Pelican Lake Fishing Reports - Ashby

[jjohnson5150]

Would anyone be able to report on how the lake is after the snow? I was looking forward to walking the portable out in our bay or in the narrows this weekend, but don't want to get myself in trouble out there. Any reports on snow, slush or ice thickness would be appreciated. All I need is to get to 8' of water.

[ChuckN]

There's over 9" of ice and wheelhouses and ATVs have been in your bay for awhile now. I found slush, but unknown how extensive it is. Nobody's really venturing out in the cold we've had yet. -16 this morning.

There were a lot of pressure ridges during early ice off the major points on the lake, and spots opened up during one warm day we had before Thanksgiving. One ATV with 2 guys fell in last weekend. Not a great idea to venture around on wide open lake right now.

[jjohnson5150]

I spent Fri AM through early Sat AM on Pelican in 15". No eyeballs, but got into some nice Crappies.

The real story is the help I got after getting stuck at 6 AM yesterday after the access blew shut. I was pulling my wheel house off the lake to get home for my sons first team wrestling event. The road had blown completely shut. I ended up in a hopeless dead stop 100' from land. Figuring I was stuck until a plow came, I put it in park and had plans to walk to our cabin and wait it out. On the horizon, in the pitch dark, I see lights coming down the road. Help was on the way. Mike was his name and he saw me try to leave & get stuck. Immediately he put on his chains, hooked up a tow strap, and dragged me and my wheel house up the hill. This guy was looking out for me and I wanted to let everyone know that this is proof there are really good people out there and many are those from this area. It would have been easy for him to roll over and go back to sleep. Instead, he made an unselfish sacrifice to get me off the lake.

I made it back for my boys wrestling event and was able to see him pin an opponent.

I'm not sure if he reads this forum or not, but I wanted to thank him again for helping me. I usually make good judgement calls, but I waited too long to pull of the lake this time. THANK YOU MIKE!

[BoxMN]

Great to hear about the help you got! Yep, some good folks up there. Hope your next outing brings you some eyes, but those crappies are a good sign

[BoxMN]

I saw on the Ashby Resort FB page that they have the docks in already, so I am assuming all the ice is out. Already looking forward to our trip weekend after Opener

[ChuckN]

Ice started blowing off the lake 2 weeks ago, and totally ice free for a week.

[#fishhunt#]

Yep- All clear, My cousin had his dock in on 4/19, we put our dock and boat lift in at the in-laws lot and will be putting docks, lifts, boat and pontoon in at my parents and new steps in at the lot this weekend. Work before play!!Can't wait to start fishing!

[jjohnson5150]

We are all in too. I fished for a bit off the dock last Sat, but didn't get anything. I thought a school of shiners was surfacing just beyond the dock. Hopefully those stay shallow for another week so we know where the eyeballs are. I'm really curious as to how the Crappies will be this year. We got into a nice population this winter. Many of them are just getting big enough.

Fish camp 2014 is approaching for us as well Box. We will be up the same time as years past, so I imagine we will see you sitting on the outboard directing the crew as usual Fish camp lands on a full moon this year. We plan on hitting a lake north of Pelican a few times as well to mix it up a bit. You know it's getting close when the days start showing up in the 10 day forecast. Good times will be had for sure.

[BoxMN]

Yep, getting close Hopefully we see you out there and the wind won't be so brutal this year, we can chat a bit. BTW, what is your name (nickname) you use? haha! I think I called you JJ but wasn't sure, haha! "Box" works here, and my brother will answer too!

[fishin58]

We fished Pelican on Saturday and caught 2 eyes and 1 northern. Fished it Sunday and caught 2 31" Northerns, that I was proud to release. Both came on my oldest fishing rod in the boat....which my daughter later donated to the lake!! At least I can upgrade without the wife giving me grief. (yeah right)

[jjohnson5150]

Fish Camp 2014 is in the books. The Pike bite was incredible. We had a 33" and few more that were in the 30" - 31" range. The avg size was pretty high. One of the upper 20" Pike we cleaned had a 6-7" Crappie in it's belly. We all did a small wager on what it was inside before cutting it up. We had no dry spells the entire time thanks to the Pike bite. We lost count on #'s. The Walleyes made an appearance here and there. We ended up with six keepers ranging from 15" - 21". In between fishing Pelican, we went up to another lake for Crappies. Action was non stop once we found them. They are not up in the shallows yet, but are staged right on the edge. We ended up filling out easily. A few bonus Bluegills up to 10" were caught as well. Overall, it was a great trip with a ton of fish caught. I can't wait to see what the action will be like next weekend. I have a feeling the Walleyes need the water temp to rise 5 more degrees before they really start firing.

