Ely, Minn.

Just returned from Ely. I must say I was a little disappointed in both the quantity and quality of the fish that we caught. The weather, while not real comfortable was conducive to fishing with light rain and cloud cover and cool temps most of the week. Water temp was mid 60's. A friend and myself fished 3 days with a guide on Basswood which requires 2 portages to reach. We did managed a double limit of walleye each day with most being in the 12 to 14 inch range. It took about 3 hours each day to catch a double limit and I was very disappoint in the size of the walleye. The rest of our day would be spent casting for smallies and pike. We caught maybe 15 smallies with 2 being in the 5 pound range and the rest 2-3 pounders. Pike fishing provided a little more action as we caught around 30 with the biggest being 34 inches and the rest were 15-18 inchers. We fished a couple of days on our own on White Iron Lake where we were staying in a very nice hous that we rented for the week. Fishing there was even slower although we did catch a 22 inch walleye but never could catch any numbers of walleye, bass or pike.

We ate fish every night, brought some home, stayed in a beautiful house on a lake and experienced a great wilderness area so the trip was very enjoyable and we did catch fish. Maybe my expectations were to high going in on the size and number of fish that I envisioned. Anyone else have experience in Ely or other nothern waters.

Thanks

[QUOTE=Flippintube;458593]Just returned from Ely. I must say I was a little disappointed in both the quantity and quality of the fish that we caught. The weather, while not real comfortable was conducive to fishing with light rain and cloud cover and cool temps most of the week. Water temp was mid 60's. A friend and myself fished 3 days with a guide on Basswood which requires 2 portages to reach. We did managed a double limit of walleye each day with most being in the 12 to 14 inch range. It took about 3 hours each day to catch a double limit and I was very disappoint in the size of the walleye. The rest of our day would be spent casting for smallies and pike. We caught maybe 15 smallies with 2 being in the 5 pound range and the rest 2-3 pounders. Pike fishing provided a little more action as we caught around 30 with the biggest being 34 inches and the rest were 15-18 inchers. We fished a couple of days on our own on White Iron Lake where we were staying in a very nice hous that we rented for the week. Fishing there was even slower although we did catch a 22 inch walleye but never could catch any numbers of walleye, bass or pike.

We ate fish every night, brought some home, stayed in a beautiful house on a lake and experienced a great wilderness area so the trip was very enjoyable and we did catch fish. Maybe my expectations were to high going in on the size and number of fish that I envisioned. Anyone else have experience in Ely or other nothern waters.

Thanks[/QUOTE]

Wrong time of the year, and DEFINITELY the wrong places..........

I suspect you were boat fishing, and not canoe fishing. While I've never done it from a boat up there, I've heard a lot of mixed results with regards to boat fishing up there.

I've been to Basswood many, MANY times, and we consistently average 50-75 fish a day up there.

Again, I don't know exactly where you were fishing, but some very specific locations I've hammered them:

Inlet Bay, Bailey Bay, North Bay, in and around Washington Island, in and around Lincoln Island, All the lakes off of North Bay, Ranger Bay.

Yes, BASSWOOD is da bomb.

Later,

Geo

If you expect to catch a lot more fish than you do around Indiana, go farther north and stay away from heavily pressured lakes. Do a fly-in trip in Canada and I bet you won't be disappointed!!!! Check out my pics in the photo board! Geo, when would you think is the best time of year to head up there?

[QUOTE=lroberts;458627]If you expect to catch a lot more fish than you do around Indiana, go farther north and stay away from heavily pressured lakes. Do a fly-in trip in Canada and I bet you won't be disappointed!!!! Check out my pics in the photo board! Geo, when would you think is the best time of year to head up there?[/QUOTE]

* Memorial Day to about June 20th.
* Late summer - August
* Starting of Fall - Labor Day to Sept 20th

I've heard from many folks up there that if you can time it right, and you are a gambler, that October is THE BOMB up there for a quality smallie.

AND another source told me that all their trophies came in the fall, NOT the spring.

Later,

Geo

Yes we were boat fishing. I guess we just missed the better fishing time as we were there starting June 18 thur June 26. Considering the weather conditions and the mid sixties water temp I still thought we should have caught more fish than we did.Thanks for the input as I will take your advice into consideration when planning future trips.

[QUOTE=Flippintube;458655]Yes we were boat fishing. I guess we just missed the better fishing time as we were there starting June 18 thur June 26. Considering the weather conditions and the mid sixties water temp I still thought we should have caught more fish than we did.Thanks for the input as I will take your advice into consideration when planning future trips.[/QUOTE]

Don't feel bad.........this year was REALLY off for us too. We only averaged 20-30 fish a day this trip.....and that is ONLY because the first 2 days were pretty good, and we had a 80 fish day mid week. Other than that, most days we caught 10-20 fish.

WORSE trip in 20............

Later,

Geo

love the Ely area but have not been there in around 5 years. we had our best success going the first week of june. weather can be a gamble but used to do very well with wallyes and smallmouth. Best place we found for smallmouth was the inlet that leads to the portage to ensign lake. We stopped going due to how far the drive was and also it seemed the number of fish seemed to dwindle. Keep in mind we did not stay on the moose lake chain we stayed on white iron lake. Still a great place and some of the best smallie fishing to be had.