Burke Lake Fishing for Largemouth Bass

[Remobeater]

I'm going to be home a bit, and our boats winterized so I figured I give some freshwater fishing a try. Unfortunately all our gear is away except for a few spinning rods. I might buy a few plugs and try them out on the pier and bridge.

Any advice for lures and good places to try? We don't have a boat or anything so I'm going to be shore casting.

[billx8]

There is no bridge at Burke Lake. According to the electroshockers it has lots of fish. You couldn't prove it by me. You might also try the pier at Fountainhead. In the winter you can walk in.

[Remobeater]

There is a very small bridge for the jogging trail, it is visible from Burke Lake Road. There is technically no fishing off the bridge, but you can fish around it. My sister and mom saw someone land a 24" LMB from that area when they were running.

I tried using a few different crankbaits, and jigging some gulp worms along the bottom. I tried all around the northwestern edge (where the bridge is), and all around the pier without any signs of life. I think its way too cold for anything to be near the surface, you'd probably need a boat to find the deepest water where you might have some luck.

...What exactly do the fish do in the winter? Some of the lake was frozen. I assume they must eat, but maybe much less often.

[Luv2fishCB]

Burke lake is supposed to have a good population of walleye (from what I read). I've always wanted to head up there to try for some winter walleye. We used to catch them through the ice in New York so I know they are "a bit active" in cold water. Has anyone had any luck with walleye there?

Steve

[CaptMikeStarrett]

I fished Burke growing up before they drained it to control the weeds. I have got 6lb LGMouth out of it. Catfish up to 12 lbs and three muskie..
But the crappie fishing was the best.

After the drain I fished it a couple times and got some dinks.

I hear from others it is back to being pretty good.

I drove by it last week and it was frozen as far as I could see.

Capt Mike

[Remobeater]

Yep, in the northern section its mostly frozen. I tried over by the southern fishing entrance and I found a large section of the lake that was unfrozen. It looks like it has some weed beds that would be a nice habitat for fish. I may have had one bite, very small if it was and it didn't get hooked. I also tried breaking up the ice a little bit and dropping an artificial worm where there appeared to have a bit of a drop off. Didn't get anything there either except my worm was snagged. Nice calm afternoon though.

[grog01]

Burke Lake was awesome years back and bred some good anglers along with the fish. There's even a guy who used to fish it regularly (Kurt Dove) and qualified for the Elite Series a year or two ago.