On a side note, I'd like to give a shout out to Dalton Sports. On Sunday of opening weekend, the starter went out in our pontoon boat. We don't have a trailer, so I had to wait until they opened again on Mon to talk to them about options. They said they would do all they could to help me get it going again for Fish Camp. I went up again Mon evening, got the trailer Tue AM, loaded the boat after towing to landing in the 30 mph winds, and got it to them around noon. They found the part after some searching due to the regular distributor being out of stock and had it drop shipped. The part arrived Thu afternoon and they made it a priority to get it installed so we could have the boat Thu evening. An incredible turnaround that you just won't find anywhere else.

[BTL]

^ That sounds like a great trip, thanks for the report.

[#fishhunt#]

Great report JJ. Hoping for a good weekend coming up. I was up Saturday afternoon and got out a couple hours but only picked up 1 walleye @ 16.5 inches. Went out with my 7 year old daughter Sunday morning and caught a couple walleyes which meant nothing compared to the 22.5 inch walleye that she caught. A couple of pictures later off it went back into the lake. Very proud of her reeling it in all herself. I think she will be back fishing with me again! Overall, a little slow for me although I was not out that much.

[ChuckN]

Too much work, not much fishing. Snuck out for an hour Sat. and Sun. as kids were not willing to fish much and one pike. Saw Box racing around the lake for a couple days...what's the report Box?

[BoxMN]

Haha! Well, JJ gave us the color tip on Firetiger (or "Tiger Fire" as one guy in our group called it!) and it worked. Lots of pike, we had a pike only fish fry on Saturday afternoon. Also once we figured out the walleyes were deeper than about anytime ever, they started biting good all on cranks and all in 8-11 fow. My brother caught the most, using a #5 shadrap in gray crayfish color, but firetiger caught plenty as well.

Biggest pike was 33" (released), biggest walleye was 24", and when in the shallower water the bass were hitting shallow shad raps like mad, so we had to leave. Biggest was a real fat about 21"ish, but holy cow were they in with the pike.

I gotta say, I didn't catch a walleye... everybody else did, and my brother probably caught 12 or more of them. Not one on live bait, first time ever for that for us. We ate fish and everybdoy brought home a nice meal of walleye filets too - no limits but nice upper teen and some 20" class fish. Had to stop at Cabelas on way home, dead onboard charger... made the 1.8 mph trolling hard with dead batts... ha! We were trolling with the 150 with trolling motor down sideways, and all minnows buckets dragging to slow us down... sorta worked, could get to about 2 mph.

Like JJ, another good year in the books, and this time with great weather from Friday morn until we packed everything up Sunday night. I'm sunburned pretty good. Real easy exit Monday morning when you know it will be raining and the trucks and boats are packed Good luck to all you regulars this summer, your fish sure seem fat and healthy, pike and walleyes and some HUGELY fat bass.

[BoxMN]

Going on 3 months, and not much chatter. Hope you all are doing well I am already thinking ducking by now

[#fishhunt#]

I have not been up since Ashby days and not a lot to write about at that time. We caught a few walleys and no notherns or crappie but nothing to write about. Hopefully something starts going Labor Day weekend and the fish cooperate. Thats when I am heading up next. If not I guess the end of September after archery opener and during duck, it may pick up....hopefully.

[jjohnson5150]

Walleye action was pretty decent for us last week. We ended up catching quite a few outside of the weeds running raps. I got a few pulling a spinner with small suckers as well. There were some smaller fish 10"-13" mixed in with some 14"-18". Nothing came in over 18". I did lose some fish on Sat night after the storm swamped my fish basket and flipped it sideways. I'm surprised we didn't lose any trees in the wind. I can't wait to see what the bite will be like in 2-3 weeks. It's got good potential.

Fishhunt - This was from last year leading up to Labor Day. It's been pretty quiet out there for the past month. We got into batches of eyeballs after the 4th when the weather finally started to straighten out, but it's been slow since - at least for us. The eyeballs we caught after the 4th were in 9-10' outside the weed line going 1.5 mph in the middle of the day.

