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From deer stand, could see that there were 2 ice shack in the narrows on last Friday night! That was Nov. 14!! When I drove into town on Thursday afternoon that main lake was all still open, including the narrows area. Report was 3-4" out there on Saturday, but not sure how reliable. Won't be back until May now, or possibly April to work on deer stands. Good luck this winter! I'll be watching the reports smile

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  • 4 weeks later...

Be careful out there everyone. A truck dropped it's front end in last night at the tip of Phillips Point where the Buoy normally is. A wheeler also went in South of Bird Island. Everyone is okay from what I understand. The ice is changing fast and heaving due to warm temps. Fishing was horrible last night too.

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  • 3 months later...

FYI--The water level is low by 6 inches or more I would guess for this time of the year. 3 docks and 3 lifts put in Saturday morning.

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We are starting our countdown until Ashby smile One more boat this year than normal, my nephews and a buddy. See you guys weekend (Fri-Mon) after the opener! Maybe with "early" ice out the crappies might be biting this year at that time...

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Ha, our countdown started with 150 days to go. Yesterday I sent the guys a 30 day notice. We will be up Wed 5/13 - Sun. It should be another good year. We are really looking forward to it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Put the in-laws dock in on Saturday, I would say the water is down at least a foot. It is a lot clearer then last year. Around 1.5 foot clarity, compared to 6 inches last year!

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JJ we will have to drop beer in your pontoon so you can tell us the right rapala colors again smile

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well good luck this weekend to who ever is going out. Looks to be wet and windy, but maybe Friday we will have a nice day.

Anybody do well on opener?  

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fished it for a couple hours midday opener, it was very poor.  3 guys that live on the lake had 7 eyes, they said that the fish were sporadic at best.

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  • 1 month later...

I am looking to get a new fish locator. Most of my fishing is done on Pelican. Being it is such a shallow lake does anyone have one of the new locators with Side imaging or down scan. I was thinking of a lowrance HDS7 but thought it may be overkill for this lake. If anyone has any input on this I would appreciate it. Thanks.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Wow, nothing in here since June. Hope you all are doing well. I am less than two weeks from bringing the grandkids up for duck opener. Hoping for good weather for trap shooting and plinking, but maybe a few ducks will come into the spread so that can take a whack at them. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Would anyone be able to provide the latest on ice conditions and / or traffic out on the lake? I was looking to get out on foot next week since it's looking like the wheel house will be staying in the yard until at least mid January. I prefer at least 6" to walk on. Thanks!

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JJ- in front of your cabin you are good to go.  There is 6" throughout the bay.  Don't know much about the rest of the lake as it's just been one heck of an odd season thus far.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Chuck or anyone else in the Pelican 'hood, would you be able to provide an update on ice conditions? I'm looking to pull the wheel house with my truck next weekend. Thanks.

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No problem as I've seen truck/shack traffic for a long time now and no word on any issues.  Bite could improve though!  :)

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Had a decent weekend on the lake. FINALLY got the wheel house out. Found 16.5" of ice on 16.5' of water. Ha. However, drilled 10 yards off the road and found 13". Fishing was okay. My Son & I fished from 4-8 PM Sat evening. We caught 5. 22" was the biggest. This AM we got 2 more. A small throw back and a smaller keeper. Ended up cleaning 4 just now and plan on eating them shortly after the AFC title game is over. 

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  • 2 months later...

Just want to introduce myself here and say hi. My late parents were both born and raised in Ashby and my father and Grandfathers fished Pelican and most all area lakes. My Grandpa guided duck hunting and had a lodge on Christina and he and my Dad actually built some of the points in the 30's-50's.

I live in Texas now but come back some summers to fish and visit. Will be there this Memorial Day weekend. I'd hire a guide to fish Pelican if I knew of one!

If anybody needs a fishing partner let me know. I'd buy the bait, gas, and beer!! John Peterson

 

Edited by Displaced Texan from Ashby
typo
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 4/9/2016 at 4:41 PM, Displaced Texan from Ashby said:

Just want to introduce myself here and say hi. My late parents were both born and raised in Ashby and my father and Grandfathers fished Pelican and most all area lakes. My Grandpa guided duck hunting and had a lodge on Christina and he and my Dad actually built some of the points in the 30's-50's.

I live in Texas now but come back some summers to fish and visit. Will be there this Memorial Day weekend. I'd hire a guide to fish Pelican if I knew of one!

If anybody needs a fishing partner let me know. I'd buy the bait, gas, and beer!! John Peterson

 

Your timing should be perfect. Memorial weekend should be when the lake is firing. If you are staying at one of the resorts, be sure to ask the owners for some advice. Both resorts know the lake well and have many seasonal folks that fish hard. If you want to know anything specific, shoot me a private message. Good luck. 

 

As much as I fish the lake, I've only had scattered luck finding the Crappies in open water. On other lakes, I don't seem to have an issue finding them in the spring / summer. So, open question, is it worth spending time in the shallow dark bottom bays when the lilacs are blooming to find them? I have a few spots picked out and will have extra time the week after fishing opener to search. Am I the only one on Pelican that struggles to find numbers in open water? General info without specific spots would be appreciated. Fish Camp 2016 is just about here!!!!

