Burntside Lake fishing: Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, Walleye

Target species: Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike, Walleye, Rock Bass, Lake Trout, Burbot, Lake Whitefish
Boat: 5 ramps and launches on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Burntside Lake (N) Public Water Access Site, 1 lane.

The lake

Burntside Lake covers 7,202 acres in Minnesota, across St. Louis County. It is a lake: 92.9% of it is 100 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is at least 160 feet (48.8 m). Our records hold 13 species for this water.

Listening Point dock.jpg
McGhiever · CC BY-SA 4.0

Depth and bottom

Deepest measured point: at least 160 ft (48.8 m). That is the deepest contour line: the bottom goes deeper. 92.9% of the water is 100 feet or shallower. We hold 362 depth contour lines for this water.

Burntside Lake BWCAW.jpg
No machine-readable author provided. Gerg~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 2.5
  • 0–10 ft: 14.8% of the water
  • 10–20 ft: 14.1% of the water
  • 20–30 ft: 12.6% of the water
  • 30–40 ft: 9.9% of the water
  • 40–50 ft: 9.3% of the water
  • 50–60 ft: 8.4% of the water
  • 60–70 ft: 7.1% of the water
  • 70–80 ft: 8.2% of the water
  • 80–90 ft: 4.7% of the water
  • 90–100 ft: 3.8% of the water
  • 100–110 ft: 2.6% of the water
  • 110–120 ft: 1.8% of the water
  • 120–130 ft: 0.9% of the water
  • 130–140 ft: 0.9% of the water
  • 140–150 ft: 0.8% of the water
  • 150–160 ft: 0.2% of the water

7 target fish, led by Smallmouth Bass

  • Smallmouth Bass — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
  • Northern Pike — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • Walleye — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • Rock Bass — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
  • Lake Trout — Feeding water: 50–65°F.
  • Burbot — Feeding water: 40–50°F.
  • Lake Whitefish — Feeding water: 40–55°F.

Also recorded here: Shorthead Redhorse, White Sucker, Black Crappie, Bluegill, Yellow Perch, Green Sunfish.

Listening Point shore.jpg
McGhiever · CC BY-SA 4.0

Water and conditions

Water clarity runs 12.4–19 feet on our readings, averaging 15.6 feet, from 215 readings. Our water temperature readings average 68°F; they do not cover the whole year, so this is not a yearly average. pH averages 7.2. These readings span 2017–2025.

5 ramps and launches on this water

On this water we hold 5 trailer ramps and 1 shore access point.

  • Burntside Lake (N) Public Water Access Site — 1 lane. U.S. Forest Service. hours: Open 24 hours/day
  • Burntside Lake (NE) Public Water Access Site — 1 lane. DNR Division of Parks and Trails.
  • Burntside Lake (S) Public Water Access Site — 1 lane. DNR Division of Parks and Trails.
  • Burntside Lake, Co Rd 404 Public Water Access Site — 1 lane, restrooms. DNR Division of Parks and Trails.
  • Burntside Lake, Co Rd 88 Public Water Access Site — 1 lane. St. Louis County.

Shore access for bank fishing

  • Minister Lake Public Water Access Site — 1 lane. St. Louis County.

Fee and opening hours are blank for all 6 places in this list: a blank means we hold no such field, not that it is free or always open, and this list may not be complete.

What is hard here

Wind is the limit, not the fish: 7,202 acres of open water build a short steep chop, and there is no shelter in the middle.

Where this data comes from

  • Minnesota DNR — Minnesota DNR: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
  • Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI) — LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0: Lake depth for 17,675 lakes in the conterminous U.S.: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.