It's official -- Pelican Lake (St Michael)

[irishwalleye]

*** Attention Admin, feel free to move this to a more appropriate place.

From my Minnesota state Senator

NEWS FROM THE CAPITOL

May 14, 2013

Dear Friends,

Late last night I learned that contained in the Omnibus Legacy Bill (SF 1051 Cohen) and in Senate File 56 (Saxhaug, Lessard Sams Outdoor Heritage Recommendations) is language that would authorize the DNR to drain Pelican Lake in order to kill fish and make a more adequate duck habitat. The DNR will draw down Pelican Lake about 11 feet short term, then bring the water level back up to within 3 feet of current levels. This is intended to improve habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife.

Senate File 1051 (Cohen) will be voted on the Senate floor tomorrow, as this language will be substituted for House File 1183. Senate File 56 is on the floor, but has not yet been scheduled to be heard.

You can learn more about this project here:

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/fish_wildlife/wildlife/areas/saukrapids/pelicanlake.pdf

This is an unnecessary and expensive process that will benefit one group of citizens over another. Once again, the DFL leadership is picking winners and losers in Minnesota. I encourage you to email every Senator prior to this vote to let them know your thoughts on the DNR draining Pelican Lake. You can find contact information for Senators on Page 2 here: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/leginfo/memroster.pdf

Thank you.

Bruce Anderson

The exact language in SF 56 is as follows:

9.34 (g) Pelican Lake Enhancement

10.1 $2,000,000 in the first year is to the

10.2 commissioner of natural resources for an

10.3 agreement with Ducks Unlimited to construct

10.4 a gravity outlet, water control structure, and

10.5 pump station lift to enhance aquatic habitat

10.6 in Pelican Lake in Wright County. A list of

10.7 proposed land restoration and enhancements

10.8 must be included as part of the required

10.9 accomplishment plan.

[Dylan33]

Thank you for posting this. I will be emailing every one of my representatives today.

Here is another site which will give you contact info for MN elected officials as well... MN Elected officials

[Greenhornet84]

Is this really how we need to spend our state money in times like this? I'll be doing some emailing also.

[Feathers Rainin]

The MNDNR has ruined many great duck sloughs and marshes by planting fatheads and walleyes. We are losing wetlands at an alarming rate to draintile. Many wetlands are becoming unproductive for waterfowl due to the spread of carp, minnows, and other fish into shallow marshes from highwater and flooding, usually due to man made influences. Any wetland that they can manage for waterfowl as well as many other species is great to see. There are plenty of other lakes to fish in the land of 10k+ lakes. If you think this is spendy take a look at the money they spend to stock walleyes in every puddle in the state. Please email your senators to encourage this project.

[Rick G]

I always thought this was a bad idea, more ice fisherman use this lake in any given weekend than the hunters will in 20yrs combined

But if they are dead set on destroying a great panfish/bass/trophy pike lake for the sake of bringing in a couple duck hunters... well so be it... Just hope that after they raise the water level back up, someone throws a few pails of gills and crappies back in there to get things started again

[RumRiverRat]

Drain Baby Drain!

[bobbymalone]

I always thought this was a bad idea, more ice fisherman use this lake in any given weekend than the hunters will in 20yrs combined

Natural resource management isn't always about weighing the wants of fisherman and hunters.

[ozzie]

What a waste of time n money...if this was still part of the major fly way for ducks.n waterfowl then I would.be on board but this wont be nothing but a big pond that will hold about the same number of ducks that it currently gets

[Alagnak]

There are plenty of other lakes to fish in the land of 10k+ lakes. If you think this is spendy take a look at the money they spend to stock walleyes in every puddle in the state. Please email your senators to encourage this project.

+1

I hear the mini violin playing lol

[ozzie]

It is a big deal to the people that live in the area and have fished this gem for the last 10+ years!!! I personally haven't fished it in a year or so but if one of my lakes was changed into a duck pond that won't hold any extra ducks I wouldn't be happy!!! The great thing about fishing Pelican is that it is basically undeveloped along the shores and it has the vibe of being in the middle of nowhere when in actuality you are just out of a booming city and only 45 minutes from the twin cities

[RumRiverRat]

The fishing has been mediocre at best in the last 5 years.

