Burntside Ice Condition ?

[A1000HOOK]

Does anyone have an update of the ice condition on Burntside? Is there a road plowed off the Van Vac access?

[caseymcq]

The reports I am hearing is that the ice on Burntside is pretty sketchy, thickness varying from 8" down to 0. Noone is driving cars/trucks out on the ice. There have been reports of open water near some of the islands. There isn't much snow on the lakes up here. We really haven't had much snow up to this point.

[chunkytrout]

As of yesterday, the igloo club hadn't even staked the lake yet.

[cashcrews]

Fished several places on Burntside over the past week. I found 9 to 12 inches everywhere I went, and with the colder weather it was gaining about an inch every day.

Talked with people in the bait shops and on the lake, and they said there might still be some sketchy ice in "the usual bad places". When I asked for specifics, I couldn't seem to get more info than "Waters Island". Well, I was fishing off the south shore of Waters, on 10 inches of ice, so I am a bit confused about these apparently well-known but unspoken bad places.

Fishing was fair, we got 5 trout in 3 outings, biggest was an 8-pounder caught by Capt. Blaine. Lost a couple nice ones too, and had a trophy eeltrout on the ice.

Cashcrews

[Steve Foss]

Cash, there was open water very late along the northwest shore of Waters. There's a steep drop-off and very deep water there, and it's usually the last place to freeze up. I'd stay away from that side of the island, or go very carefully. There also was open water around Lost Girl until a week or so ago. The ice around any island is a potential thin ice/slush hazard, especially on Bside. The snow blows around those islands and drifts into the shores and near-shore areas, pushing down the ice and forcing water through the cracks to make slush, sometime deep slush. And sometimes that snow builds up before there's more than a few inches of ice, and it can stay that way all winter.

We hit -8 two nights ago, with forecast lows around or below zero and highs in the upper teens to low 20s for the next several days. Since there's so little snow over most of the ice, that weather is enough to make ice each day, though not a lot of it. Could easily be 2 inches more ice this weekend than there was last, however.

Chunky and I are heading out from Van Vac on sleds this weekend, and will put up a new thread on Bash HQ and include final details such as times, where the HQ will be, and reports on ice.

There WERE a few people driving off Van Vac last weekend, but they weren't going far before parking. We've talked to folks who simply walked at an angle off Van Van for about 75 yards, set up in 50 FOW and had their limits in a couple hours. When the fish are on, that whole south shore of Van Vac is a good place to work. When they're off, it generally means a bit more hopping around from place to place. Not that that makes the fishing any better, just staves off boredom for those prone to it.

[cashcrews]

Now that's the kind of info I was looking for, FM comes through again. Any other advice for bad spots to look out for on BSide? I'll be out on Saturday and Sunday.

[Steve Foss]

Cash, I edited my previous post just above yours, adding some more info, so you might want to take another look at it. We may run into you this weekend. Channel 7.

[Steve Foss]

It is -11 in Ely at this minute. ICE!!!!

[chunkytrout]

I found open water on the south side of waters on Saturday evening. Ran the river and all seemed well. Decent ice around Dead River mouth. Sled and wheeler traffic was all I saw.