Hotspotoutdoors

Hey all: There wasn't a good map to help folks get to the Burntside Bash so I made one and will sticky and lock it up here for the time being.



For a high-resolution map suitable for downloading and printing, go here.


Adjustable directions Map to Burntside Lake(Not accurate to the access-Use map above for that).

The 7th Annual Burntside Bash January 31st. 2009.
Burntside Lake is Northern MN. set on the outskirts of Ely.
Van Vac access.

Brainchild of ChunkyTrout, it all started 7 years ago as an informal FM get together on Burtnside Lake. The theme, fish for Lake Trout, but more importantly a meet and greet social event.
An event you can put those names to faces. A place of good will and friendships made, and revisited and of coarse the Lake Trout. A group effort to make, what is the Bash.



Since the 1st Burntside Bash it has grown in popularity, has had some fluff added, contests, benefit, and prizes but the theme has always stayed the same comradery on the ice and Lake Trout.


This years Bash will much like the 1st Burntside Bash, spartan only of the fluff but much of the comradery. Let me say as with all HSO/FM get together you all have an invite to join in.
After all thats what the Bash is about.

When you organize an on ice event In Northern MN in January your at the mercy of Mother Nature. We've encountered -20 temps, slush, and deep snow in previous Bashs but the show went on.
A Big Thanks goes out to those that lended a hand and helped make that possible.

This thread will grow between now and the Bash.
Some things that I anticipate I'll thow out there now.
I'll use the word volunteer a lot, we need members to lend a hand, get involved this is your Bash too.



Ice Travel.
We won't know till a week before the Bash what mode of travel we'll need on the ice.
I will note that if at all possible you should bring your own snowmobile or can borrow one please do if the conditions call for that.
Folks needing rides out on the ice. We'll need volunteers to do that. If you need a ride have your gear secure for the ride out. Use this thread to get hooked up with a volunteer driver.

If your new to lake trout fishing and Burtnside try and get into a group with an experienced leader.
Which brings up the subject, we could use some volunteers for group leaders.


This will be a BYO deal for food. As this threads moves along we might see folks volunteering to bring a grills.

As usual we'll meet in the morning at HQ and filter off onto the lake. Then meet up again in the afternoon and socialize, perhaps grill, tell lies and compare stories. We'll set a time as we get closer to the Bash along with up to date details.

Stfcatfish has posted Bside Bash directions map and a link to a high resolution directions map here you can download and print to get to the Bash. For a detailed Burntside Lake map, go here so you can look closely and pick some spots.

Lets begin the Lake Trout Tips, Tricks, and Tactics.
Use this thread to prepare for the Bash and get your juices flowing for trout of the Laker Variety.

Sounds like fun!

For anyone on the fence on this one.....don't be! This is your chance to visit one of the more beautiful lakes in the state and have a very good chance of icing a nice Laker.

Frank and Steve (amongst others) will do their best to make sure to make this a great event!

Book your rooms now, gas is cheap, just do it!

And so are the rooms on this weekend in Ely, $59 rooms you really can't go wrong.

This is going to be my brothers first year for the bash, but I am more than ready to volunteer for what you guys think will help out. I can bring a wheeler and sled and am more than happy to give rides out or whatever. Just let me know and if anyone wants to carpool from around the Cites, let me know. The only thing that would mess this up is if it snows that weekend, then I need to be around here.

Just made reservations. Looking forward to it!

Hey come on up for this one. Its always a blast. I think the ole paddle will be filled up agian.

Here's a little video from last year

Good job guys. That will get the juices flowing.

You have to remember to tell the all the city guys about the trecherous conditions.

There is the 6 hour drive, the death curves on 169 and not to mention dodgeing the logging trucks. Thats just getting there.

The ramp is usually snowed in and there are no ice roads. Once on the lake the slush or ice ridges can swallow your truck.

Most mornings the temp is near forty below -and the wind chill

Finding the fish is almost impossible without a guide and bait just got really expensive.

Lots of locals from the Cwazy rabit scare most city folk and...

There are no fish in Burntside. Hans

Hey great video. Now what we need is good ice so you can top it.

I like the reoccuring theme of "There are no trout in Burntside."

I am looking for another good laker trip. This will be my third bash and looking to do battle with them lakers again.

Like frank said earlier try to find a sled or wheeler for this event you do need one. It is hard to hall people around but it has been done before so plan a head.

Most of us that now the lake have been able to find trout every trip and we do help every one on location and what worked for us. But a Good GPS is very help full and we do go out in groups so that can help you out a lot if you are knew to the lake. in the am it is good to hook up with some guy's and go with them and hope the trout are where you are fishing. But the friend ship and fishing is the Bash. The trout are second but fun when you get one or two.

dtro

As fun as that Sunday was I am sure we can top it this year .Lisa and I would not miss this event for nothing. It is by and far one of the best overall events just due to the great scenery and the great people who will make you feel welcome to this lake and share some great laker fishing tips. This lake is over 10,000 acres and the back side of it borders the BWCA. The chance if you seeing something in the wild that you have not seen before is very likely. We have made our reservations.

