2024 Fishing Reports

Northern Pike Fishing

Fisherman were catching pike on everything. We caught them on spoons, beetle spins, crawler rigs crank baits and pretty much anything in the water. It seems the pike were hungry and ultra aggressive. Size of pike were mostly small (20-25 inches long) but the action was plentiful.

Crappie Fishing

The hottest bite on the lake this weekend was the crappie fishing. Especially along the north shore. The area around where Swan Creek enters Pelican Lake was on fire. The water temp on that side of the lake was several degrees warmer than the south side and the crappie were really schooled up over there. Beetle spins and small jigs seemed to work best. Minnows on a bobber also worked well.

Walleye Fishing

Very little to report on the walleye fishing. We only had 3 cabins in for the weekend and most were fishing for Crappie or Bass. One cabin did catch a nice 20 inch walleye. I believe they caught the walleye on a spoon.

Bass Fishing

Bass fishing was excellent this weekend. Lots and lots of bass were caught. Nice mixture of largemouth and smallmouth bass were landed. Crankbaits and live bait seemed best.

Crappie Fishing

The crappie bite is still excellent. Best around rock piles or weedlines on the north side of the lake. Bobbers with 2-3 feet of line and a live crappie minnow are working the best.

Pike Fishing

After crappie, the pike bite is next best. Lots and lots of pike being caught. Still mostly smaller pike, but several were caught between 25 and 29 inches long this week. Jerk baits and crank baits are driving the northern pike nuts.

Bass Fishing

Bass fishing exploded this week. Jerk baits have been working the best. Crank baits and leeches are next best, but jerk baits are outfishing everything else. Rock piles have been the hot spots. Both smallmouth and largemouth are being caught on rock piles.

Walleye Fishing

We had more walleye caught this week as some fisherman started targeting walleyes. Several 20-25 inchers were caught. No monsters but one angler did catch half a dozen 18/19 inchers one morning. Crawler rigs working best for walleyes.

Lots of weather issues this past week. Loads of rain and wind. Water temperatures plummeted. Weekend weather was spectacular and fishing picked up as the weather stabalized.

Walleye Fishing

Walleye fishing really took off this weekend. Lots of good walleyes being caught. Trolling is by far the best method. People were trolling crankbaits, rattle traps and of course live bait such as worms and leeches on crawler harnesses. Red/yellow and orange/yellow have been best colors for walleye rigs.

Crappie Fishing

Seems the crappie have moved around the lake. Most of the lake is now the same temperature so crappie are being found all over. Still using minnows or beetle spins.

Bass Fishing

Bass fishing is so on fire. Crankbaits, especially red or orange ones have outperformed jerkbaits. The 1.5 and 2.5 size are best. Chilli Craw was really hot this week. But outperforming the crankbaits have been chatterbaits. Starting to see some success with soft plastics, especially creature baits. Natural colors have been best for the soft plastics.

Bluegill Fishing

Had our first bluegills get caught this week. Mostly small, but on the sunnier days this week people started catching some.

Walleye Fishing

Walleye fishing has been up and down. Some okay days mixed with some good days. But also some slow days fishing. Weather hasn’t helped. Too much rain and wind. Best technique is still trolling a lindy rig spinner with a night crawler.

Crappie Fishing

Crappie fishing is still going pretty strong. Minnows with a bobber is still best but small (1/16 oz) jigs are also working quite well.

Northern Pike Fishing

Again, so many pike are being caught. The walleye and crappie fisherman are getting frustrated with catching pike while they are fishing. No one is targeting pike, but everyone is catching them.

Bluegill Fishing

More bluegills starting to get caught. Small jigs or hooks on a bobber with a piece of nightcrawler or wax worm is doing okay. Water needs to warm up for the bluegills to really take off.

Bass Fishing

The bass seem to be trying to move onto beds. Lots of reports of beds being seen. We started sight fishing the bass on their beds this week. Ned rigs have been working best. But any soft plastic or swim jig seems to be okay.

Walleye Fishing

Several nice walleyes were caught, but no monsters. Not as many walleye fishermen in camp this week.

Crappie Fishing

Very few crappie caught this week. Some, but not like the previous weeks.

Northern Pike Fishing

Same story as last week. Lots of pike getting caught. Had several fishermen this week targeting pike. They were using spoons such as dare devils and spinner baits.

Bluegill Fishing

Bluegill fishing has gotten quite good! Lots of nice gills being caught. Wax worms and chopped up nightcrawlers are best.

Bass Fishing

Extremely good bass fishing right now. Senkos are crushing it during daytime fishing and the water temp bumped 70 degrees a couple times this week so our top water bite is just starting to come on. Pad crashers or scum frogs are the lure of choice for top water fishing at this time.

Walleye Fishing

Several nice walleyes were caught, including a 27 and a 28 incher! Also a couple of 25 inchers and lots of 18-20s. Good week for walleye fishing.

Crappie Fishing

Very good crappie fishing this week. Kinda surprised me actually. Beetle spins were super hot for fishing crappies!

