Good Day At Burnstick

[Fishslayer99]

Thought I would share a few photos of my first time out to Burnstick. All in all it was a good day, 10" of solid ice awaited me when I showed up (Wednesday the 3rd of Dec.) that took me by surprise! expected around 6-7.

Started fishing in about 16ft with nothing on the camera, moved to 30+ and saw perch as soon as I dropped the camera down.

Action was ok and must have pulled out around 40-50, Kept 5 of the bigger ones for dinner.

Had a walleye that was 4-5 pounds (to be modest) bite my wireworm with maggot, he broke line before coming up the hole. Also had a pike crusing around scaring the perch off, you can see him on the one camera shot.

Saw a nice sunset while packing up, all in all beats a good day at work. I think I will be making a trip back to Burnstick in the near future.

[1bluZebec]

Awesome job and pics dude. Can't wait to try burnstick sometime this winter for my first time too. Nice

[Bassett]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing

[bwackwabbit]

Great report! and that sunset... WOW!

[NCFlyfishin]

Your making me jealous! Simply can't wait any longer for Gull to open, lol might have to head to burnstick in the next couple days! :sHa_shakeshout:

[spoons]

Great post and nice catch. Hoping to get out next week. Havent been to Burnstick but always wanted to try. Thanks for the great post

[trouty]

what camera is that? pretty good for 30' down there. Burnstick is usually pretty cloudy water.

[The O-Fish-al Fisherman]

Cant wait to head out to Burnstick myself! Never been there yet...seems pretty decent

[Scotty P.]

Very nice! Sounds like a great day. I love Perch fishing on Burntstick but I'll never understand why they don't start stocking Walleye in there. It would be a great lake for it IMHO.

[calgarygringo]

They did stock walleye in Burntstick.....thats why they are getting nice ones caught.

[Fishslayer99]

what camera is that? pretty good for 30' down there. Burnstick is usually pretty cloudy water.

Its a Vexilar 7" lcd screen. Vexilar are more popular for their flashers then the cameras. I picked it up at the fishin hole almost 3 years ago, Marcum are the more popular ones these days. Cant say much about the Marcum because I have never used one. I can say I have used the S*** out of mine and she's still going strong. The chargeable battery lasts for at least 7hrs still to this day. The water was not very murky at Burnstick at all but 30ft down there is not much light. I am always happy with the picture I get from it...I will use it until it craps out and wont hesitate to buy another Vexilar product.

[Scotty P.]

They did stock walleye in Burntstick.....thats why they are getting nice ones caught.

Wow, I had no idea. How long ago did they stop stocking them?

[Bigwoodsman]

Looks like a great day on the ice. I haven't fished Burnstick Lake since the late 80's. Never had any luck back then. I'll have to make the drive down there again and check it out.

Thanks for sharing.

BW

[NCFlyfishin]

I picked up the 7" Fish TV with 100' of wire last year and I love it, used it at Spray in 70' of water while jigging the lakers and could see everything. Even the 3 Lakers fighting to get my bait LOL. Only downside is that it is a black and white screen. It works well even though I was kinda being cheap when i bought it though. It was on sale for $125 when all the other cameras where $250 to $300 on boxing day. I also needed more than 50ft of wire and that was the only one that had it. I was actually sad to hear that bass pro won't be carrying them anymore.

[Fishslayer99]

I picked up the 7" Fish TV with 100' of wire last year and I love it, used it at Spray in 70' of water while jigging the lakers and could see everything. Even the 3 Lakers fighting to get my bait LOL. Only downside is that it is a black and white screen. It works well even though I was kinda being cheap when i bought it though. It was on sale for $125 when all the other cameras where $250 to $300 on boxing day. I also needed more than 50ft of wire and that was the only one that had it. I was actually sad to hear that bass pro won't be carrying them anymore.

Yea Fish TV are great bang for your buck, cant beat the price. The color option on mine only works in about 25Ft water max, then it switches over to black and white. I recall paying about $450 for the one I have and I believe it was on sale for $100 off...not cheap but I am glad I don't regret it.

[WayneChristie]

great pics. they sure are tasty little things http://i787.photobucket.com/albums/yy156/rollinghillbilly/119_3706_zpsd2e87945.jpg:burp:

[buckman]

Looks like it will be busy there this weekend,!!!

