Pelican Lake Fishing Reports - Ashby

[BoxMN]

Well, we are already excited for our duck opener again This year we are going up a day early with the fishing boat to fish Pelican friday, then probably saturday after the ducks stop flying. Hopefully the fishing picks up, looks like it has been a bit slow in the late summer action.

Seeing any numbers of ducks around? I know it would only be locals on opener, but we usually have some cans and redhead and ringbill swing in on opener too, with the usual teallies. I am hoping for a warm but not hot friday and saturday, to make the fishing more comfy

[#fishhunt#]

Box,

I am also going up to fish next Friday and between duck hunts. Duck numbers (Woddies and Teal) are up from what I could tell on Labor day weekend as I did some scouting where we hunt. Saw 400-500 birds coming in at night where we hunt. Too bad cant hunt at night!! As long as it does not freeze this week I expect a great weekend.

[jjohnson5150]

Does anyone know if Pelican was / is ice capped? With all this wind, I'm not sure how she looks. We are crossing our fingers for walkable ice by Dec 3rd.

[jerkin'm]

Drove by a half hour ago and she was capped-At least one house already in the narrows-

[Chad Peterson]

What is the thickness in the narrows? I knew that area was covered on Monday when I drove through.

Sniffer

[Kellc1]

Drove past Pelican on Sunday pre-noon, and there was 6 houses in the narrows......

[jjohnson5150]

Fished the narrows in the snow for 4 hours Fri evening. Found 9" of ice where we were. 4 wheelers & wheel houses are out there now. Caught 1 14" walleye in all. Found 6"-7" of ice in our bay also. Only fished for a short time in our bay & had to leave before sunset. I heard there might be thinner ice where snow was, so I'd still advise caution.

[jjohnson5150]

Has anyone been on Pelican over the past 2 weeks? We were up for the back to back blizzards over new years weekend. Barely made it off the ice that Fri night with all the snow & wind. The road blew shut. Got a few nice Crappies, but it was pretty slow over all. I've heard some lakes in the area have slush & water due to all the snow. Any issues on Pelican? I'd like to get the wheel house out there next time we're up.

[jjohnson5150]

Anyone been out? Looking to head up there soon.

[#fishhunt#]

I'm heading up this weekend. Anything happening up there as far as fish goes or am I just going to drown minnows and eurolarva? Have not been out his year up there yet. Not expecting much since it is February.

[jjohnson5150]

I heard that the ice went out on Christina yesterday, so Pelican should be within a few days. It will be interesting to see how high the water is & whether or not the new outlet is helping maintain high water conditions. Regardless, we should be putting the boats in the water next week.

[nroff]

I would predict North Turtle middle next week and Bass by Underwood early next week. Bass started opening up in the middle yesterday. The only wild card are these low temperatures. I also think the ducks are on their way up. They may be gone but I saw a number of them yesterday.

[BoxMN]

Mike at Ashby Reosrt told me this morning that the south bay and about 1/3 of the bay in front of the resort is open now. I was making sure they had us booked for our weekend after opener weekend! We are going back to a Friday through Monday weekend, after heading home on Sunday for the past few years. I hate leaving on a sunday, it usually calms down and turns nice on Sunday

It will be interesting to see how the Christina project works. Hopefully well!

[Elkaholic80]

The lake is open, all the ice should be off by the end of the day, it's nice to see open water on the big pond again.

[jjohnson5150]

The dock guys put ours in this morning

If anyone in the area needs a good dock crew, we have a recomendation. These guys are great.

It should be fun getting the boats in this weekend with all the rain / wind, but I'll be happy to be up there looking at open water again. Even if it means I'll be freezing my rear off. They said the water was fairly high.

[jjohnson5150]

Holy smokers! That wind was something else, but we did get everything in eventually. Made a not so smart decision to drive the ski boat from the west launch to our place on fri in some pretty stiff winds. White knuckle all the way. Woke up to a layer of ice on the dock today

[101winchester]

Windy & snowing again this morning, don't think we'll ever get warm weather. See you all on the opener.

[#fishhunt#]

101- You are correct still no warm weather. Heading up tonight. Who knows could snow Friday and Saturday. Lots of dock and boat lift work to do tomorrow before Saturday. Can't wait to get out there with my Sorels,down jacket,facemask, gloves etc. Hope they are biting!