The lake is unnaturally large and needs to be drained to its historical lebel. The lake will never be managed for fishing. It has been stated many times by a Montrose fisheries rep, War Eagle I believe is his screen name.

Drain it and make it a refuge.

[ozzie]

the problem there Rum is that it should be and could be managed to be a great lake for big panfish and good sized northern and bass. The space and structure is out there to produce good sized fish just need to regulate it a bit.

[BoxMN]

The fishing has been mediocre at best in the last 5 years.

The lake is unnaturally large and needs to be drained to its historical lebel. The lake will never be managed for fishing. It has been stated many times by a Montrose fisheries rep, War Eagle I believe is his screen name.

Drain it and make it a refuge.

Agreed. It was originally a "lake" more suited to waterfowl, and then came the fish. Just like Christina in Ashby. Historical waterfowling Meccas. THey can be again. You should see what it is like when Christina is healthy, as it hopefully will be after they lowered it the past couple years with new pumps. Every lake, even fishing lakes, have ducks on them when the main lake is healthy - nothing has chit when the main lake isn't healthy. And shallow lakes historically winterkilled, but with tiling and wet years (for whatever reason) these lakes to filled with fish and ducks fly over them.

I never fished that Pelican, never hunted it, and probably never will. But if the ducks don't have good healthy lakes to stop on, they will keep flying over. So I agree RRR, 100%.

Count me as undecided... haha!

[mrklean]

cant wait for this to make the rounds everyone will be keeping every fish they catch cause there just gonna drain it anyway

[Brad B]

people seem to forget that years ago no one fished this lake except for a few locals. To my knowledge the DNR has never stock any fish in this lake. so that suggests that the fish got in there because of the ducks and geese that fly from lake to lake in the area with fish eggs stuck to their feathers thus establishing the fish population that is in there now. yes draining for now may kill all the fish but I would bet with time the lake will have fish in it again if the water level is allowed to rise back up. this is if they don't have a permanent means to keep the water level low so the lake won't hold fish in the future. Alot of thing can change over time. if the right officails get in office they could make it a fishing lake again. for this area I have to agree that more money is brought in from the fishing then will be from duck hunting. I see it as a negative impact to the local economy by them draining the lake down.

[Superduty]

I can drive 30 miles in any direction from st. michael and catch bass, panfish, and northerns. The fishing isn't that special any more on Pelican. It will be great to see a "wildlife management" designated lake returned to a more suitable duck habitat. It won't turn into a north dakota quality duck lake but you will be surprised how fast waterfowl will find and use good habitat. It will be up to the DNR to monitor hunting pressure to allow the ducks to stay during the hunting season. Don't be surprised if part of the lake will be refuge(closed to hunting).

[Brad B]

I could see them putting the south half into a refuge with no motors allowed in this area. wasn't that why they did that test where they close the south part of the lake to motors last year for a certain time frame.

[ClownColor]

The fly way zone is shifting our way from whats happening out west...lets plan for it.

[fishersofmen]

I can drive 30 miles in any direction from st. michael and catch bass, panfish, and northerns. The fishing isn't that special any more on Pelican. It will be great to see a "wildlife management" designated lake returned to a more suitable duck habitat.

I agree. Fishing isn't at all special any more on Pelican. I also wouldn't mind if they made the entire lake a refuge. Hows that to pi$$ off both sides of the debate.

[RuddyDuck]

Strange that we can't have one decent duck lake in the area without a lot of complaining. Just because duck hunter numbers aren't high, doesn't mean money shouldn't be spent on improving wetlands. If that is the case, then we shouldn't spend any money on habitat for non-game animals.

I don't fish Walleyes much, but I don't complain that they spend lots of money stocking them in lakes where they can't produce naturally in decent numbers. I like to fish Pelican too, but it isn't the only lake in the area that has fish in it. The panfish are just average now anyways. The Pike are bigger, but if the lake ever clears up again, they'll take a big hit in the winter again.

Maybe if people want bigger panfish they should complain and tell the DNR to pick a few lakes to put some special regs on around here. That would help things for panfish in the county.

[RumRiverRat]

the problem there Rum is that it should be and could be managed to be a great lake for big panfish and good sized northern and bass. The space and structure is out there to produce good sized fish just need to regulate it a bit.

