Outdoors

The weather has been a mystery for fishermen, from bright and sunny one day to cold and cloudy the next. But we’re seeing some nice entries come in, despite the changing conditions.<BR><BR>Burntside Lake is known more for its lake trout fishing, but when you’re able to tear into the walleyes, you better get ready to set the hook.<BR><BR>Teresa Wagner of Washburn, WI found the right spot and using a leech caught a 9 lb. 12 oz. walleye on Burntside, entering the contest at Skube’s. <BR><BR>William Nelson of Elbow Lake, MN was right behind with a 9 lb. 8 oz. walleye caught in Burntside on a leech and checked in at Skube’s. <BR><BR>Fishing Birch Lake, Elyite Bill Deyak landed the biggest walleye of the week. Caught on a Rapala, the fish was 10 lb. 4 oz. and checked in at The Great Outdoors.<BR><BR> Eagles Nest One was the spot to send out a Rapala and reel in an 8 lb. 11 oz. walleye for Sarah Sawyer of Kansas City, MO.

Brett Porthan said it was so windy on Basswood last weekend that he could only backtroll over a reef three times before stopping to bail out the boat.<BR><BR>For fisherfolk who dared to brave the wind, the results were worth the effort. Brett reported catching over 100 walleyes with a handful over five pounds. And all in 10 feet of water. <BR><BR>The windy weather stacked fish up on the reefs but a number of parties reported they resorted to fishing from shore rather than risk the wavy waters. <BR><BR>Warmer temperatures may have helped turn on the trout as well. <BR><BR>Top fish of the week was a 16 lb. 2 oz. lake trout caught in Snowbank Lake by Randy Mattson of Aurora. He weighed the lunker in at Vermilion Fuel and Food.<BR><BR>Some nice trout are being taken out of Miners Lake right in Ely. Jerod Gheen was fishing with worms and caught two rainbows, one 19 inches, 2 lb. 13 oz. and one 20 inches, 3 lb. 3 oz.

It is absolutely incredible the variety of phone calls and e-mails they get at the Chamber of Commerce. Just recently, they received a phone call from a lady in Mora who owns a de-clawed, de-fanged four-year-old bear. She said she had a problem. The bear lives contentedly with her family of five in a mobile home which is kind of ramshackle. The neighbors love the bear because it licks their barbecue grills clean. Yuk.<BR><BR>The Mora lady and her brood intend to move from the trailer to a new home, but they find insurance premiums very expensive because of the bear. Seems they lived in the trailer without insurance. Their dilemma is whether to absorb the exorbitant rate and keep the bear or forgo the insurance. Getting rid of the bear is apparently out of the question. <BR><BR>The lady thought that since Ely is in the wilderness, the Chamber of Commerce might know someone who would take over guardianship of the animal.

Strange sightings in the woods usually go with the line, "Sure you did." But Phil Meier of Winton has the pictures to prove his story is no tall tale.<BR><BR>Phil and his dad Dwayne were fishing on Crooked Lake and had come into their campsite with some walleyes to cook up for dinner.<BR><BR>While Phil went back into the woods to gather some firewood, Dwayne took out his fillet knife and unhooked a walleye from the stringer to get it ready for the frying pan.<BR><BR>Everything up until that point had been going just fine. But, according to Phil, it was then that some weird stuff took place.<BR><BR>"I heard something right behind me. A deer came walking probably within three or four feet away. I could've tackled it," said Phil.<BR><BR>But this deer was not interested in a guy gathering firewood, she had dinner on her mind.

The engineers are busy Those furry, big-toothed, dam builders that live along the shorelines. One thing the wet spring produced was a lot of extra work for beavers. <BR><BR>There must be something in their genes which does not let them allow water to run off anywhere. If it is a stream, they have to dam it. If it is a lake, they look for the outlet to plug. Among other activities, they like to jam culverts going beneath roadways, an enterprise which brings them into conflict with people.<BR><BR>Not far from where we live, several beavers have dammed tiny streams going under the Fernberg Road. Lake County road folk are forever at war with the beavers, unplugging culverts, removing dams and beaver houses and otherwise making the rodents unhappy. But the beavers keep coming back.

