Trout Update

This update is overdue, but better late than never, right?
Trout are really picking up around Ely and the future for the area lakes is looking bright with a few strong classes of fish in the 15″-20″ range. Larger fish have been quite plentiful and conservative release of these slow growing fish has seen an increase amongst many anglers. So what are they biting on? Everyone has their favorite methods, but this year’s best baits for me and my groups on Burntside have been Rattle Spoons and Flash Champs 1/4oz and larger in red and emerald shiner and blue Rippin Raps in #5&6. Depth range varies day to day, but when the trout are in feed mode you will find them in in 30-40 feet, heir transition zones have been between 50-70 feet and these fish usually require a particular triggering technique to get them to chase. With over a month left in the season it will typically just get better from here! Get out and rip some lips, and remember how slow these fish grow when you’re contemplating bringing some home, as it can take well over 20 years to grow a 10 pound Laker!

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Awesome update. Any thoughts on “keeper” size trout to protect the fishery, for a fillet for 1-2??? I don’t keep fish 99% of the time but a “keeper” size trout is on my radar for future years! Awesome fish.

Thanks for the report Ben

Heading to Snowbank This Thursday hope get into some action

It will vary from lake to lake based on growth rates. On Burntside 18-22″ trout are the prime fish for the grill or smoker from an ethical standpoint. According to the DNR (if I remember correctly) a 19″ Laker on Burntside runs about 10 years old depending on the sex of the fish and whether or not it was stocked or native born. Stocked fish in the lke have clipped fins to determine which year they were stocked. Last year an 18.5″ fish with the left fin and adipose clipped was stocked in 2006, that same clipping pattern was on a fish just over the 19″ mark last week.

#6 gold rippin Rap put 2 really nice lakers topside for me on Snowbank just this past Saturday. On Snowbank drill a bunch of holes and find the bait schools. Rip the rap about 10 feet above the Cisco school and trout will find you!

Ben
Can you tell the difference from Gillis strain and I believe mountain strain trout in Bunrtside

Burntside has a wide variety of strains and mixed strains as the original stocking until 1988 was from various strains, several of which were from Lake Superior. Burntside may have already contained lake trout before stocking began as well. The Gil strain was stocked from 1988-2010 when the DNR abandoned the gillis strain in their hatcheries due to an increasing issue with eggs hatching. If there are any MTN strain in Burntside they would have been stocked in 2011, which was the last time the DNR stocked lake trout in Burntside. If the 2011 fish are mountain strain, I have not been able to tell any visible difference between them and the gillis strain; however those fish are only about 13-15″ right now, so time will tell. There are obvious differences in some of the unclipped fish from the clipped fish(gillis strain stock). The unclipped fish were either superior or other strain stocking or natural reproduction and are typically much healthier fish than the gillis stocked fish. Since there are so many strains in Burntside you will find many different patterns and colors in the unclipped fish. If you catch a clipped fish, you know it is gillis by default.(unless the 2011 stocking was MTN strain) hope this helps some.