I caught
catch before filleting the fish
to be cooked
fish fry dinner. Yum!!!
A sunset over Burntside Lake. This lake was
really beautiful day and night. This lake was just
about 60 feet from our cabin
Recently my family took a trip up to Burntside Lodge, which is located on Burntside Lake which is an entry point for the Boundary Waters. We were up at Burntside Lodge for 5 days. It was our family's last summer vacation before school starts. For two of those 5 days my parents hired two different fishing guides that were based out of Ely, Minnesota which is the closest town to Burntside Lodge. For those two days from 7 a.m to about 11:30 a.m our guide took us out on Farm Lake to catch fresh Minnesota Walleye. We, as a family had a very fun time going out just after dusk and fishing for Minnesota's state fish. On the first day we came home with 5 smaller fillets of fish from three keepers. Normally you get 2 fillets out of a fish but when we were washing off the fish one accidentally fell out of our hands. The second day we caught 6 keepers which gave us 12 fillets of fish. Altogether at the end of the 2 days we had caught 9 Walleye which gave us 17 fillets for a nice fish fry with some leftovers.
We decided as a family after the first day that we would have a fish fry on the second night so that after the second day we had more fish to add from the first days catch. We would then be able to have a fish fry entree instead of a walleye appetizer or tasting. My mom and I prepared the fish in a simple egg, flour, and bread crumbs coating then we put the fillets in a frying pan and fried the fish until the bread crumbs were golden. We cooked so much fish that we had to bring 4 or 5 fillets home that were not cooked and we also had 2 or 3 cooked fillets that we did not eat on our fish fry night.
Burntside Lodge is right near Ely Minnesota. All of the cabins there are wood cabins except the cabin that our family stayed in. We were lucky enough that we got to stay in the only stone cabin in the whole resort and that cabin that we stayed in was originally the owners house in the early 1900s. Burntside Lake is the most beautiful lake you will see in your life. The reason why it is so beautiful is because it is the clearest lake you will see. The lake temperature was around 70 degrees Fahrenheit when we were there. There are 2 private beaches for the resort guests only. One really beautiful thing about Burntside Lake is that it has a lot of really small islands in the lake which are amazing. One thing that you do not see in the cities that you see and hear on Burntside Lake is Minnesota's state bird, the common loon. If you are lucky throughout the day you will hear this bird. Also if you are lucky you will hear a wolf or two. We as a family were lucky enough that on the second to last night we were able to hear one wolf call which was truly amazing.
At the lodge they have a really good restaurant where on the first night we had dinner and on the morning before we left we had breakfast at the restaurant. The food was very good. Some people might not think of a lodge in the wilderness having a 5 star restaurant but the Burntside Lodge does have a 5 star restaurant. For dinner on the first night I had a Walleye sandwich which was quite tasty. The bread was a delicious fresh baked chibatta and then the fresh Walleye was topped off with a wonderful roumalade. If you are ever in the boundary waters I recommend stopping by the lodge and having dinner in the restaurant or the lounge, or just checking it out.
As soon as you step into the main lodge you will know what kind of place Burntside Lodge is like. When you go to Burntside Lodge and you go to one the beaches at night you are in for a treat because if there is not a cloud in the sky you will see a very amazing sun set. One other thing that is really fun to do is at night once all the light is out of the sky and it is pitch black you should go star gazing by the marina which is really fun to do because you get to see millions of beautiful stars. Sometimes if you are at the lodge at the right time you will be able to see the Northern Lights.
We had such a special experience that we think we have found the start of a new family tradition......
