Ely MN Fish House Rental

Hey Folks,

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will be renting fish houses in Ely, MN this winter. I will be guiding ice fishing trips as well. I am out on the ice multiple times a week. I will be posting about ice conditions and fishing reports for the Ely area. As you could see from the recent IDO show there is fishable ice in the Ely area. The extended weather forecast for Ely is looking good for making some serious ice. I will be back in Ely this week and will be hitting the ice very soon. I don’t think it will be long before I can get my house out on the ice. Check us out online at:

Ely MN Fish House Rental

And give us a like on facebook at:

Ely Fish House Rental Facebook Page

Thanks!

Hey Mike

You going to be running dog sled trips into the BWCA as well? IF so, you’re going to be a busy guy this winter.

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Hey Mike
You going to be running dog sled trips into the BWCA as well? IF so, you’re going to be a busy guy this winter.

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I will also be running dogsled trips into the BWCA this witner with White Wilderness. It’s looking like there will be good ice for lake trout opener on those big Canadian Shield lakes inside the BWCA. Lake trout opener in the BWCA is Jan. 1. Can’t wait!

A dog sled trip for the lakers sounds good but I have to admit the big pike on Basswood really have my attention. I’m told that December is the best month of those big gators. Do you run trips that early? I would assume you’re going to have good ice for sled dog trips here pretty soon given the cold temps headed your way at the end of the coming week.

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A dog sled trip for the lakers sounds good but I have to admit the big pike on Basswood really have my attention. I’m told that December is the best month of those big gators. Do you run trips that early? I would assume you’re going to have good ice for sled dog trips here pretty soon given the cold temps headed your way at the end of the coming week.

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The biggest issue right now is the lack of snow on the trails. Once there is enough snow on the trails and good ice on the lakes we will run trips. It is tough on the dogs and sleds running on bare trails. It is possible to hike in there tho. There are some huge pike to be had in Basswood!

How far of a hike we talking? I thought it was much too far for a walk-in day trip. Is that incorrect?

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How far of a hike we talking? I thought it was much too far for a walk-in day trip. Is that incorrect?

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It would be a long day trip. It’s about 7 miles from the BWCA line on Fall Lake to Hoist Bay.

Yes it would. 7 miles each way. Say a guy averaged 2.5 MPH with gear that’s 3 hours in, 3 hours out.

I know some guys dumb enough to give it a try…. but only just barely.

There is snow in the forecast for this week. We will have to wait and see how much we actually get.

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Yes it would. 7 miles each way. Say a guy averaged 2.5 MPH with gear that’s 3 hours in, 3 hours out.

I know some guys dumb enough to give it a try…. but only just barely.

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There’s a fine line between brave, dumb and desperate… hiking into Basswood for a day trip takes a mix of all three!

Looks like a pretty good winter storm will be hitting the Ely area starting Monday and going through Wednesday night. I have heard 4-8in of snow. 4in would be ok but 8in of fresh snow could make a mess of the lakes, especially on the bigger/deeper lakes with less ice. The snow would be great for the trails but could be bad for the lakes. It is supposed to get real cold after the storm tho. This will help firm things up if we get any slush. Only time will tell.

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A dog sled trip for the lakers sounds good but I have to admit the big pike on Basswood really have my attention. I’m told that December is the best month of those big gators. Do you run trips that early? I would assume you’re going to have good ice for sled dog trips here pretty soon given the cold temps headed your way at the end of the coming week.

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James. The trail is in. Big gators are waiting. I am hoping to get up there early next week to check it out. When you coming up?

Hey mike if you need a road plowed to your rental let me know. Hopefully it doesn’t snow anymore till there’s 16-20 inches of ice.

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James. The trail is in. Big gators are waiting. I am hoping to get up there early next week to check it out. When you coming up?

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If this is a serious invite… I’d be a fool to turn it down! I’ll shoot you a message. End of next week looks good on this end. I supposed the weather will have a big say in it all but I’m willing to go most any time!

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If this is a serious invite… I’d be a fool to turn it down! I’ll shoot you a message. End of next week looks good on this end. I supposed the weather will have a big say in it all but I’m willing to go most any time!

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Sounds good James. It looks like another cold snap at the end of next week. That does make for some tough tip up fishing but the weather man has been wrong before!

And thanks Moonboots! I may take you up on that sometime.

Made it up there today. Fishing was slow overall. Lots of fish dropping or just mouthing the baits. We did manage to ice this beauty tho. Fat 40incher.

Had a guy fishing out of the house the last 4 days. The walleye were pretty active the last few days. He did the best this morning from 8am-11am. Landed 10 and lost a few others. Half of those coming in about 20min. The fish don’t seem to mind that it is COLD outside!

I’ve been getting a few here n there mostely at dawn n dusk in 24fow. Haven’t seen any big walleyes in 2 weeks. Was doing well at first ice in really shallow water.

I shoveled almost 300 yards 3 feet wide out on Farm yesterday, reports from residents on the lake said the ice was popping like crazy last night… should be able to get a road out there in the next few days now. Got some fat females last week in the middle of the day and schools of cisco are all over in 23-26 fow.

Farm should have a good 20 inches i assume. Should be fine to drive out. I wouldn’t venture threw the narrows to garden lake personally.

When I was shoveling we were taking ice samples every 30 feet… There was 3″ of slush made ice over 1″ of slush on top of 9″ of clear ice… Consistently accross the lake. I wouldn’t drive on it quite yet, but I’ll make an update when we get a road out.

Wow not good. White iron had 12 inches of ice dec 24th not including the 4 of white ice. I didn’t see any water between the good ice and white ice. Well ya think last night would of taken care of farm lakes ice issues. You can put a 6400 pound bearing load on 9 inches 4900 pounds on 7 inches. They say one inch of white ice= 50% strength of good ice. I’ve accidentally had my truck on 5-6 inches before and almost went into shock.

Yeah, with no traffic on farm the snow cover has really inhibited ice growth… I’ll be checking tomorrow to see if my labor shoveling the lane out froze up the under slush. Farm has been at 12″ for the better part of 2 weeks without any good growth, my guess is there will be at least 16″ by the weekend with that lane of ice exposed.

Bside had 12-14 of good ice not including the white stuff no slush at all. Think that’s the safest lake outside the bdub lines. Yea white iron, farm, garden are not the safest in the world. Bet your 9 turns to 20 by tomorrow. Save some slabs for me this spring

Conditions are improving on Shags. Most of the pockets of slush around my house are all firmed up now. Saw one SUV off the plowed road. I found 17in of ice where I drilled yesterday.