Pelican Lake Fishing Reports - Ashby

[BoxMN]

BTW - Butch and Jimmy cand be found at Cabin 10 on duck opener weekend, and plenty of the same old stories being retold by aqll of us Jimmy got a heck of a buck two years ago! Butch has a place on Pelican, but he likes fishing Clitheral more.

I think I will be in Ashby on Saturday helping a buddy sheetrock. Will be good to see friends and the lake again. Haven't been up since Nov.

[djrfishin]

Yeah, small world, they are my uncles. They sure know the area pretty well. I'm sure you guys have some good stories about them! Box, Jimmy got his buck back and it looks pretty nice. Its hangin on the wall in the living room. You'll have to stop by his place this weekend and take a look at it if you're in town. Have a good one!

[sparcebag]

So djr; If I were to try pelican whats best to fish for? where? Can I pull a cabover & boat in that Picnic area campground by the creek from pelican to melby? Do people yet fish melby where the creek flows in? was a good crappie spot.Lots of drowings there too,drop off under current if I remember right. I 've got a friend in fergus and relatives in Wadena area that I'd also see so 1 or 2 nights there to fish is what i'm lookin for.

[fisherking01]

Water is dirty, probably close to 2-3 feet you can see a minnow, beyond that its gone. Not like last year, and truthfully, I've never seen it that clear in my lifetime.(last year)

Rylanders I know. See Butch frequently and Jim less so. Butch's wife is the reason I can type, and why I keep an interest in the legal aspects of life (business law class was great). One of my best friends tells a story of Jimmy and his dog " guide dog" and of hunts on pelican and christina.

I think Butch spends more of his time in the spear shack in the winter. Great guys!

Olny on pelican a few times this winter, nothing to brag about the days I was there. There were some fish caught in narrows area toward motel and off of point by indian mounds.

Brent

[djrfishin]

sparce- I usually key on eyes and crappies. As Brent said, both the narrows and the point off Indian Mounds Resort are great spots for both summer and winter. As for Melby, I haven't seen anybody fishing down there for quite a few years, but there have got to be some fish in there. It definitely drops right off out by the crick.

[jjohnson5150]

Status of the Fishery (as of 06/06/2005)

Pelican Lake is a large, shallow lake located near the town of Ashby in northeast Grant County. Water quality data indicates that this lake is a very productive system and can be classified as eutrophic to hypereutrophic. Consequently, blue-green algae often dominate the phytoplankton community during summer months. Because of the shallow nature of the lake basin and high productivity levels, water clarity can be much reduced due to wind-driven mixing and re-suspension of sediment and/or blue-green algae blooms. Secchi disk measurements average around 2.5 feet during summer months. Despite adverse environmental conditions, aquatic vegetation is relatively abundant in Pelican Lake, especially in protected bays.

Pelican Lake is managed primarily for walleye with sunfish and largemouth bass being species of secondary management importance. Survey data suggests that walleye abundance is down slightly from the 2001 survey but anglers can still expect moderate numbers of bigger fish. Approximately 91% of the 2005 capture sample exceeded 15 inches in length and 15% exceeded 20 inches. Stocking evaluations have indicated this population is primarily maintained via natural reproduction and supplemental fry stockings. Stocking occurs on an alternate year basis. Other species commonly targeted by anglers include largemouth bass, bluegill, crappie, northern pike, and yellow perch. A spring electrofishing survey indicated a high-quality bass fishery, in terms of both numbers and size. Almost 50% of the electrofishing sample exceeded 15 inches in length with the largest fish being just less than 20 inches. Bluegill numbers and size structure are also good. Trap net catches averaged 24.2 bluegill/net. Fish exceeding 8 inches in length were relatively common in the trap net sample. Both black and white crappie are present in Pelican Lake. Although crappie abundance is relatively low, crappie size structure is often good to excellent. The northern pike population can also be described as having relatively low abundance but good size structure. Yellow perch abundance has increased in recent years but current size structure of this population is poor and would not be favorable to anglers. No perch exceeding 8 inches in length were collected during the 2005 survey.

[jjohnson5150]

I know the data I just posted is a few years old, but I thought it would relieve some who are wondering if this fishery is going down hill. This report supports that the lake is going through a cycle. It sounds as if the Walleye class they sampled via electro will be a good one. It does not sound good for the perch though, but who cares when you got a strong walleye class waiting in the ranks!

Also,if you go to the DNR site for this lake and look at the netting details, you will see that one bluegill was caught in the 15"-19" range. Is that even possible? Holy smokes, that would be a monster.

[sparcebag]

I saw that bluegill as while back! Ya know they do make errors.A lake in my area I saw they netted 534 notherns over 30" It was an error it was to be sunfish in the4-6" range.

[jjohnson5150]

Has anyone seen the ice conditions on Pelican? I am wondering if we may be able to get the dock in on Easter weekend.

[101winchester]

Will drive by it this afternoon on my way to Underwood for a wrestling tourny, will let you know. It was really black the other day when I drove by putting up wood duck houses.

[101winchester]

Starting to pull away on the North side. Open from the Arch to the resort. Looks really rotten. With the forecasted 2" - 3" inches of rain forecasted for Saturday into Sunday and some wind it should open up this coming week depending on the night time temps. Will keep you posted.

