ely to red lake

[chaffmj]

I am going to Ely on Wednesday to fish lakers. Will be leaving Ely Thursday to fish crappies on Red lake. Anyone out there know of a good route to go from Ely to URL and how many hours? By the way can you still get out on Burntside with a 4 wheel truck?

Thanks, Mike

[monstermoose78]

I would take 169 to highway 2 then head to url if ya want take highway 1 but i think that might take alot longer.

[Steve Foss]

We go from Ely to the family cabin 10 miles north of Bemidji all the time. Hwy 1 will save you a LOT of time over the other route.

[monstermoose78]

i take it they keep highway 1 to the west plowed i know from ely to 61 is hairy in the winter.

[Steve Foss]

We take the route in all seasons. It's been plowed every time. It saves us half an hour, and that includes turning south on Hwy 71 at Blackduck and going 15 miles to the cabin, which wouldn't be necessary when heading to Waskish. Taking the southern route along Hwy 2 to get to Waskish would actually probably take nearly an hour longer than the Hwy 1 route.

One warning: If you take Hwy 1, get ready for lots of twists and turns west of Cook, between there and Effie. When it says to slow down to 10 mph for a 90 degree turn, it MEANS 10 mph. You'll be in the ditch if you don't heed those. That being said, I was surprised at how much time that route saved over Hwy 2 when we switched.

[monstermoose78]

Thanks st i will have remember that i know it was slower going because it was curvy road but i was thinking the the other way would be faster because of the better road, but i never drove it in the winter. I knew it was shorter and would save on gas if he took 1

[chaffmj]

Thanks for the info. I was wondering how the drive would be on 1. Now how is the snow and ice depth on Burntside and will I be ok with a 4 wheel drive truck? I will be out on Burntside by noon on Wednesday. If anyone is going out I will be in a red four door chevy. Stop by and say hey.

Mike

[Steve Foss]

Chaff, haven't been on the lake for over two weeks, so I can't give you a snow/ice report. Sorry.

[monstermoose78]

St have ever fished Judd lake for rainbows?

[Steve Foss]

Nope. Thought about it, but there always ended up being some kind of fishing I wanted to do more than that.

[monstermoose78]

i have caught alot of smaller ones there but have seen some big ones. I hiked it once and boy that is a hike. There is another lake i fished lakers in on the way to snowbank i think it is ojibawwa or something i got a few nice fish out of there but not the numbers that bside has.

[Deep_Sinker]

I fished Burntside this past weekend out of Van Vac and found getting around anywhere with 4x4 easy. Hope that helps and good luck, the lakers didn't cooperate fully for us. We managed one 3-4lb. Not sure if it matters, but I heard off road travel on Red is real tough for most 4x4's.

[caseymcq]

Deep -

How thick was the ice out on B-Side?

STF wasn't kidding about the curves on HWY 1 west of Cook. I have made a few trips. I missed one of those 90 degree turns and ended up near Nett Lake. Then eventually in Orr.

You can get cut across on Kooch Co Rd 36 before you get to Northome. That will take you through Mizpah and into Kelliher from the east. Then up 72 from there. It is a scenic route either way but you will be going through the boonies. Not many places to stop.

[monstermoose78]

you can stop but there aint nothing there right

[caseymcq]

mm-

You are right. You could stop anywhere. There are a few little places to stop on the way. I was meeting up with my brother in Black Duck on one trip so I took 14 to 29 to 30 to 13. Big Fork is kind of on that route.

[cashcrews]

Snow conditions on Burntside were fine last weekend. There's probably 18-20" of ice.

[chaffmj]

Thanks for all the posts. I will be heading out early Wed morning for B-side, then Thurday to URL. Really having a hard time concentrating on my job right now.

Thanks,

Mike

[monstermoose78]

just bring a rod to work and practice jigging