Northern Pike Fishing

Loads of small pike being caught. The walleye fisherman are frustrated again with all the pike hitting their baits. We did have a 31 incher caught this week. Spoons and meps spinners are the best lures for pike.

Bluegill Fishing

Was on fire this week. So many bluegills were caught. Wax worms and night crawlers cut in half. So many bluegills in the fish gut buckets!

Bass Fishing

Slower week for bass fishing. A little bit of evening top water bite, but it wasn’t great. Senkos wacky rigged were best this week. Watermelon and motor oil colors.

Walleye Fishing

Walleye fishing is starting to slow down as the temps are getting warmer. Several nice walleyes were caught this week, but no huge walleyes.

Crappie Fishing

Crappie fishing fell off a cliff. A few caught here and there, but not like the previous couple weeks.

Northern Pike Fishing

Yup, lots of pike caught. On everything.

Bluegill Fishing

Bluegill fishing is crazy good right now. Especially around rock piles, deep weed beds and around docks. Bluegills seem to be spawning. So many caught this week!

Bass Fishing

Pretty good bass fishing. Still not a lot of top water action. Bass are feeding on baby bluegills.

Walleye Fishing

Several nice walleyes caught, none by people trying to catch a walleye. We had no “walleye fisherman” in camp last week. But people who were bass fishing accidently caught walleyes. We had walleyes caught on spinner baits, tube jigs and wacky worms…

Crappie Fishing

Again, crappie was decent. Water has stayed colder due to the rain so I guess the crappie bite continues?

Northern Pike Fishing

Much less northern pike caught this week. Still saw some caught on spinners and spoons, but not as many as previous weeks. One 31 incher was caught.

Bluegill Fishing

So many bluegills continue to be caught. Along edge of islands that have 8-12 feet of water has been best. Small hooks with wax worms or cut up crawlers is working well.

Bass Fishing

Bass fishing was decent. Some pretty big ones including several pushing 19 inches were landed. Still no real strong top water bite yet. Tube jigs and wacky worms seem to be the best at the moment.

Lots of fry everywhere right now. The bluegill and bass hatch seems to have just ocurred. Every dock and rock pile has hundreds of small fish around. The shallow water fishing has exploded.

Walleye Fishing

Slow week for walleye fishing. Had some caught, but no one is really targeting them.

Crappie Fishing

Some crappie were caught, but it was mostly on accident while bluegill fishing.

Northern Pike Fishing

Numbers of pike were again very good. Size not so much. Spoons and spinners continue to catch pike at a ridiculous rate.

Bluegill Fishing

Everyone is catching bluegills. Hard to not catch a bluegill.

Bass Fishing

Top water fishing has really improved this week. We are seeing frogs in the evenings now. During the day the senko is the hot ticket. Texas rig and wacky rig are both doing great. Watermelon colors are best. Really good week for bass fishing.

Walleye Fishing

So much for July not being good for walleye fishing. Surprising number of walleye caught this week. Most of them caught at dusk or right at sunrise. For those trolling the speed was near 1.5 miles an hour.

Crappie Fishing

Only a handful of crappie were caught this week.

Northern Pike Fishing

Pike continue to be everywhere on the lake. Scattered, but everywhere. If you are bass fishing or bluegill fishing you should expect to catch a pike or two.

Bluegill Fishing

Bluegills are the hot ticket again. The water warmed up to 75-77 degrees this week and true to the idea of a sunfish, the warmer the water got the more aggressive and active the bluegill became.

Bass Fishing

Great week for bass fishing. Top water bite was good. Senko bite phenomenal. Paddle tails also working very well.

I went fishing in the BWCA with my kids this week. Sorry, no fishing report. My guess is that the bass fishing was still good.

In the BWCA we had very good smallmouth fishing. You can see the video from our trip!

Walleye Fishing

Very slow week for walleye fishing. Water temperature is in the upper 70s and the walleye are very sluggish.

Crappie Fishing

We did have a couple people catch crappie, but overall the bite was very slow.

Northern Pike Fishing

Probably our slowest week of the season for pike season. Several smaller pike were caught, but not like the previous few weeks. Seems the warm water is the only thing that slows down northern pike on Pelican Lake.

Bluegill Fishing

Lots of sunfish being caught. Kids fishing on the dock were catching dozens of sunfish everyday. And out on the lake, lots of gills being caught. Any structure seemed to have bluegills.

Bass Fishing

The bass bite remains strong. Especially for largemouth bass. Top water bite was very good. Best top water lures this week were spooks, jitterbugs, whopper ploppers and hula poppers.

Bluegill Fishing Report

The story of the week is hte 13.5 inch bluegill that a kid caught. Huge fish! The bluegill came in at 1 pound 9 ounces! Apparently, there are still some huge bluegills left in the lake.

Bass Fishing Report

Bass fishing remains very good. Lots and lots of largemouth caught. Some smallmouth bass have also been caught. I’d say 75 percent of bass being caught right now are largemouth. Senkos and top water lures have been best. Swim jigs are also very good. Purple has been the best color.

Walleye Fishing Report

We did have a handful of anglers catch a walleye this week. I don’t think they were trying to target walleye, just fishing for whatever hits and got lucky with a walleye.

