Pelican Lake

[FireTigers]

Been seeing a lot of traffic out there the last couple weeks on the north end. Anyone catching anything?

[SPTRIX]

Been very, very, very slow out there.

[Bobber]

I've heard mixed reviews, but the panfish are definately slow

[sp700twin]

How are you accessing the lake this year? Last year the "Land Nazi" on the northern end was calling the cops if anybody even looked at his land.

[Shack]

Now that was a post from the past! I think that was the guy who chimed in on that post also. Big Pelican post last winter.

I have heard good things, but nothing that would wake the dead or anything.

[FireTigers]

Drove by today and there is a orange blockade on one of the accesses now. there were 8 shacks out there this afternoon and and a lot of folks open ice'in it. And another three shacks over by the island. there getting out there somehow. i did see a cattle fence that was down that people were getting on the lake. the ice was 5 to 10 feet from the road. don't know that leagal access law, but i'm sure the guy that owns that fence will probably throw a kaniption fit when he figures it out or maybe he doesn't give a rats arse.

[09ultra]

I have been doing pretty good on the pannies and some size to them too!!!

[mpester]

Why is a landowner a "Land Nazi" if he does not want people trespassing on his land to get onto a lake? Private property is just that, it is private. Maybe he does not want the liability of allowing people to access the lake from his land. Maybe some fisherman dumped his trash at the private access when he was leaving. If he does not want you to cross his land to get on the lake, find another place to access the lake. If I remember from last year, some landowner on this part of the lake was very nice about allowing access but he wanted people to ask first.

[bassislife]

I know what you mean. If the guy doesn't want people crossing his land, he has every right to crack down on those who do. Its his land and he can do what he wants. I wouldn't want people trespassing on my land either, but if someone just took the time to ask, then I might consider letting them on. People need more common courtesy and go ask for permission first!

[10Taco]

Went out today, was pretty slow. Lots of slush.

[leftywagner]

Just spoke to someone today about the lake. It is one of the largest fisheries in the area. I have heard many large fish coming out of the lake, northern, bass, crappies, sunnies. Now they are thinking of draining it to around 4 ft. and basically kill this lake. These are the types of lakes we need in this area, wont get fished out due to its size, and dosent get heavy pressure from boats in the summer due to the hazards in the lake. This is a lake we need to protect, there are large numbers of fish in this lake, im sure, due to the size and fishing pressure. I would love to find out who to protest to to keep this lake how it is without draining it. I know the DNR and people want to turn this into a waterfowl preserve, but come on, we live in MN, there are plenty of natrual habitats for ducks and other water fowl. If anyone knows anything about this please chime in.

[Mark Christianson]

I drove by the north end today.

Either a lot of people got permission to go around the fencing in the one location, or a lot of people just chose not to pay attention to the fence and the signage.

And that land Nazi to the west, he is a piece of work aint he???

Just kiddin JP!!!!!!

As far as saving the lake for fish versus waterfowl, thats a tough call.

But I would lean towards the needs for waterfowl over fish.... There are more than enough lakes with fish in them throughout the area.

This body of water is pretty unique in the area for its wildlife holding power.

[09ultra]

I have heard the same thing about draining it,a source the other day told me there is not enough money for them to do it.So I think the lake is safe for now.

[jigginjim]

If a guy was to walk just how far would it be from the public access on the west side?

[leftywagner]

There are plenty of places for water fowl as well!!!! There are more places for them then there are DECENT fishing lakes, escpecially ones that are decent size in this area.

[jigginjim]

Any body try fishing out from the old access?

[BartmanMN]

We took a wheeler out from the west side access last year and it was a pretty long ride to the north end. I would not personally want to walk it with gear. Probably would be easier to ask the mrs. to drop you off on 37 and pick you back up later. If I remember correctly, the area on the North end where we were fishing was less than 10 ft. deep.

[jigginjim]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of trying some spots on the west end.

[kwiggy]

Quote:

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I have heard the same thing about draining it,a source the other day told me there is not enough money for them to do it.So I think the lake is safe for now.

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I've heard the opposite... It's done deal and the process will begin once the surveying/details are complete. The money isn't an issue. Just telling you what I heard, but I don't have insider information. I wonder what they are saying in the duck hunting forum?

[jbell1981]

They are still in the planning stage of the drawdown. Nothing has been finalized yet. The offical proposed drawdown plan is supposed to be available to the public this month or next, however my contact has been telling me dates for the past year and each time it has been put off. Anyhow, once I have a copy of the report, whenever that is, I will post it here.

[Roosterslayer05]

Pelican is a historical waterfowl migration point. It is a very important lake for migrating and nesting waterfowl. Your arguments for "saving" this lake are moot. There are numerous lakes in this area that produce quality fish, I have fished them. There are not numerous lakes in this area that attract large amounts of waterfowl. Pelican is a shallow marshy lake that COULD produce allot of food for ducks if it were restored to its natural water level's, the level that the DNR is trying to restore it too. Pelican lake, in the past, did not support fish. Because the water is way higher now then it naturally was, it does support fish. Your second point is the fact that we live in minnesota and there are plenty of natural habitat for waterfowl. You sir are wrong. You are right in the fact that there is plenty of water for waterfowl but all of these lakes and ponds in the state are not good habitat for ducks at all, in actuality they are very poor habitat for ducks. Ducks need food, this food they need is in the form of aquatic vegetation and invertabrates, something that is not present in many lakes and ponds today because of fish and habitat degredation. Pelican does not have the food it used to have because fish, and water levels too high to grow aquatic vegetation have taken over the lake, and therefor, its capacity to hold numbers of waterfowl have been affected. I personally have witnessed the decline in waterfowl coming through the state and i am only 21 years old. I did not start hunting until the age of 11, so in ten short years I have witnessed a huge decline in the number of ducks that migrate through the state. I think that is very disturbing. We live in the state of ten thousand lakes and most of them hold fish, only a few of them are important shallow lakes for waterfowl. We need to "save" this lake for the waterfowl. Please contact the DNR and voice your support for the drawdown.