[Lornce]

Wish there where more perch lakes close to Calgary.

[MountainTi]

Looks like it will be busy there this weekend,!!!

Haha, yep

[calgarygringo]

Old document but on page 29 they discuss all the fish types in Burntstick.

http://esrd.alberta.ca/lands-forests/landuse-planning/documents/IntegratedResourcePlan-BurnstickLakeManagementPlan.pdf

Wow, I had no idea. How long ago did they stop stocking them?

[Stryker2]

Thought I would share a few photos of my first time out to Burnstick. All in all it was a good day, 10" of solid ice awaited me when I showed up (Wednesday the 3rd of Dec.) that took me by surprise! expected around 6-7.

Started fishing in about 16ft with nothing on the camera, moved to 30+ and saw perch as soon as I dropped the camera down.

Action was ok and must have pulled out around 40-50, Kept 5 of the bigger ones for dinner.

Had a walleye that was 4-5 pounds (to be modest) bite my wireworm with maggot, he broke line before coming up the hole. Also had a pike crusing around scaring the perch off, you can see him on the one camera shot.

Saw a nice sunset while packing up, all in all beats a good day at work. I think I will be making a trip back to Burnstick in the near future.

Wow! That looks like a fun day alright! But it's almost 3 hrs from Edmonton and that's too far for me! Nice pics tho!

[Macdrizzle]

:)

[Scotty P.]

Old document but on page 29 they discuss all the fish types in Burntstick.

http://esrd.alberta.ca/lands-forests/landuse-planning/documents/IntegratedResourcePlan-BurnstickLakeManagementPlan.pdf

Thanks!

[huntsfurfish]

Thought I would share a few photos of my first time out to Burnstick. All in all it was a good day, 10" of solid ice awaited me when I showed up (Wednesday the 3rd of Dec.) that took me by surprise! expected around 6-7.

Started fishing in about 16ft with nothing on the camera, moved to 30+ and saw perch as soon as I dropped the camera down.

Action was ok and must have pulled out around 40-50, Kept 5 of the bigger ones for dinner.

Had a walleye that was 4-5 pounds (to be modest) bite my wireworm with maggot, he broke line before coming up the hole. Also had a pike crusing around scaring the perch off, you can see him on the one camera shot.

Saw a nice sunset while packing up, all in all beats a good day at work. I think I will be making a trip back to Burnstick in the near future.

Was not going to get into it, but....
A lot of those smaller perch in the 40-50 you caught will/did die. If fishing that deep, at least use the camera to determine which fish to bring up. Survival rates for perch from deep water is very poor.

[Fishslayer99]

Was not going to get into it, but....
A lot of those smaller perch in the 40-50 you caught will/did die. If fishing that deep, at least use the camera to determine which fish to bring up. Survival rates for perch from deep water is very poor.

Thanks for the tip, I am new to perch fishing. I was in just over 30 ft of water and I was a bit concerned about that. I have read some things about fish brought up from deep water that they cant swim back down. The fish I released had no problem swimming back down to the bottom. The first few I caught and released I watched swim down 15 feet before I lost sight of them. If I thought they were going to die or showed any sign of stress I would have moved to shallower water. Now I am a bit concerned, I hope they are ok? thanks for letting me know, just to be safe next time I will fish in maybe no more than 25ft?

[huntsfurfish]

No problem.
Even 25 feet can be hard on perch.
I try to stay under 25 and when near that use the camera to be selective.
Even in a lake where most fish in 30 to 40 feet of water you should still be able to find some in 20 ish. Might require a little looking for them though.

Probably more harm done to fisheries by fishing in deep water then any other reason.

Good luck and good fishing to you!

[maverick_8teen]

Hey there. Been wanting to try fishing around those parts and i hear Burntstick is good. I see it can be promising. I was planning on a trip there tommorow. it seems all my buddies are not avalible on such short notice. i decided to go after you posted about the ice thickness (i get nervous on thinner ice, wont walk on till its thick enouph for an ATV/snow machine)

That said do you think this warm weather will be a problem if i try for next weekend? Between the snow Alberta got and the warm weather right now do you think it would have much affect on Burntstick ice? Dont want to plan an outting with the guys and end up landed. One guy is new to Alberta, hes dying to get out and i didnt want to disapoint him.