So have I Jim, at the Paddle Inn, but if my niece has room I might just bunk there. Now if you see this crazy lady wearing a red Strikemaster Parka on a Polaris ATV following you around, don't call the cops it's just me.

Steve, Great map, mind if i ask where you found that?

This is a great event, and even if you dont have a sled wheeler or are afraid of not being able to make it to the laker spots, Its a short walk out to 60' of water, and if your going to the HQ you can walk around and find a great spot.

This is a GREAT event and last year Hovermn and myself saw deer, wolves and managed to catch a few fish.


See ya all there, We will be on the lake most of the night sleeping in the fish house.

Shawnny, it started as a USGS topo map from some software I have. I pulled it into Photoshop and put in all the extra stuff. You can follow the link posted above and download it so you have it.

As in all the other Bashes, this one will be a great time, and as always it looks like we'll have plenty of fresh new faces to go with the old ones. It's all you folks coming together to enjoy good company, amazing scenery and a great chance at icing North America's best fish through the ice that makes the Bash the blast it is.

We'll have to revisit some of the stories that have become part of the lore of the Bash, too, like Reefraker taking a hook in the hand from a 14-lber (and Frank's and my fast drive out to help him), Xplorer "tearing down the house" at the Wabbit, and Northlander's unfortunate brown splash incident. Then there was the 12-lb laker that won the 2nd Bash fishing tourney caught 100 yards from HQ with less than five minutes to go before weigh-in deadline (I'll always remember cashcrews' 100-yard dash through slush and snow to make the weigh-in with us waving and cheering him on). And who, once having seen them, will ever forget Germaine's (Chunkytrout's significant other) knee-high fur boots at Bash No. 2? And there was Frank, Chunky and I in Reefraker's big canvas wall tent that second year, after getting hardly any sleep the night before the Bash because of Chunky's loud and incessant snoring as he sprawled next to the woodstove, and some fool pulls up at 6 a.m. in his pickup and starts honking his horn, eager for the 8 a.m. sign in to start, when Frank, Mike and I were only eager for a little more sleep. We signed people up that year in -25 temps. Had to hunt up a pencil because the ink in everyone's pens froze.

I seem to recall that last year Skipper's Kid locked his auger up in the ice and had to get someone to cut holes in a circle all around it to get it out. Or was that the year before? Somehow, as the years build up, all the memories seem to blend into a single thread of memory. And Hanson and DTRO's video already posted is a positive reminder that there are some big days on Burntside, even if they were pretty little fish.

But of course, the last being first, there was the opening Bash of them all when 13 people packed into Chunkytrout's "rainbow smelt" permanent shack up off the Dead River and broke the floor. I swore it broke when Northlander stepped in. Northlander swore it broke when Poutslayer stepped in. You see how this goes . . . Floor's still broken, too. I know because I have that shack now in my back yard, and it's my wife's potting shed. Good shacks never die, and I'm sure this one has dramatically increased the property value of my home. Especially if I can sell the house down the road to a Basher.

There are many, many other great Bash stories, some that never will see the light of Internet.

I'm glad this Bash will revisit the first one. Since that first one, we've had up to 100 people attending, and most years there have been prize drawings and some years a fishing tournament. All great times indeed. Last year's prize drawings and silent auction benefit were a lot of fun but a lot of hard work, as well. I think when it was all over last year and everyone had gone, Frank and I looked at each other and said: "Well, that was fun. Let's not ever do it again." This time it'll just be fun.

I'll bring along the now-well-known 6-foot map of Burntside that morning so we can lay it across the top of a snowmobile trailer and help folks who still haven't figured out some spots to go, but with all the chatter that will go on in this thread between now and the Bash on laker techniques, locations and such, as well as the maps linked to, you all should be able to plan pretty well.

Ya it was Poutslayer who broke the floor.
Many memories of the bash. Although last years is still kind of a blur. NO wabbitt for this guy this year.

I've got it on the calendar and will bring either the snowmobile or the ATV, whatever the conditions call for. I also have my own portable and equipment.

I'll most likely be by myself and would love to hop in with a group that knows the lake a little better than I do (I've only fished it once). I'd love to learn the lake so I can, at some point, show others around. I'd be happy to help transport people in return.

Looking forward to it.

Just show up at HQ and Surface Tension and stfcatfish will have a huge map of the lake and will show you some good starter spots. There will also be some people in need of a lift so that way you can cover a spot a little better and share whats working.

Well I would be happy to share some of the spots I have fished and fish with others. So meet at HQ and we will go find some fish.

ShawnnyB and I will be up Wed-Mon, fishing various lakes during the trip.

I start looking forward to the Bash as early as the day after! This will be my 3rd run, and I'm sure it'll be just as great as the others, with or without the fluff! As Steve mentioned, placing faces with names and seeing old faces again is about as much fun as reelin' in the one that didn't get away!

Saturday, you'll probably find us somewhere in the area of Vanvac in the "hotel room!" If you see us, pop in and say hi However, there may be a small chance that we'll bring another mode of transportation.

Famous last words

Caseymcq thats due to the fact there is no map for it yet.

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.