My wife walked by the TV during the opening shot on the love seat and said. I would do that. LOL !!!!!

Thanks Ben. I didn’t want to bother you with a pm. You already have helped me out so much. This trip will be from June 20th for about 10 days. Permit already reserved !

Well played !

I think I only Paid $36.00 or $38.00 for Jason Mitchells Makinaw 38 inch Med/Heavy
Laker rod. Its an awsome Rod for Lakers.

eyecatchum wrote:

Its pretty nice, cheap, and convenient. Accuracy, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired.

If you don’t have any source of digital lake maps currently, the APP is worth every single penny. But every time I head out to fish walleyes or lakers on structure, you’ll still see me sporting my handheld.

This is the Best answer you have been given. I do like mine alot but I kind of chuckle when I hear people say that the app is the only thing they use now or that they sold thier Hand held gps because they bought the App for thier phone.What the app will do is get you close to structure and give you a rough “guesstimate” of the structure around you but your not going to get on a “spot on a spot” as they say

I Reserved Mine Ben this Morning for my Boy and I for the Insula Trip I mentioned to you. June 20th ! Im hoping that will be perfect timing for a good Walleye Bite.

Not the same model but my brand new Strikemaster Mag 2000 did the exact same thing. I had to put a new carb kit in it and it was fine after that

I just got back from an awsome trip into the BWCA. Caught lots of Lakers. My best bait as stated above was a white 4 inch Tube Jig. Second Best was a Rippen Rap. Blue/Chrome. Dont forget about tip ups. I rigged mine with 10 ft of flourocarbon and a treble hook buried into the Side of a frozen Cisco. Jigging out produced my tip up 3-1. Airplane Jigs and Bucktail Jigs tipped with a chunk of Belly meat from a frozen Cisco got me a few hook ups as well. Its my new favorite fish through the Ice. Make Sure you have the right Rod Combo. I have a jason Mitchel 38 inch Lake Rod that I love. A longer Medium/ Heavy Walley Rod will work ok too. Lakers fight pretty hard and you might wish you brought a more stout Rod. 10# mono with a small swivel with 10 ft of flourocarbon is my Favorite jigging set up for lakers. 10# braid works good too if its not to cold out. It tends to freeze up though and makes for tuff jigging. Have fun. I am now addicted to Laker Fishing and cant wait to go back

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Thanks a lot guys. Great idea Cal. I started putting all the data on a spreadsheet last night. Pretty interesting.

Any other reports around the Bwca for lakers this weekend ? I had an amazing trip and caught a bunch of nice Lakers on my camping trip and just returned. You guys were right. This is now my favorite species to chase through the ice

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Two winters ago I dropped my WIFES brad new 35mm camera down the hole on red lake. A few of the last words spoken before I pulled out of the driveway were “I promise I will take care of your camera”.

Thanks a lot Tegg. I might have to go get a bivy sack before I leave now. You brought up the point about keeping your sleeping pads underneath you and in place while your are sleeping. I never thought about that. Makes a lot of sense.

Randy Wieland wrote:

Guys like that built this country!

That’s the truth !

Ray Gylsen wrote:

I ordered the Black Diamond Storm in the only available color, green. I guess it will stick out in the snow if dropped. Thanks for everybody’s help.

You will be really happy with your choice. Your buddies wont be though when you forget to turn it off. Its blinding to somone 3 feet away. I speak from experience….

tegg wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>eyesonly wrote:</div>
Next Sunday I’m going for it and doing a 5 day camping trip into the BWCA for some Lakers solo. With all that new snow they are getting right now my plans change in my head hourly it seems. Off the beaten path is definitely my goal for the trip… Good luck on your trip.

Hats off to you if the weather works out. Let’s see…. January. A lot more night than day. Good potential for sub-zero weather. Maybe some condesation dripping off the bivy sack back into your face (been there, done that).

ive never used a bivy before just because of what you describe with the possible condensation. Have you always used one and what are your thoughts of leaving it at home and just rigging up a good tarp system ?

Ive had really good luck with the Black Diamond headlamps. I love mine and wont buy another brand anymore. Its got all the features your looking for. Make sure you get the Black Diamond Storm . Its completely sealed and waterproof. I just looked for you. Cabelas has the Storm for $49.99 right now. Once in a while you can get lucky and REI will have them for $35.00 on Sale.

suzuki wrote:

Same thing that’s going on every place else.

Yep. Same thing thats been going on for thousands of years. Killing each other over religion.

Me and all my buddies agree that this is the best hockey tournament to watch out of any tournament in the world. I think its even better than the Olympics to watch.