[#fishhunt#]

Thanks JJ,I will try to put a post up after I get back. Stop and say high if you are on the lake. White w/red stripe 19 foot crestliner with 115 merc.Lots of bait fish in the lake this time of year so I like your post from last year saying pulling raps may be the way to go to try and get a reaction strike.

[SkaydyQ]

JJ, Box, and others;

I'm new to this post, but it looks like you and Box and a few others must be long timers to Pelican. As the "experienced" residents of Pelican maybe you guys would have some insight and suggestions for me. We are looking at property on Pelican and as it is a significant life step for us I am looking for any pros and cons that should be considered about Pelican as I am not very familiar with the lake. I have been reading posts all the way back to it inception and they have been very insightful. I get the impression that this is an unique lake to fish. I am also curious about the water quality and recreation that might go on in Pelican. Any advice and info you could give me to make this decision easier would be helpful. Thanks.

[ChuckN]

It is a very unique lake to fish and its good to keep an open mind. I learn something new all the time.

Water quality has greatly improved with the Lake Christina restoration project. It's never going to be crystal clear waters, and it's fantastic for recreation. It's a great lake on windy days as you can always find a place to get out of the wind.

[BoxMN]

I don't live there, but been going up there several to many times per year for about - holy cow - 35 years. Waterskied when I was younger in between fishing, duck hunt, deer hunt the area, but not much ice fishing there for me. I love the lake, and the people up there.

We have had tough years fishing, I even skipped it one year for the mecca Mille Lacs... only did it one year, as the grass isn't always greener. Nice thing about Pelican is there are also nice smaller lakes around if it is slow. We have found, however, that you can always find them biting on something, somewhere, on Pelican - like Chuck says you gotta be willing to learn new stuff.

I am usually there in spring and fall when water is cleaner, so can't say much, but the last time I was there in July/August (filming a segment for a "this happened to me" type show, a different story for different time, ha!) it was fairly green, but we were still swimming just fine.

You will want a pretty comfy and not small boat, I would say, because even though you can get out of the wind, you often have to push through BIG waves to get there! It gets windy there for sure! I always wanted to get some land there, but it never happened.

I now have a cabin in different part of state (where wife grew up, and I love it there, smallies and crystal clear water), and spend about every weekend there, but still have a "till I die" reservation for weekend after opener, and duck opener, and deer trip, at Ashby Resort. Also getting the grandkids to love Ashby as well, to keep the tradition going. Did I mention great people in Ashby? Go and talk to Mike and Diane at the resort, just to chitchat and they can give you info that I bet you would find interesting and helpful, they are great.

Good luck - sorry about the "book" I will just add that getting a cabin, wherever, is great and I love it! The homework you are doing will help out wherever you go. Try to meet the neighbors before signing...just saying, haha!

[jjohnson5150]

We love Pelican Lake. It's been our retreat for ten years now. Some of our best friends are our neighbors. We really lucked out. As mentioned previously, the lake is far from crystal clear. It gets stirred up pretty good in the summer. The wind blows most days. The nice part of that is that you can fish for eyeballs during the day. The bad part is you can't see the bottom at the end of your dock.

The spring and winter fishing is really good. There are times that slow down too. Mid July through mid Aug can frustrate the heck out of you, but that's when we usually hit other lakes in the area for panfish or throw anchor off shore in the South Beach area.

I have yet to figure out the panfish. Sometimes they are around docks, but most of the time I find them elusive. If you do find them, they can be humongous. The walleye population is strong and Crappies are starting to come back.

Check out my reports on this thread. If anything is dated May or Dec, you might hear about us landing some fish. We usually do quite well the same weekend box is up there sitting on his outboard and telling his brother what to do

If you have any specific questions, feel free to send me a message. I'd be happy to share what I know.

[SkaydyQ]

Thanks guys, you all sound like great outdoor enthusiasts who have a passion for the lake and for sure for fishing it. I get it, that the water is not the best, but its not the worst either. I live in Redwood county (I think it is one of if not the only county in the state with no real lake), and I am sure it doesn't compare to these field run-off lakes of southwest MN. One of the main questions we have to address is; is it worth the close to 3 hour drive. With so many lakes and so many properties for sale (not many of which are in our price range) is this worth the investment, or could we do better - tough one.

