Is there anything other that Crappies in Pelican?

[travelinlaker]

First time poster here. I was wondering if it was true. I hunt that lake alot and have been to the back bays and walked alot of it. I know the crappies have been year to year. But talking to someone who lives on the lake told me his son has talked of catching both northerns and bass in there.

I know there are rough fish in there, I have seen the dead on the shoreline from time to time. There is actually a funny story about a carp from duck hunting adventures. But that is for another time. Thanks for any input.

[jbell1981]

I have heard of crappies, sunnies, bass, northern, perch, bullheads and carp being in there. I have never caught or seen caught any bass or northerns there though.

[hartner62]

I've caught sunfish, crappies, bass, bullheads, and northerns on pelican. The bass i've caught weren't huge but the few northerns i've caught were between 6-10 pounds.

[big musk411]

I have panfished the lake about 5 times. Every time I caught bass in the 15-17 inch range, through the ice and out of the boat. It seems to me that they are in there pretty thick.

Can anyone report on how the weed growth is doing?

[FishingIdiot]

On "opening day", I caught 3 Northerns(1-36"), a 5 lb Largemouth, 10-12 smaller Smallmouth, and a couple dozen Sunnies all on 1 lure with a steel leader! What a day! I couldn't believe that the Sunnies were hitting it! I've also caught Crappie there. Pelican is close to my house so I like to fish there. Until that day, I wouldn't have thought that there were Northerns in there, though.

[Mark Christianson]

Enjoy it while it lasts.

If you are not aware, the USFWS will be draining the lake significantly to bring it back to a more conducive body of water to support wildlife.

I havent heard what the targeted date is, but its within the next year or two.

Fishingidiot,

Are you sure about smallmouth bass?????? I have not heard that one before.

[eyes']

There is a ton of Red tape to get through before this lake is drained down.... Don't count on it happening any time soon... I bet we will not see anything happen for another 4 to 5 years...

[jimbo80]

Hopefully it will be drained sooner than later. That way it will keep all the dickweeds from fishing off the road.

[hartner62]

I talked to a couple people who live on the lake and they were told it could start in 2008. The DNR also told them they would be stocking it with northern to help with the bullhead population. But as stated above they have been talking about this for awhile now.

[river rat316]

Quote:

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On "opening day", I caught 3 Northerns(1-36"), a 5 lb Largemouth, 10-12 smaller Smallmouth, and a couple dozen Sunnies all on 1 lure with a steel leader! What a day! I couldn't believe that the Sunnies were hitting it! I've also caught Crappie there. Pelican is close to my house so I like to fish there. Until that day, I wouldn't have thought that there were Northerns in there, though.

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Smallmouth? I highly doubt it in that cess pool...... Lots of lakes around that are better to fish than this one, without the possibility of taking out your boat with a floating deadhead

[travelinlaker]

I am going on Wed. I have waterfowled the lake for over a dozen years now and now it will be kinda wierd going after fish in there. I did go and run my dog out there recently and the weeds around the landing bay is pretty choked off.

A reliable local told me that he recently went out and caught some nice sunnies all well within eater range. I am going to try to find some other fish than Crappies and I will update. I won't pad my stats either.

As far as Smallies. That is kinda hard to fathom due to the muck bottom. I know there are some rocky jetties on certain areas and some backwaters seperated by rocks but not enough to sustain the water clarity for smallies. But I have seen stranger things.

Did hit Maple recently. Sad to see the amount of milfoil on the northern end. I can't remember it being that bad last year but I didn't hit it until later in the summer then now. Bass were active but no real size a couple pounds were max. Got them top water so it was fun. Pops got a good hookup on a nice northern and it ran him around the boat on a light rod. He made an error on horsing it after he thought it was done fighting and we got a good look and it didn't make it into the boat. Oh well.

[river rat316]

Yeah why dont you report back.... next time you will probably have 100 boats out there with ya

[Roosterslayer05]

I remember reading about the drawdown about two years ago and they were planing to start drawing it down last year, I wonder what happened. I cant wait, its long overdo

[jbell1981]

I have been talking to the person at the dnr who is the head of the project. There was supposed to be a report done in April that is going to outline when and how the drawdown will take place. I last talked to him in May and he said that the report is being delayed a few months and said "this is a big project and we want to make sure it is done right". He also said that they are waiting to find out if there are any wetland mitigation needs that they may be held to under the Minnesota wetland conservation act.

So it seems like it is moving forward, but is taking longer than was originaly anticipated.

[eyes']

Last I heard was they still didn't know where they were going with the water... Do they know that yet??? Just think, after they know where they are going to put the water, they need to either dig a ditch or put in a pipe... Whos land are they going to put it through on??? This won't happen anytime soon!!!

[TB Basser]

What's with all the negative comments? Cess Pool.

100 boats? This is suppose to be on informative website.

