BWCA Burntside Lake Report

Well I had the opportunity to head to the Ely,MN area this past weekend, March 8th & 9th. I headed up with my friend, Matt, where we were going to try our hand at lake trout thru the ice. This was a fish that I have caught in the boat, but had yet to target them thru the ice.

We fished Friday afternoon and Saturday morning into early afternoon until the weather had us heading home. Friday afternoon was a tough day, as we marked 3 fish but were not able to get any to commit. Saturday was a better day, with us landing 4 fish between 22 & 28".

The different areas we fished ranged from underwater humps and points, as well as steep drop offs where we hoped the trout would be ambushing their prey. Both days we tried these areas with our depths ranging from 25 ft to 80 ft below the ice.

I was using my LX-7 and it was nice to try a few different configurations while out on the ice. The first configuration I tried was a split screen, which was the chart mode and flasher mode. What I ended up really liking though was the chart mode and vertical display. This gave me the largest view of the chart, without going soley to the chart mode.

Our best spot was a deep underwater point, that dropped off into 60 plus feet of water. Matt setup in around 40 feet and I setup in 43 feet about 10 yards behind him. I must have been in the right spot as he only got one of the four fish.

Every fish I had, I barely saw come in on the screen before they came screaming up to my jigging spoon. I would keep moving my spoon up in the column until the fish hit and started to load up the rod. Each battle was fun and these fish don’t give up until they absolutely have to. Some nice runs were made by all the fish and the jagged ice at the bottom of the hole always had a guy cringing when the fish were twisting right under the hole.

Travel on the lakes was great with a snowmobile, as there was enough powder on top to make the ride enjoyable and not terribly rough. There were some people running around in 4wd vehicles, but my best advice would be to use sleds. It makes moving around much easier and gives a guy a place to sit when he is fishing out in the open.

We never did get into the monsters, but we did get some nice fish around the 5lb mark which gave me a good feel for what the TUC LTP 36" rod could handle.

There is still time to fish for lake trout yet this winter, so if you are looking to change things up from panfish and not make a trip for walleyes to the border waters or out of state, head up to the BWCA for an oppurtunity at a unique experience with some great scenery!