Pelican Lake

Is Pelican Lake west of St. Michael, MN still viable for ice fishing?

It’s been substantially lowered to improve the duck hunting. That was the bill that was sold that is. It had a hot pike bite going about five years ago but the lake is even lower now. It’s hardly recognizable from what it once was. The last time I saw people out there in the winter they were wind surfing. It’s a real shame as it was one heck of a panfish lake. Fishing the ditches during the spring on 119 and the shoreline on 117 was as fun as it gets. Shoulder to shoulder up and down the road and in the field on the other side fishing a 10 foot wide ditch was a great damn time. I’m sure there is some life still in there. How much is hard to tell. I’d be willing to bet with as low as it is, the winter two years back would have killed it out. It was always susceptible to winter kill being as shallow as it was. It can only be more susceptible now.

Worth a shot. See guys out there

I’ve started to see a few more portables out there last year. I very briefly tried it two years ago and water was nearly 4 feet lower than the mapped levels. No fish.

Is a travesty an effort was made to make one metroish lake more suitable for waterfowl habitat.

If only there were a multitude of other area lakes for fishing, this would not have screwed people so badly.

Have the changes resulted in what they had hoped? I guess I hadnt heard. Its true there are lots of lakes, but if turning this into a waterfowl managed swamp is the goal didnt work maybe they should reverse course?

I remember that lake. It was a zoo in the winter and in the spring after the ice melted for panfish. The access was sketchy though, and that sometimes inhibited bigger boats from launching.

I can’t comment on whether it has been a success turning it into a waterfowl area. Several years of severe drought likely played a big role in its downfall and winterkill. It was always very shallow even when the water levels were higher.

My guess would be any fish in there would be very small and not worth targeting.

It is a good waterfowl lake. It is probably one of the highest pressured lakes in the state due to its location but it does provide good shoots on migration days.

The story I heard from the locals was that when the watershed was originally dammed up, the raised water level ended up covering farm land from some local farmers. This land was then being demanded back by the farmers. That, combined with the huge winterkill they had was enough to convince the DNR to lower the dam and thus lower the water level.(all hearsay) I can confirm the good pike fishing that was happening there as my profile picture was taken on Pelican!

I was out pheasant hunting around there this past Sunday and I saw a few guys out Ice Fishing. Ice looked pretty sketchy but I bet there was 10 or so guys out there fishing.

FinnyDinDin wrote:

It is a good waterfowl lake. It is probably one of the highest pressured lakes in the state due to its location but it does provide good shoots on migration days.

Then I guess the changes made returned the desired result.

i have a buddy that lives in Monticello…….i ask him about it every now and then….he hasnt heard much lately.

maybe 8-10 years ago i fished it tipups…..there were some darn nice pike taken back then. also back then they’d have a contest for pike……only thing you could use was hot dogs. actually worked.