[Superduty]

I agree with roosterslayer. I am an fisherman and a duck hunter. The fishing on pelican can be fantastic and I will miss that when it is lowered. I am willing to give that up in the name of waterfowl habitat. The great fishing is not going to last anyway. How long is it gonna take before the size of the panfish gets cut down to the normal metro size? People are hauling them out everyday. I doubt it can be sustained very long. We have plenty of places to fish in MN. The ducks need pelican more than us fisherman need it. Consider the fishing a bonus from mismanagement of the water levels.

Does anybody else remember when pulaski lake was extremely high? Is the high water on pelican a result of the way the pulaski situation was handled 25 years ago?

[jbell1981]

Quote:

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Is the high water on pelican a result of the way the pulaski situation was handled 25 years ago?

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Pulaski is drained into Buffalo lake when water level are to high. There is an underground "drain" that was constructed to control the water levels on Pulaski.

Pelican's high water is mainly a result of draining nearby wetlands, drain tiling in farm fields and rain water run off.

Pelican lake is the only designated wildlife lake in Wright county and needs to be managed as such. There are plenty of other places to fish.

[SPOOKY2]

I was reading through these posts and was wondering when someone was going to get it right! Roosterslayer is 100% correct!!! Pelican is not a natural fish lake. It's a waterfowl lake which needs to be restored to a more natural water level. I am in my later 40's and it was interesting to see someone in their 20's have the foresight that is needed to restore some of Minnesota's Waterfowl production areas. Lake Christina and Heron are others that come to mind. The twin cities area has lost about 85% of its wetlands. These areas used to hold huge numbers of waterfowl. They don't anymore. I'm from Northern Minnesota and have hunted ducks all my life. I would say over 40 years. I've watched our "Northern Flight" dwindle to nothing in this state. It's basically flyover land. Pelican Lake and others like it need to be restored. There are other reasons that duck numbers are down in Minnesota but loss of habitat and food sources are a huge factor in the equation. I goose hunt (sky carp)now because there are more geese. I don't focus on ducks. They have become incidental to my hunting. Good job Roosterslayer!

[Dingy]

VERY well said Rootslayer! It can't drain fast enough...

[BigOleBassMan]

I've been watching this site for a long time but had to join when I read this thread.

I'm a hunter and a fisherman and I am very aware of the problems facing the states waterfowl recources. This is a much more complicated problem than most people realize and there may be no good short term fixes.

I'm going to include the drawing down of Pelican Lake as a short term fix and here's why. The weeds and invertebrates that everyone talks about won't come back for a very long time due to the agricultural pollutants that have been draining into our wetlands for years. The use of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides is really our #1 problem but nobody has the nuggets to go up against the farm lobby. Everyone says that lowering the water level will cause winterkills getting rid of the bullheads which muddy the water. The weeds will then start growing again and the food chain needed to keep waterfowl happy will be restored. Total baloney! All that will happen is we'll lose the metro areas best trophy panfish, northern, bass lake and we'll have a shallow dirty lake that still won't produce the enviroment needed to produce waterfowl due to the pollutants in the water.

If the DNR is willing to buy up all the farmland that drains into Pelican I'd be all for draining it because eventually the system would start to recover but it would take many years. So is the DNR willing to do whats going to be needed? We'll end up killing a wonderful resource and get nothing added in return, the water quality will not improve by just removing the fish.

To the DNR, please do this right if your going to do it.

OK, I've said what I think needs to be said and now I'll go back to being a guest and reading posts.

[jbell1981]

Bassman,

It has worked on other lakes, Chistinia for example, and there is plenty of farmland around there. Winterkill is not the only method of killing the fish population. When the eaw becomes available I am interested to find out if other methods will be used such as rotone (sp?) treatment.

The drawdown is a long term fix that will take years to see a noticable effect, but once the water contol structures are in place the water level can be controlled on a year to year basis.

As far as buying all the land around the lake; the fws, dnr and other groups are working on this. The fws has had a good portion of the east shoreline for a while now. A couple years ago the bought several hundered acres on the north and west sides. This year they bought several hundred more acres on the north and east sides. These will be available to the public as waterfowl production areas in 2008 & 2009.

I think the dnr and fws is doing everything possible to do this right. Again, like I said in another post, we should know a lot more about thier plans in a month or 2 when the eaw becomes available.

[smallie_hawgin]

Depth maps for y'alls reference. Depths are probably not as accurate as they should be the original points were collected in the 50's ....

[jbell1981]

Where on earth did you find that?? I have been looking for one on the lake, but never did find one. Now only if there was a little more detail.

[BartmanMN]

I am with you on your response. I printed that as fast as I could.