No one said their going to post locations? Let draw it down

and kill off a great fishery. So it can be duck hunted for

a few more years. St Michael is already encroaching on Pelican and soon you won't be able to hunt there anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a hunter too but the hand writing is on the wall. Did they ever figure out why the water level

has raised so significantly. If they spend all that money to lower who's to say it won't just rise back up.

[Mark Christianson]

The level will be controlled with water control structures. Pretty simple.

And the intent isnt to create a hunting opportunity, its rather an iniative to try to bring the lake back to a place for wildlife to live and thrive. Encroachment is coming, but the wildlife will always be there if we give them a place to live. Sadly hunting will probably be curtailed at some point in time.

Why is the lake so high???? Well, for one thing, a couple hundred years ago, there wasnt miles of drain tile in the surrounding lands. There were wetlands all through the area that held water, rather than that water being artificially diverted to Pelican Lake.

Lets be honest, Pelican was designed by nature to be a large complex wetland. Not a pseudo-fishing lake.

[jbell1981]

I have been told that water will either be diverted to the Crow or Mississippi river and then maintaned with water control structures.

As BLB said this isn't being done for hunting, it is being done to improve wildlife habitat on the lake. Pelican is the only designated wildlife lake in Wright county, so the emphasis is on other wildlife, not fish. There are plenty of great places to fish in the area that are managed for fishing.

[eyes']

Actually Pelican is different form most lakes in the area... The DNR plans on making this lake one that will be a hunting lake for many, many years to come. If you were to build on the lake, you have to be back a lot farther than on most lakes in the area... It is everyone’s intensions to keep this a hunting lake. Big, there has been drain tile around this lake for ever, I am not disagreeing with you 100% but it isn't all caused just from tile... It had or has the DNR stumped some what too... Why did they drill all of those test wells around the lake??? Eventually this lake will be drained down, but don't count on it happening any time soon...

[stretch]

eyes' you are right about the DNR keeping it a hunting lake. since i have been on the committee board for the minnesota waterfowl association this is what i have heard from the DNR and the meetings. They are going to drain the lake down, so as of right now the DNR is trying to purcase as much land around the lake a possible so they can have WMA and other public hunting spots around the lake and not houses.

Also the DNR is thinking of doing is making the north end of the lake a refuge. just to keep the birds around longer.

and as for the water level. i have talked to many many farmers around the lake who have lived their all their lives and they said that it was natural for the lake to rise like this and then drain down to nothing. so it will get lower.

all the DNR wants to do is to manage the water level so aquatic vegetation can grow and keep the ducks around. don't get me wrong i like to fish alot and pelican lake is a good lake to fish but it's even a better lake to hunt on. there are so many lakes around here that are just as good to fish. so i don't understand why alot of people are getting mad cause they want to drain the lake.

[fishuhalik]

Everyones not mad, just some folks. You know what they say, ppl that are unhappy are always the ones that speak up. And you all know how it goes, everyone has a favorite lake, and just about every lake is someone's favorite hole. You get to know a lake, get familiar w/ it, and it's hard to see it go. While it may not be the best lake in the area, from the reports I see it seems ok. Personally I am glad to see a waterfowl lake in the area, even though it's gonna get hunted out in the first week of season. It doesn't matter if they make the north end a sanctuary. Ducks fly. They'll move around, get shot at on the southern end and they'll leave. That's ok though, it'll be fun to be out there on opener and hear enough shotgun blasts to think it's a warzone!

[stretch]

yes that is right about people speaking up about that. and it will be nice to see more ducks around if they do that. and as for opener i don't even think about hunting it that weekend but i do hunt close to it.

[Mark Christianson]

Is that you Tyler???

[stretch]

yup mark that is me.

[travelinlaker]

Well when I first started hunting it, there was a creek that ran through the backside of the Monti hill and then down to the river. My cousin who has trapped it since the 60's took me on his line to check on his traps. I now live on what remains of that creek. It is brocken in spots and some pools hold water, but when it rains all the dots get connected again. I like the hunting in my local area.

The biggest draw back is the lack of hunting eticate. When versed in the old school ways of doing things and respecting other who are there to enjoy the tradition of hunting. It seems like every year there are more and more people who just don't care about each other. Like it is a bass tourny and boat spacing doesn't matter. I was taught that if you want to get to "the spot" first you are to just get up earlier then the next guy. But, never fails, some yahoo shows at first light and motors up to your flank and chucks a couple haphazard dekes and sky busts. But the duck population last year held up during the season and the geese fly throughout.

Back to fish. I went out with a friend of mine who lives on a local lake. He was stating that he heard the same. That there are some nice northerns in there. First off the water was 60+ degrees and no clearity at all. It was windy. We did find a few crappies sprinkled in with some sunnies. Nothing to brag about. No other species. The wind prevented us from really covering the lake like we wanted to. Those deadheads are nothing to mess around with.