[BoxMN]

The drive for us to Ashby is right at 2.75 hours, or about 170 miles I think. I think the drive is worth it. I drive to our cabin in 2.5 hours, and the drive there is worth it. Honestly, the drive time isn't bad - unless you hate your spouse When we have the grandkids we chat the whole time, learn about more than just the normal chitchat about about their lives, and when just wife and me we have good conversation and it is never boring. I will say, Sirius/XM is great for these drives too. For me, anything under 3 hours is piece of cake, no problem drive. Over 3 hours would my personal limit.

Can you do better - sure! Can I do better than my joint - sure! But can we all do worse - CERTAINLY! There is always something better and something worse, as you know. For me it comes down to this - fishing is great anywhere, duck hunting is usually better in Ashby than northern MN, deer about the same but more public land north. Lakes are somewhat clearer up north but trust me not all of them are, and more an "evergreen/pine" landscape - Pelican has more a rolling hill and prairie and oak tree feel to it, but certainly plenty of pines, just not that totally "up north feel", more of an out west feel.

My cabin is on a real small lake, only 200 acres, so while I like it, it sure is nice to be able to open the throttle on a big lake like Pelican when I get there It is all tradeoffs, in costs and what you like. I have a decent hill leading to my lake (40 steps) some may hate that it isn't level, but that is a tradeoff I made for great swimming area and deep water off the dock, and nice view.

I will also say that while we say Pelican isn't a "real clear" lake, there are plenty of times when we are there that we can easily see schools of perch swimming in 2-3' of water from 15 yards away in spring.

Good luck!

[jjohnson5150]

You are thinking about all the right things. Pelican is a great lake. The drive is fine. It’s 2.5 hours for us door to door without stopping. It would be nice if it were 30-60 min closer, but then we would be in the land of big box stores. That’s not what we wanted.

Ultimately, what is your goal? Are you looking for a property you will retire at then pass down to family members or sell off in 10 -20 years? When are you looking to make a decision?

This is a big decision. If you can wait until next season, I’d suggest camping or staying at the Ashby motel so you can scout the lake and visit the property on a Sat at 5 PM to see what it’s like. Go talk to the locals in town too. The Short Stop, Hardware Hank (best hardware store EVER), etc are all good resources. They are one of the best parts of the area. All friendly folks who will remember you. You could do this now, but it’s pretty quiet up there with most of the docks pulled out. I’d be willing to show you the lake if you stop by our dock. One other suggestion is to make sure you know driveway & road easements. If you are off a main road, it shouldn't be an issues, but the smaller roads and driveways may need easement documentation with the county. Getting septic inspections, well inspections, and shoreline regulations are other things to be aware of. Don’t get into a situation without knowing if everything is compliant.

[fishin58]

Maybe JJ can help with this,the taxes for grant county are quite a bit higher then neighboring counties. But someone told me this included garbage pickup??

[SkaydyQ]

Alright, so the property in question has many steps down to the lake and not much of a, check that no sandy beach. This is the only thing that really is making us hesitant on this property. Lots good size, privacy good, shade, nicely updated cabin, good accessible road, the view is unbeatable and all at a price that is acceptable. I know, its all about trade offs and priorities, like the Stone's say "You can't always get what you want".

[BoxMN]

You say no "sandy beech". Do you mean not "sand" actually going up past the water level, thus no beech blankets on it, or do you mean it has really mucky bottom? From my experience on the lake, most of it has a decent hard bottom near the shore. That would be more important for me, rather than a manicured looking "sand blanket shoreline". Put a nice 8x8 or 8x12 L on the dock and you are covered!

Also, on Pelican, just about everywhere is subject to big ice heaves on ice out, so what is on the shore this year might be a little different next year That is why you see the sort of higher rounded shore most places except the smaller bays, and why the stairs often "end" about 5 feet from water level, with a removable section that go to the docks.

Just curious, what side of lake are you talking about? Probably Big Island point area, or over by what we call Wagners (old resort just west of narrows), or could be over by the public access - I think they all have some decent stairs and nice views. And I think good solid bottoms.

[ChuckN]

Sent you a PM, did you get it? Can answer lots of questions or concerns..