[spinN'flyfish]

THere are many roads to reach it, are they in good shape? I went in the summer on a very bumpy gravel path along a farmers's field. When I left I took the one the lead me to cowboy tr. and caroline. It was paved and I guess it'd be best route for this season

[Fishslayer99]

Hey there. Been wanting to try fishing around those parts and i hear Burntstick is good. I see it can be promising. I was planning on a trip there tommorow. it seems all my buddies are not avalible on such short notice. i decided to go after you posted about the ice thickness (i get nervous on thinner ice, wont walk on till its thick enouph for an ATV/snow machine)

That said do you think this warm weather will be a problem if i try for next weekend? Between the snow Alberta got and the warm weather right now do you think it would have much affect on Burntstick ice? Dont want to plan an outting with the guys and end up landed. One guy is new to Alberta, hes dying to get out and i didnt want to disapoint him.

I would think that the ice will be safe even if it warms up a bit, 10" of ice is not going to melt in a few days of warm weather, the snow on top will insulate it a bit. What you can count on is one hell of a slushy mess on top. Bring your rubber boots! the weight of the water and snow/slush on top will cause a lot of water to flow up on top of the ice when you drill a hole. That's my take on what I find happens when we get the weather warming up, still I always use caution and NEVER take someone's word for it. Drill some test holes for yourself and make sure! the roads to get in were in fine shape.

[fish gunner]

THere are many roads to reach it, are they in good shape? I went in the summer on a very bumpy gravel path along a farmers's field. When I left I took the one the lead me to cowboy tr. and caroline. It was paved and I guess it'd be best route for this season

There is only one road to burnstick lake you can acces it from caroline ,hwy 22 or the gas plant road off the end of the bowden road. All accesses a generally in good condition. I do not recomend driving on at the public camp ground. The ramp at the village is the best access.access from Caroline has slightly less gravel time .

[NCFlyfishin]

I went out today, only caught one small 18 inch pike, ice 10 inches thick everywhere I drilled. had something rather large take the medium smelt I had down there and double my medium action rod over in my holder, but it let go pretty quick so I didn't hook it. Was either a big pike or a VERY large walleye, I would bet on the pike though. didn't even see any perch on camera at all. it was my first time out so we went to both sides of the lake and did more exploring than fishing, oh well I plan to go back and check it out again I'll get more fishing time in next time.

[j-rev]

A group of us went out yesterday (5 of us) looking for Perch. Sure enough we found them, my brother used a camera, and I used a flasher. There were a lot of small, finger size ones and kept medium 6-9 inch ones. We were using maggots, saw a Walleye on the camera but nothing more. Great time out, will be doing the same the next weekend.

[Fishslayer99]

A group of us went out yesterday (5 of us) looking for Perch. Sure enough we found them, my brother used a camera, and I used a flasher. There were a lot of small, finger size ones and kept medium 6-9 inch ones. We were using maggots, saw a Walleye on the camera but nothing more. Great time out, will be doing the same the next weekend.

j-rev,

Those perch are a lot of fun even though they are not that big! glad you had some success.

[spinN'flyfish]

A group of us went out yesterday (5 of us) looking for Perch. Sure enough we found them, my brother used a camera, and I used a flasher. There were a lot of small, finger size ones and kept medium 6-9 inch ones. We were using maggots, saw a Walleye on the camera but nothing more. Great time out, will be doing the same the next weekend.

Awesome, I encounter a load of 'em in the summer. I had to use tiny hooks

[wmw9]

Was out at Burntstick yesterday, 14" of ice, after drilling about 15 holes we caught lots of little perch...nothing much worth keeping. The couple next to us caught a nice perch and seemed to be right on top of them. It was a great day to be outside getting some fresh air and sunshine!

We also stopped and fished for an hour at Birch lake. We had some nibbles but no takers.

Headed out to the farm Boxing day to visit the family...I am thinking of a stop at Blood Indian since I drive past it anyways to see if I can catch one of those Carp as I've never seen one.