[#fishhunt#]

Well that was a horrible opener for us. No walleyes. I had 3 northerns for pickling in about 20 minutes on Saturday. My dad got one nice crappie off the dock and we caught 3 nice bass that were fun. Skunked on Sunday in about 3 hours of fishing.I missed one fish, my brother had a crappie up to the top, and zip for my dad. Can only get better from here. Back up on Memorial weekend to redeem ourselves.

[jjohnson5150]

No walleye for me as well. It was pretty slow. I ended up with six decent pike - nothing else. What depth and bait did you get the crappies? We are heading back up Wed evening and get to fish through Sun. I'll post a report when I have a chance. I have a hunch it will start to pick up with the better weather and full moon.

[BoxMN]

We are heading up Friday morn through Monday. I agree with the hope that we have nice weather AND it picks up the fishing luck If you see a green/tan alumacraft with 150 merc, say hi. Probably will have 3 fat guys in it! We are hoping for less wind than our trip last year. Phillips Point was about the only place we could get out of wind except for Sunday morning...

[#fishhunt#]

One crappie off the dock in 6 feet with a bobber and the other was missed in 8 feet on a jig. Both bit on shiners.

[#fishhunt#]

Anyone out last weekend? Heading up tomorrow @ noon. Hope it will be better than opener. I'll be in the white Crestliner with Merc and no driver side window(snow got a little heavy and cracked it). I don't think I will get it back tonight but you never know). Stop by and say hi.

[BoxMN]

We were out. Didn't do that great. Only a few walleye from pelican (just outside of the narrows along Wagners shore, and enough pike to make a fish fry Sat night. Heard the crappies were biting by the arches at night, but we only got bullies Crappy weather though... We did catch some small walleye in a few sloughs, haha! Dragged the boat up and then fished from shore, hahaha! Oh well.

We also tried Long and got nada, and tried Ten Mile on Sunday afternoon and only a smallie and a perch... But we had a great time! Good luck this weekend.

[#fishhunt#]

Thanks for the update Box. They gotta get hungry some time. Still think there is a lot of feed in the lake for them. Can I ask what you were using for bait? I usually still use minnows this early but have some leeches left over from Mill Lacs last weekend.

[101winchester]

Yeah Box, All of the smaller lakes around E'Ville &

Ashby have been like combat fishing since opener every single night because someones cousin's brother though he heard that they saw one caught. Its like combat fishing, raining like the dickens up here again can't seem to get a weekend of nice weather. Its always fun though.

[Elkaholic80]

Coots Unlimeted annual fishing tournament is next Sat. on Pelican if anyone can make it. Walleye/northern tournament, 2 man teams, meet at Melby park (by tin shack) starts at 9:00am. to 3:00pm.

[jjohnson5150]

I've fished quite a bit over the past few weeks. The Pike have been keeping us busy since opener, but walleyes have been pretty tough. The eyes only seem to be active when the sun is out, which has not been that often. Things started to pick up this past Sat when we got a 21.5, 20 & 17, but quickly went south on Sun. The middle of a sunny day has been best.

We missed the assoc meeting on Sat, but did hear that Crappies might be getting re-stocked, Cormorants are going to be controlled, and the pump station might not be active until next year when / if the water levels go down. Can anyone confirm and / or elaborate on these topics?

[#fishhunt#]

JJ, I know that the association is buying 1000 Black Crappies to stock in the lake. As far as cormorants I can only hope. I would also be willing to bring my shotgun in the boat and take care of a few as they fly by when I am fishing. On a bright note my brother caught a white crappie last weekend which is the first white that I saw since 97. We got some nice black crappies last weekend and I CPR'd a 34 inch (12.5 lbs guess)northern on 6 lb. line on a jig and minnow in 8 feet of water which was a blast. Once again I was shut out on walleyes. Zero for the year for our family. Brutal.

[Elkaholic80]

They changed the date of the Coots tournament to Sun the 5. I was out last Sat. had a hard time finding the eye's caught a couple of northers, hoping this weekend will be better. Been lots of talk if there going to pump this fall, but I can't see how they can with the lake so high.