1st time to pelican

[mike8418]

Will be on pelican Thur and Fri. never fished this lake before. Can anyone help me with presentation and what type of structure to fish at this time of year on pelican. Looking for walleyes, thanks for the help.

[fishroger]

They have moved deeper. 25-30'.Water temps are up. Will come up shallow towards evening. Depends on what equipment you have. Backtrolling lindy rig with redtail works well. Leeches and crawlers work, but you will have rockys, sunnies and perch constantly nibbling them. Trolling shad raps works towards evening along 15-20' drop offs. Might want to hire a guide if you have never fished pelican, lots of drop offs and sunken islands.

[mike8418]

Thanks for the info. Looking at my gps I see what you mean seems to be many rock reefs and islands. Looks like I will have plenty of spots to check out.

[TrophyEyes]

Mike, Keep you eye out for rocks/sand bars. There are some serious dangers out there to your prop. I like hitting the weed edges with a small red and white spinner rig and a jumbo leech. This time of year if they are bitting they slam that set up, plus you can really get into the pike. I will pull a ridge line 3-4 times and then move. I can't tell you where they are because I haven't been up to the cabin in 4 weeks, but I will be up there this weekend and that is where I am going to start (17ft-27ft deep). If the May Flies hatch I am going to pull cranks at night about 5-10 feet down (just cover a lot of ground).

[guide2live]

had a trip out there a few days ago, caught our eye's in spots with tons of weeds around us, but we had the boat in the gaps in between in 14-19ft of water, leech and redtails worked.

[buddha]

I was going to post the same question. I am spend a week starting this weekend. Thanks for the tips. Hopefully I can find something.

[TrophyEyes]

I fished all weekend and couldn't find the walleyes and I covered the majority of the lake in a variety of depths and techniques. I did get into the pike and bass though. They where very aggressive last weekend. I had some success on bigger fish on the 26ft flats just south of Gooseberry. They liked leeches. I caught a 3lb bass on a lindy rig and a couple nice pike. Watch out for the rock bass, they are hard on your live bait inventory.

[buddha]

I leave tomorrow to begin the weeks quest for fish. I will toss everything at them I've got. Kind of a bummer you couldn't find any eyes, but, pike and bass are fun too. I will post my finding.

[walldoggie]

Well budha I just got back from a week on pelican and I have to say awesome. As far as fish i only got to fish 2 whole days due to wife and kid, but still 2 great days is better then none. First off i will tell you if you plan on fishing more then 2 days pick up a pound of large leeches probably in garrison as i could not find a pound of large leeches in pequot for less then 27 bucks. I picked up a pound in garrison for 11. I had found that fishing lindy rigs with silver, brass or gold spinners worked the best. I mainly fished around gooseberry island area, but consantraight on the islands or the drop offs depending on the way the wind is blowing, as the wind will blow the bait fish up against the steep drop offs. I didnt have much luck with rapalas, but some luck with a jig head and leech. I also had better luck using leeches then red tailed chubs. For 2 days i ended up with 4- 22-26" 2- 15-17" and a 3 little dink walleyes. As stated in other post This lake might just be the rock bass capital of the world, LOL. I also found that the northerns stuck really close to the bottom also. caught 6-10 5 pounders, and lots of little hammer handles, those also were on lindy rigs. So make sure you are stocked up on lindys as i probably lost 5-10, good thing i make my own. 17-30 feet seems to be where the fish are at depending on the structure you are fishing. Good luck and hope it gives you a starting point.

Rob

[Shack]

Great info guys!

Heading up right now for 5 days of fishing. Staying out of Breezy, like I have since 84'. Gooseberry drop offs have been providers for me in years past. Hope to get some info and will report back when I get home. Hopfully good report.

Thanks

[buddha]

Great luck walldoggie! I was able to fish every day, but, didn't have the luck you did. I found a few eyes, anywhere from 17ft to 27. I did get one at 27 pulling a tail dancer. I didn't move around as much as I should have but had lots of fun. Marked a lot of fish outside the weedline. Finally dropped a camera to look around and saw bass, suckers, sunnies, and even an eye or two. Never fished the lake before but learned some things for next time. I ran out of jumbo leeches and switched to large leeches and didn't have the same luck. I didn't use spinners much at all, and maybe I should have. It was fun none the less.

[TrophyEyes]

How has the bite on Pelican been the last week or two? I am looking for some walleye action this weekend.

[fishroger]

Water temp is 80. Trolled shad rap around just to see what I could snag. Tried some sunken islands caught lots of rockys and a couple of cigar wallys. Lost one keeper. They were all around one sunken island at about 20'. There were many fish very deep, 50'>. It was a nice evening for trolling though.