Tell that to the landowners whose land is underwater.

Drain it and close it completely to all human activity.

I love hunting the lake but in the last 5 years the quality of hunting has gone way down.

Too much pressure in the fall during the late morning and afternoon from fisherman and too much pressure in the morning from hunters means the ducks never rest and they do not stick around.

[JackPineGuy]

I always thought this was a bad idea, more ice fisherman use this lake in any given weekend than the hunters will in 20yrs combined

But if they are dead set on destroying a great panfish/bass/trophy pike lake for the sake of bringing in a couple duck hunters... well so be it... Just hope that after they raise the water level back up, someone throws a few pails of gills and crappies back in there to get things started again

its not about the the duck hunters, its about the ducks. pelican lake is a duck slew that flooded and took on game fish. Its about improving duck habitat. now drain it already, they been talking about this for at least a decade. ive been fishing this lake from the beginning and have speared and angled nice pike 10 pounds plus and got one about 17lbs, but ive yet ta see a TROPHY as u call it.

[JackPineGuy]

further more I think duck hunting in Mn should be closed for at least 5 years and re assessed from there. The ducks are on the verge of extinction. Close the gall darn season. maybe a for a decade

[fowldreams]

What in the world would closing the season in mn do? The birds do migrate south you know. And guess what, they shoot ALOT of them in the south. So close it for what?

[leech~~]

I think this kind of stinks! I am a Duck hunter and have only fish Pelican one time ice fishing but my thought is why waste some thing you do have "good fishery" for something you don't "good duck pond". Either open up the lake for take as much as you want fishing for a few months so someone can use the fish or leave it until the lake gets cleaned out of good fish then kill it off then. It takes a lot of money and a long time to make a good fishing lake or Duck pond so why waste one for the other?

[Dylan33]

ive been fishing this lake from the beginning and have speared and angled nice pike 10 pounds plus and got one about 17lbs, but ive yet ta see a TROPHY as u call it.

Hello??? A 17lb northern in the metro IS a trophy! Heck...a 17 pounder in 95% of MN lakes is a trophy.

[Dylan33]

Here is an honest and serious question I want to hear a good answer to;

Why do we have to "manage" Pelican for anything?

If where the lake is now is "unnatural", wouldn't it go back to it's natural levels eventually- and in turn, bring the ducks back?

If it won't eventually go back to "natural" levels, well then maybe it is just natures way of evolving- and the lake will be what it is.

[dfv87]

I also agree with Dylan33, why do we have to manage it? Why do we need to spend all this money to do something like this? In today's world with economic like they are, lets do something that is "controversial" to say the least, by the vemon everybody is spewing back and forth.

If we are gonna spend that money then offer it to local land owners to pull all the tiling out of their land to let the natural duck sloughs come back, those local land owners will then inject that $$ back into the local economy... rather than a DNR assigned contractor getting it all.

I realize offering alternatives now is late but doing something like this draining when the cost in terms of $$ is more than just the cost to lower it. I defy anybody to explain where the lost revenues to local businesses is going to be found for the 2,000 fisherman buying bait gas food etc that ice fish on pelican every weekend from Dec to Mar.

This issue does not soley depend on $$ but cmon, there is impact to this decision and while it shouldn't the only consideration, IT SHOULD be a consideration. IMO Why does being fiscally responsible HAVE to mean you cannot be a conservationist?

BobbyMalone stated that (DNR) they do not cater to the wants of Fishermen or hunters, meaning they are concerned fort he environment I assumed. I do not see how they justify tampering with an evolved ecosystem, albeit that is changed from what it was previously, and killing it off completely is for the betterment of resources... then by that logic we should kill every lake that is infested with something non natural to the lake including introduced species like walleyes and muskky etc. Obviously you can tell where I stand on this but I have yet to have anyone answer these questions, and i would think this would be reasonable to have that explained.

[JackPineGuy]

What in the world would closing the season in mn do? The birds do migrate south you know. And guess what, they shoot ALOT of them in the south. So close it for what?

What in the world would closing the season in mn do? really i wont even answer that

[JBMasterAngler]

Enough of this fisherman vs. duck hunters riff raff! Drain the lake and turn one half into a fancy golf course, and the other half into a housing development!