Crappie Fishing Report

This week was kind of a surprising week for crappie. People were using gulp minnows and doing decent for crappie, especially considering the water temp is in the upper 70s!

Northern Pike Fishing Report

The pike bite has really slowed down. I think they just don’t like the warm temperature of the water.

We had some major weather go through last week on Thursday night and all day Friday. High winds and a cold front dropped the water temperature by 16 degrees from Thursday evening to Saturday morning. Fishing was very stunted on Friday and Saturday.

Walleye Fishing

A handful of walleyes were caught and one large almost 28 incher was landed this past week.

Crappie Fishing

One group was catching crappie consistently. They were drifting a sand flat with bobbers and minnows. Caught enough for a good meal.

Northern Pike Fishing

We have had several pike caught everyday, but nothing like it was early in the season. Water temp is too warm for the pike to be very aggressive.

Bluegill Fishing

The bluegill bite continues to be strong. Little slower than the previous week, probably largely due to the cold front that rolled through. Lots of kids catching bluegills on the dock.

Bass Fishing

So many largemouth bass were caught. Lots and lots of nice ones. Dozens and dozens of 18 and 19 inchers were reported. Brock and I went out on Wednesday afternoon and landed several nice largemouth bass. The swim jig is the hot lure for the day time fishing and top water is very good. The whopper plopper has been great and the black jitterbug has been excellent after dark.

This was a very different week for us. We hosted the “Student Angler Tournament Trail”(SATT) team state championship event here at Birch Forest Lodge. This was our second time in the last 4 years to host this event. 76 boats from 34 teams descended on Pelican Lake and Birch Forest Lodge for 4 days of heavy, heavy bass fishing. Bass fishing was excellent and the weather was very good. After a couple days of fishing several teams spent time fishing for Crappie and Pike. Both species were caught.

After everyone left we had multiple cabins check in and they also enjoyed very good fishing.

On our video this week we tracked the results from the tournament and kept track of interesting data points. For instance, we saw that 42% of the fish caught during the 8 hour tournament were caught in the first two hours. I always tell people to get out in the morning as that seems to be the best bite. Well, now we have empirical evidence that morning fishing is best!

Very warm week. Water temperatures are in the upper 70s and the air temp is in the mid to upper 80s every day. Bass are still biting like crazy! Swim jigs are definitely the hot ticket. Black and blue are the best colors for bass right not. We are seeing some pike and even a handful of jumbo perch caught this week. But even they are all being caught on swim jigs. Top water bite is still very good as well. Crappie and walleye were very slow. Some bluegill were caught, but we don’t have many kids around anymore and most of the adults in camp were only interested in catching bass.

The Pelican Lake Resort Association bass tournament kicked off this week. Some really nice bass were caught and submitted. The contest runs until the last day of September. The number of smallmouth bass caught this week really improved. Our water temperatures came down and have been in the upper 60s. That is almost 10 degrees cooler than last week. The temp gradually came down and the fishing didn’t get stunted with a sudden change. The only change is the smallmouth have gotten a little more aggressive.

The Crappie fishing has picked up a little. I am seeing way more crappie guts in the fish cleaning house every day. No one wants to tell me where they are catching them, but catching them they are! I did run out to the hole north of Bald Island but the bite isn’t good there.

I did get lucky and catch a 12 inch jumbo perch today. Seems they are moving around a little more in the colder water. Of course, I caught it on a black and blue swim jig as I was bass fishing!

The Pelican Lake Resort Association bass tournament is going strong. Water temps are still pretty warm for September. Temps are around 68-69 depending on the spot on the lake. Leader for the bass fishing tournament is 18.75 inches.

The Crappie fishing has picked up quite a bit. The hole off of bald island reef is definitely producing some fish. Please be smart about your releases out there. Way too many seagulls out there feeding on the poorly released smaller crappies.

Bass fishing is still the hottest fish on the lake. But similar to last week, we are seeing more smallmouth caught again.

Walleye and Pike fishing is very slow. Water is just too warm.

The weather has been really hot. Water temperatures are in the upper 70s. Very little walleye fishing happening, water needs to cool off to get the walleye going again.

Lots and lots of crappie being caught. Fishing in 3-4 feet of water for crappie has been best. Orr Bay as well as the west end has been very good for crappie if you are using a beetle spin. Swedish pimples are doing well for those fishing in the hole on the north side of bald island.

Bass fishing is very, very good. Swim jigs are are fantastic still. The PLRA bass tournament has a new leader with 19.75 inch long bass.

Some pike have been caught, all around 24-26 inches long.

The night time temps really cooled off this past week. Several nights had lows in the 40s and this has driven the water temperature down significantly. Our  water temp this morning was in the mid 60s. More cool air coming in so the temps will likely get even lower.

Crappie fishing is really good right now. Especially in 8-10 feet of water. The pike bite has really come on strong this past week. Some walleye were caught, I think as the temps get lower we will see more walleyes caught.

Bass fishing was really strong again. A new leader for the PLRA tournament came in this week with a 20.25 inch bass!