The middle of June is not exactly prime time to be out scouting for your buck, but a new wave of technology has made it much more interesting.<BR><BR>Trail cameras have been around for some time now but with the introduction of digital cameras, a whole new world has come into focus.<BR><BR>Troy, a friend of mine from college, works for a company that has just brought a digital trail camera to market. Troy’s job has included bringing home several demo models to try them out.<BR><BR>The results have been impressive. Via e-mail I get photos taken as recently as the day before. That’s the big difference between the old film camera and the digital models, instant results.<BR><BR>Plus, digital cameras allow you to take many photos and delete the ones you don’t want, keeping only those that pique your interest.

The weather continues to be a factor affecting fishing in the Ely area. This time it’s the wind that blew boats all over the lake and fish into the shorelines and/or deeper water. <BR><BR>Top walleye of the week was a 7 lb. 2 oz. Basswood beauty caught by Dick Brush of Green City, OH on a leech and checked in at Packsack Canoe Trips and Log Cabins.<BR><BR>Basswood was also the spot for Doug Booth of Lucasville, OH, with a 6 lb. 10 oz. walleye, also caught on a leech and weighed at Packsack Canoe Trips and Log Cabins.<BR><BR>And the third largest walleye came from …you guessed it, Basswood Lake as Doug Padgett came over from Tower and used a minnow to catch a 6 lb. 6 oz.

Good guides are busy people. Fisherfolk come up here from all over the country full of optimism after reading newspaper and magazine articles about the fabulous Ely area angling. And sometimes can’t find a fish.<BR><BR>What to do? Hire a guide.<BR><BR>How to do that? Guide services can be obtained through resorts and outfitters which advertise in the North Country Angler. Some are also listed at the Chamber of Commerce. Professional guides are darn good at what they do.<BR><BR>The father-son team of Steve and Chris Kleist are two of these. We had reason to use the services of Steve last week when we had visitors from Potomac, Maryland, Carl and Rosemary Bleschshmidt, my wife Edith’s brother-in-law and sister. They had one day to go fishing and we didn’t have permits or anything much else.

Getting out to ride ATVs is usually something we wait until the fall season to do. But an invitation to ride on a Saturday afternoon with some friends was too good to pass up.<BR><BR>We ended up with four wheelers going on a ride along old railroad grades and deer hunting trails. It was a blast.<BR><BR>Heading into the woods during a summer day is usually an invitation to be eaten alive by every bug within a 10-mile radius. But thanks to the presence of swarms of dragonflies, it wasn’t that bad. <BR><BR>We brought along a cooler and a chainsaw and both came in handy on the hot afternoon.

The water is still cold but the fishing is heating up in Ely area lakes.<BR><BR>Water temperatures have been reported as low as 61 degrees, nearly 10 degrees colder than the temps we had last year at this time. Ely scuba divers report water temps of 46 degrees at 60 feet down in Burntside Lake.<BR><BR>Monster walleyes continue to pound nearly everything thrown at them, from live bait to artificial lures.<BR><BR>The top walleye weighed in at 11 lb. 3 oz. and was caught in Lake Vermilion by Tom Poderzay of Soudan and registered at Vermilion Fuel and Food. <BR><BR>Son Donny Poderzay followed in dad’s footsteps, landing a 10 lb. 8 oz. walleye in Vermilion and registered the fish at Vermilion Fuel and Food.<BR><BR>Carol Kelley of Ely used a Rapala to land a 9 lb. 4 oz. walleye in Eagles Nest #1, weighing the fish in at Skube’s Bait and Tackle.<BR><BR>Right behind with an 8 lb. 9 oz.