Edited by jjohnson5150
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey JJ, you are right, Fish Camp 2016 is just about here for us again! :) I will be up Friday am, fishing by about 9:30 am, leaving on Monday. Looking like a beautiful weekend weather-wise. I think we have three boats coming up again, Our old trusty greenie, and a gray Triton, and shiny new Ranger a buddy traded up to from his old Lund. Wind shouldn't keep any of us from the south shore this year, ha!

As far as our experience with crappies, it usually seems like a boom or bust for us. We troll real close to pencil reeds with light jig and fathead until we catch one, then move in closer and fish right IN the reeds. Especially if you find green ones that seems to be where we find the crappies. In the Ashby Resort main bay we have done fairly well over the years, on the south side, or a bunch of other spots on the main lake, but always IN the reeds and generally in non windy spots (though we are often ducking the wind, so maybe a bit biased, ha). Plenty of times it was bust though.

Maybe see you out there? You can give us the secret color again for a beer! That helped us have fish from Pelican a couple years ago, rather than fish from Morries! ha!

Good luck!

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Our Fish Camp is just wrapping up. We had to adjust the schedule a bit due to some conflicts. Fishing was okay Sunday, but slowed way down Mon & Tue. Action picked up yesterday. I have a hunch it's due to the water warming quite a bit. Saw temp as high as 64 yesterday afternoon. It had been 50 after the cold & wind last weekend. We hit another lake for Crappies and did really well. They were staged to move shallow Mon & Tue. I would think the Crappies will be on the beds in the next few days with this nice weather. 

I'll be up the rest of the week and over the weekend. I hope to see you out there. Check your facebook for a friend invite to see some pictures of our fish. 

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Well our trip went great! The weather was awesome, and I have the sunburn to prove it ;) We all caught nice fish, with a couple 26's that I got, along with the trophy! Seemed to be a lot of 21-24" fish. No limits but enough for big fish fry and for a few guys to take a couple home. We were able to throw a bunch of big and small ones back once we had our fry fish. Also caught a bunch of nice pike (over 30"), a few crappie, and even a couple dandy sunfish. We had a buddy's motor go down, so we were fishing 5 wide in old Greenie on Saturday. Was still ticking a true 44 with 5 fat guys, not bad for a 20 year old boat :)

Shallowest walleye was maybe 5.5' and most were on shiners or crawlers in about 6-8'. Also caught bunch on cranks, but the live bait was working well. There sure are healthy walleyes in this lake, big and with a lot of fight in them! 

I looked at those pics JJ, very nice! and you sure did get into some nice slabs too! Have a great summer up there, I probably won't be back until September. 

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Back in the loop...  out tonight --  kept 5 crappies over 12" enough for my wife & I.. Released another 10,  plus several  bonus 10" sunfish also released..  fish fry on for the Mrs... and I  tomorrow night.  Had one big female crappie 14+ we released.. 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 5/24/2016 at 9:31 AM, BoxMN said:

Well our trip went great! The weather was awesome, and I have the sunburn to prove it ;) We all caught nice fish, with a couple 26's that I got, along with the trophy! Seemed to be a lot of 21-24" fish. No limits but enough for big fish fry and for a few guys to take a couple home. We were able to throw a bunch of big and small ones back once we had our fry fish. Also caught a bunch of nice pike (over 30"), a few crappie, and even a couple dandy sunfish. We had a buddy's motor go down, so we were fishing 5 wide in old Greenie on Saturday. Was still ticking a true 44 with 5 fat guys, not bad for a 20 year old boat :)

Shallowest walleye was maybe 5.5' and most were on shiners or crawlers in about 6-8'. Also caught bunch on cranks, but the live bait was working well. There sure are healthy walleyes in this lake, big and with a lot of fight in them! 

I looked at those pics JJ, very nice! and you sure did get into some nice slabs too! Have a great summer up there, I probably won't be back until September. 

Sounds about right! We sure hit it right this year. The weather was perfect and company was just as great. Fish camp is the best trip of the year. Until next time. I'm soaking it up because this lake can drive one absolutely nuts after the spring surge. 

21 hours ago, 101winchester said:


Back in the loop...  out tonight --  kept 5 crappies over 12" enough for my wife & I.. Released another 10,  plus several  bonus 10" sunfish also released..  fish fry on for the Mrs... and I  tomorrow night.  Had one big female crappie 14+ we released.. 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good to hear. Nice work!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just want to shout out to Chuck N, who graciously hosted wife and me Memorial Day weekend on Pelican for a walleye outing, Only caught a couple, but made a new friend who is as classy as they come. We met on this board!!

We had a great time in Ashby and thereabouts, and cannot wait to return.

Hoping Chuck and a buddy get south to Texas this hunting season so I can return the gracious favor. Thanks again, Chuck!

John P - 'Displaced Texan from Ashby'

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  • 2 months later...

Wow, did these forums just about wither away... sad...

oh well, I will keep on in the this Pelican thread! Getting ready to hit duck opener in a couple weeks. I am guessing the woodies will around and hopefully lots of teal for the kids again! :)

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