Does anyone have a update on the situation at pelican lake near St. Michael? Did the DNR open it up to any special limits. How has the fishing been? How about the fishing pressure? I was thinking about making a trip over this weekend. Thanks for the Info.
The fishing is getting tougher and tougher. The bigger gills seemed to have slowed down a lot. However, the crappies appear to be very abundant. Just not much for size for me personally. I think I’ve got one more trip out there then it’s off to other lakes. The pressure last weekend was unreal, I’m guessing it will be the same this weekend with the warm temps predicted.
Probably a good thing all the fishermen are there to take out the fish. Better than them washing up on shore after the ice goes out. But..I’m sure there will still be plenty of fish that didn’t get caught and will be floating. I’d hate to be downwind on that day! 
Hey guys I am thinking of trying it this weekend, but not sure where to start. From the looks of things it is a very large body of water and is very overwhelming. How is the ice typically out there? Is it a safe lake to drive on or does it have alot of springs in it?
If someone could point me in the right direction that would be awesome and very much appreciated. Obviously it is no secret anymore, but I just heard about it last week.
Would I be better off getting away from the crowds as usual or should I fish amongst them? Does it really matter where I set up as far as depth or area of the the lake??????
Oxygen levels are still holding up. North end is better. We got a couple of 10″ gills Sat and lots of the 8 to 10 inch crappies. Like Kooty Saturday will probably be my last trip. FYI you can catch fish away from the crowds. Of course it’s harder to freeload a beer when you are out there isn’t it Kooty 
Beer is good!! Free beer is the best!!!
H4Life, I would fish the north end of the lake. I would look for 10′ of water. No worries driving. You’ll be one of hundreds this weekend. The public access is on the west side of the lake. Stay on the outside edges of the crowds. Please report back.
I fished last Sunday morning. The fish were very lethargic, come up, look and sniff, then slink off. Only got on 8″ “keeper”. Lots of crappies, but no size.
Like Kooty said, after last weekend I don’t think there is a snowflake left that has not been driven over. Just be careful around the landing, there was an accident there last weekend I guess.
I had to leave before the bite started but plenty of keepers are still being found. I couldn’t believe the number of people out there last Saturday.
Welcome to IDO Tuffy. 
What is the best way to get to the west access from Buffalo? I would be coming in on 25 from the south end.
What colors and baits work best out there? What type of live bait does everyone use?
Thanks Kooty, I hope to talk more about P4 as time goes on but I can’t get down there this weekend. 
To get to Pelican from 25, take 37 towards Albertville and then take a right on 117. Can’t miss the train of trucks or I mean the access from there. It is about 1-2 miles up on the left. I will be trying to avoid the crowds somewhere out there tonight.
Sure Kooty send ’em to my end while you fish the ice heave 
Seriously, north has been better to me and is a little less crowded. Just find a spot in 10ft depth reasonably close to a shoreline and you will catch some fish. With the high traffic of the last few weeks it might be time to fish way out in the basin. I’ll know after tomorrow.
Good luck finding a spot by the heave this weekend. I bet there will be 250 cars in that spot alone.
So I was out there again today. Only a few less cars than there were last Saturday. The crappies were biting but not as good as last week and no pannies at all. They would come up and look at the bait and even sniff it but would not take anything. The crappies seemed to prefer a chart 1/64 jg tipped with a minnow over anything else I had. I know..because I let my fiances son use it. And it was the only one I had. Our holes were only 3 feet apart but they were hitting his line?? I even pulled up the camera to see if it made a difference? Nope…it was the jig head. I switched holes…nope. He still caught them. So he caught 10 crappies…I caught 4…and he (we) lost a few in the hole. He’s 10. It was his second time ice fishing and I’m sure they are many more trips in the future. Just not sure if it will be that lake. So much floating stuff. The water clarity was bad. I bet oxygen levels were really low. We saw so many fish on the camera. Such a waste of fish. Too bad the fish can’t be transported to another lake. 
Kooty, I got up there for the first time yesterday, and I didnt start fishing till 9am and left by 1130 and still managed 6 nice sunnies, biggest one was 9.5in and the rest were all better than 8in. I was also fishing with a camera.
I was jigging constantly and they would come in and some were takers and some just sountered off in the distance, or at least this was the case till I had a brainstorm. I let my regular bright orange jig fall and watched when it disappeared and that was approximately 5′ down, so then I started to think HMMMM!!!!!!!!!!
What do I have that is a flashier and I pulled out my red jig with the two flicker blades on it and OMG fish came from every direction and earlier it was like unless they were really close they wouldnt see your lure. They would come racing in and then eye it up and then I would twitch my rod tip just enough to make the blades flicker and thats all it took and WHAMMO every time. I also saw a nice northern on my cam and also had one hit my tip up, but I missed it. Oh ya I was fishing the north end
Cool. Thanks for sharing. I’m thinking of hitting it tonight for the last hour.
Well, made it back out with 2 of my daughters. Setup, got out snacks and was snapping some pics when #2 decided to see how cold the water was. Needless to say, it took me longer to setup and tear down than I fished tonight.
Funny how those holes are magnets for a size 3 toddler boot. 
When Kooty zigs I zag. He’s heading north end so I fished south end but west of the ice heave. A few houses in the area but no way near a crowd. Drilled holes Sat until we marked fish came back Sun. About 15 nice gills (biggest 9.5) and crappies (13 largest) each night and not much in the way of dinks. Saturday was better than Sunday night. Weird part I caught all my fish on minnows my friend caught all his on waxies We would switch our bait choice back and forth but I could not get a bite on a waxie. 8ft depth and about twice as many lookers as biters.
Whats all the talk about this ice heave? Where is the darn thing, so I dont run into it, is a bigger one? I would imagine the fishing is good over there.
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Whats all the talk about this ice heave? Where is the darn thing, so I dont run into it, is a bigger one? I would imagine the fishing is good over there.
You can not miss it, just look for all the houses out in the middle of the lake. The heave runs from the far east side of the lake all the way up to the west end. There are a lot of fish in that area, but there are also a ton of folks.
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