Next Sunday I’m going for it and doing a 5 day camping trip into the BWCA for some Lakers solo. With all that new snow they are getting right now my plans change in my head hourly it seems. Off the beaten path is definitely my goal for the trip… Good luck on your trip.

James Holst wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>eyesonly wrote:</div>
Not sure how realistic this is but given your love for trout (my favorite fish through the ice) I think it would be an unbelievable show to see you guys spend a few days fishing for Lake Trout and giant Pike on lakes like Knife Lake, Basswood or one of the bigger lakes with in the BWCA. I’m sure though the logistics of getting your guys and all your camera gear packed up on dog sleds for that kind of trip would be a pretty epic
undertaking. I do appriciate how much you guys try to mix it up through out a long season. Have a safe season. Thanks, Bill

@eyesonly

Agreed. I’d want to film those shows too! I have a couple dog sled teams that would haul us in on a moments notice. But “wanting to” and being “able to” are two completely separate things. The Federal Parks system won’t give us permits to film in the BWCA so we’re on the outside looking in. I’ve spent time the last 2 winters trying to get those permits and at this point I’ve accepted that I’m wasting my time.

I probably should have figured you had already made the effort to try to put a trip like that together. Yikes, you were not kidding. I did some quick research . Talk about hoops. I stopped reading after the 2nd page on requirements to film/ photograph in a Federal park

Give Ben Putnam a shout. He’s up in Ely, doesn’t have an ATV or sled, and gets on some good trout bites on foot. I’ve found him incredibly helpful and willing to share info and chances are he’ll want to fish with you to make sure you get where you need to be.
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Ben has been very gracious with me answering many questions about my upcoming trip. He’s a very nice man. If your a walker/day tripper you could look on the gunflint side. Duncan and Moss are a few of the more well known lakes on that side. People keep their favorite laker lakes pretty close to the vest but there are many great lakes within that area. Burntside on the Ely side has some drive to spots also along with a bunch more

I’m taking a winter trip up to Knife in the BDUB on the 13th and I couldn’t be more excited. Besides the usual tube jigs and airplane jigs I really want to try the new mini Rippen Raps. Yes, the opening dates are goofy this year. You really have to read carefully. In my opinion if I were you guys I’d skip grindstone and take a couple of days and head to grand marais or Ely for lake trout. Both place have easily accessible lake trout lakes for day trips after the everything opens. I wish I had a brother to fish with. I envy you.

We try to fish Leo on the gunflint atleast twice a year. Once in the summer and atleast once on the ice. Lake finder should be your friend.

Thanks Ben. Im super excited for my boy and I to make another trip up to the bwca next summer. Last year we did a 7 day trip to insula and couldn’t have had a better time. In the mean time I’m even more excited about spending 7 days in the Ely area starting January 11th solo. I really want to combine a walleye trip with some lake trout action.I realize I will only be able to trout fish on lakes completely within the bwca at that time. I will be fully prepared for whatever is instore. I will have my polaris ranger on the trailer and all my gear with me to fish both species including my pulk and snow shoes for a hike to try to catch some lake trout. I really would love to take advantage of your offer to maybe recommend some places to explore. If you have a free day that week that would even be pretty cool to have some company one afternoon if you’re up for it . Thanks Bill.

Another dad that bought their little guy a .243. No recoil and hes shot 3 nice bucks in youth hunts so far. None of them had to be tracked more then a few feet. He loves shooting it. I love shooting it to.

“I disagree. Being a fast growth rate, the large fish will still be young and still maintain a good flavor. Most people like small fish because tge fish to seasoning ratio is very low”

I guess I was speaking more to the Thickness of the Fillet than the age of the Fish. Not sure how one would get the middle of a thicker fillet on a 30 inch fish cooked correctly before the outside starts to get over cooked.

The lake is also commercially fished for walleye if I am not mistaken so if the hook and line guys didnt keep tthose fish the commercial guys would. The numbers of fish taken from that lake are watched pretty closely . I know its hard to believe but those guys are not doing any damage to the lake at all with the crazy growth rates. But I agree with you guys. Why do you need to keep that many big fish. They cant taste very good and how many mounts does one need?

Im going with a couple of the Depthmaster Combos also to replace the few old setups I have .That is a pretty smoking deal for $50.00

Thank you so much !

The Bottom most Plug is stuck on my 3 cylinder 75hp Merc I found out when I went to change my plugs this week . I am not a mechanic and have no Idea how I will get it out of there. Could I get a few Ideas on how to get it out of there ? Sorry for Hijacking your thread.