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.

Im not the one getting lost in the huge metropolis of Ely now am I.

You know I'll be there again. I will coming for my third time. I've been there in a Wilcraft and have the diff burn up, I've caught a few, I've been skunked, I've been thrown off my shelter riding at 10mph...oh man I love the bash!!

I gotta get some reservations

i will be in for sure this year. not sure if i will have my wheeler up here or not so if some one is willing to drag me and my yukon clam house that would be awesome!!! fished the lake once last year and got a eel pout lol and of course i ate it poor mans lobster right

I am looking forward to attending my first bash. I have actively targeted rainbows and brookies in the area for 2 years but this will be my first exposure to laker fishing. My friend and i are looking forward to taking advantage of whatver group-advice ect...may be offered! Thanks alot FM and this sounds like it should be a lot of fun!

sweet, Im there dude