Look closely.  Can you believe your eyes?!  Look at all those Northerns!  Is that legal you say?  Yes.  It absolutely was. I went ice fishing twice this year.  The first time we caught  a few tv shows, two Northerns, (one got away), a few croppies,  and maybe a short nap.   Hey...I'd never been ice fishing before so it was a great experience.  I didn't go expecting to really catch anything.

However, the second time I went fishing, I didn't even get a bite!  Not ONE!  AND...we got seriously stuck in a snow drift trying to leave the lake.  Still fun though...(until we got stuck anyway)...just more conversation than fishing.  (Again.)

Well now it all makes sense. I was fishing on Pelican Lake in Wright County.

State wildlife authorities on Friday approved an unlimited fish harvest on Wright County’s shallow Pelican Lake.  Shallow lakes are  susceptible to winterkill; and Pelican Lake’s maximum depth is only about 15 feet.

On Friday the DNR measured oxygen at less than one part per million, signaling that the fish were probably going to die.  That's why the decision was made  to allow fishermen to take what they could get.  And by looking at these pictures...there was a lot!

Pelican Lake had black crappies, largemouth bass, bluegills, black and yellow bullheads and northern pike.

Because the lake  is likely to become shallower, the DNR, in partnership with Ducks Unlimited, plans this summer to draw down the water level in the lake by about 2 feet as the start of an effort to restore the lake to its historically normal levels.

It was the only Minnesota lake designated this year for liberalized fishing.

I'm thinking this is going to be a lot of fish cleaning!

 

Kelly Cordes
Kelly Cordes
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