[jjohnson5150]

Thanks a lot for the update. I'm starting to think an Easter weekend dock party is not too far fetched.

Now if I could only find a nice school of Crappies.

[101winchester]

Drove around it this afternoon in the snow. Large spot open a quarter mile out from the access. With some NW wind it could open the whole west side up. South side of lake pulled away 20 feet or so in a lot of places. forecasting highs in the 20s though..

[jjohnson5150]

Snow?:oAnything meaureable?

Thanks again for the update.

[fisherking01]

Nothing acumulating. More rain than snow.

[GRA]

Drove up to Pelican on Sunday. On the west side south of the access ice was only pulled away from shore about 3'. Told the wife maybe we could set the boat lift and dock out on the ice and when it melts it would drop down and be in place. I won't say what her reply was.

I would imagine a strong wind would change things with the ice.

[jjohnson5150]

How is the snow today? I've heard it's been sticking a bit up that way. In one weeks time, we go from thinking of putting the dock in on Easter weekend to wondering if we'll be able to get into our place without plowing first! Gotta love this time of year.

[101winchester]

3" - 4" on the ground, wet and heavy stuff, have to watch out for snowballs from the kids. With any kind of luck, the wind will die down and the plows will be able to peel it off tomorrow.

[101winchester]

Did you make it up this weekend? With this cold weather, so much for putting out the dock Not much of a break in the future either, hopefully an nice warm rain in a couple of weeks, would like open water for a few weeks before opener...

[jjohnson5150]

Yep, we made it up. I was able to do the annual swap of hard water gear for soft water gear. There was more open water than I expected, but it's still going to be awhile. We saw someones floating dock out in the middle of the lake Sat. We have a hunch it was our old neighbors who moved to the other end of Big Island point. I'll have to raz them a bit.

[101winchester]

jjohnson5150 Drove around today, SW side open, from Bird Island South. NW from Bird Island open too!! Indian mounds bay still shut from resort to the West from what I could see from the south, lake is clear so far. Trying to get a couple of days off work for the opener, maybe just throw my waders in the Ford and pitch a jig Saturday night after work if I can't get the day off.

[fisherking01]

You could always quit your job!!! Then you could fish There'll be great places to fish on opener, we just need to invest some time into a PLAN!

will it be daredevil? will it be crawler? Will it be fathead from Lynwoods slough?

so much to consider.

Maybe we should get together and at least have a safety meeting !

[jjohnson5150]

Good deal. It sounds like things are starting to clear out. Hopefully there will be enough time to get things in next weekend.

[101winchester]

When are you headed back to work? Should be sometime soon if the weather holds. The weekend before opener I'll be in Alex at the nephews wedding and scheduled for dayshifts during opener but this coming weekend isn't the border water opening could be a recipe for Shiners and Millers??

[jjohnson5150]

How's the ice doing?

The million dollar question is whether or not our boats will be on the lifts Sat.

[101winchester]

Bring your boat up. The only ice I saw yesterday was east of Bird Island into the bay directly east.

[jjohnson5150]

We got everything in this weekend. I'm pretty sure we were first with the dock set up & boats in the water. Kudos to the crew from Battle Lake that did our dock for us on Fri less than 48 hours after the ice was off. Nothing was biting, but it sure was nice casting the long rods again. Water levels are up at least 1 ft from last fall. With the rain Fri night / sat morning & Sat night / sun morning, I'd expect it to rise more through the week. The dock is in at the public launch in case anyone wanted to know. Residents at bird island are officially back, but there are no signs of the goats. There were more loons in our bay this weekend than I have ever seen before. I hope they stick around to nest. We heard a bunch of them, but saw 2 pair hanging out just off our dock.

[BoxMN]

Thanks for the info, and congrats on a new season starting

We will be up there the weekend after opener (Fri-Mon), staying at the Ashby Resort, like usual. Hopefully the perch are not as many, or bigger, and the fish will be hungry for our bait this year

This is our favorite trip of the year, as it is now about 40 annual years for my Dad, and about 28 years for me and my brother.

[jjohnson5150]

We were up tp play this weekend. Water temps were 60-62 yesterday. The warmest water was in our bay. Crappies, Sunfish & little Bass were biting really good right off our dock. This was the best panfish action I have ever had on Pelican. In just a few hours, I caught around 15 Crappies that varied from 8"-11". I did not measure the sunfish, but some were really nice also. I caught about 15 Sunnies also. So, maybe the magical water temp is around 60 for panfish on this lake. If anyone is up next weekend, try right next to your boatlift & dock. This is where they were hiding in our bay. I was using a small jig tipped with a Crappie minnow & a light slip bobber on a 12' rod (yes, 12').

I thought there would have been more peolpe up this weekend considering the nice weather, but perhaps they are waiting for next weekend.

The Bald Eagle is back. It was hovering just above the tree line yesterday right over our cabin. Pretty cool sight. Does anyone know how long this bird has been nesting on Pelican?

[101winchester]

The one that has a nest in the SW corner west of Rylanders' point has been there for long time. I want to say over 10 years, when I used to come home on leave and camp on Pelican it was there, got out of the service in 92. There are a pile of Bald Eagles here in the fall around Christina. Think they are chasing ducks, one year I drove around Christina and saw at least 8 cruising around and several more sitting in the trees.