I'd like to take that truck(at the big cabin) on Marion for a spin!!!!

[89Bronco]

Anybody been to these lakes recently? I would like to fish one of the lakes around there next weekend, but would like to know if a guy can drive up to the Marion or Franklin accesses and if the snow is still shallow enough to take a four-wheeler back in there. Hibbingite? Neiko? or anyone else? Thanks a whole bunch!

[Neiko]

I wish I could help you out there. I also wish I could get upthere one last time before ice out. I am getting my new X2 this week and would like to try it out. I would try giving Troy Fondie the CO a call and ask him. I would think it should be good as there hasn't been a lot of snow this year so I think there should be some tracks in. They were logging just west of the T when we were upthere around New Years so it was plowed.