We convened the third annual “boys trip” up at pelican again this year. The first year we smoked 'em, catching several in the 17" range. Last year we caught a few and one about 14" and we almost died in the wind and waves. This year was somewhere in between, we caught a good number of fish but never found any of the big ones.
We arrived at 1:30am Friday, set up the tent and got our stuff in just in time for the storm to hit again, kinda nice to fall asleep to rain on a tent. Got up not especially early that morning and on the lake. We had to work for them, but we caught a few before we went in for lunch. Went out in the evening again and hit the east end of the lake which we call “spinnerbait city” and finally got into good numbers of fish. Friday night was fresh fish tacos- fillets battered in Bisquick and fried in butter on a corn tortilla with some guac and lime…very edible. Saturday morning was gorgeous and warm and we went back to spinnerbait city and got on the fish again. We never really found anything over 13" but we took home two limits of great little eater fish and did our part to thin out the population.
There were two tournaments up there, a kid one and an adult one. Watched the kids weigh in and the biggest fish I saw was 2.3lbs. Heard tell of guys getting into 5lb fish but never saw one. Never seen so many $50,000 bass boats in my life! We probably had more fun than any of them in our little rig anyway! Can’t beat good catching with good friends and good food![inline DSCN1972.JPG][inline DSCN1976.JPG][inline DSCN1983.JPG]
No way did you have more fun than I did. I got to listen to two thirteen year olds, talk smack at me all day while they were catching fish. I think that everyone on the lake Saturday had a great time !!! I just wish that we could fins a cure for the stinking midday wind in the Basin. It really screws up the fishing at Pelican !! By the way, thanks for the pic of BIG RED, third boat in line from the bottom. She’s very photogenic, don’t you think !!!
Yeah, we were planning on staying all day Saturday and after we came off the lake for lunch the wind picked up and that was that. Lucky we had a great trip and left feeling fulfilled. Did you find out where the bigger fish were hiding? We mostly fished shallow as a result of no fish finder and found plenty of willing fish but no bigguns.
The bigger fish at Pelican tend to stay up under the matted vegetation. You have to punch through the mat with a jig or worm, on a Flippin Stick w/ heavy line ( 20-30 lb test). The problem in the afternoon was that the wind would push me out of the area I was fishing, so I could not hold and fish. You can also run a buzz bait over and thru the reeds when the wind is not so strong. A frog or weedless spoon will also get some blowups from under the mats. There are a ton of ways to fish Pelican, the wind is the bugger and then the bugs when it gets warmer. By Mid to late June, you have to have a head net, other wise the bugs will drive you off the water.
I was able to make it up Sunday for day two of my club tourney (there were three at Pelican) and I’m glad I made the drive. Fished as a non-boater for the first time and it was humbling at first. Senkos are always a go to at Pelican but I wanted to catch them on frogs, I kept at it and finally got my wish. I saw one fish surface around 8am so I threw out the Kermit and it was game on. I switched to senkos, frogs and creature baits in the holes but I couldn’t stop trying for the surface bite, it’s so much fun! Only eight guys were able to make it for our club tourney. Big fish was 4lb. 3 oz., first place was a nice 19 lb. some odd oz. for two days. I somehow manged to come in fifth out of eight and only fished the one day! I’ll take luck over skill any day of the week. (I read that on here somewhere [;)])
I’ll be back next weekend, seeking my revenge on the one that got away…
thanks for the report fish or die looks like you guys had a great time fishing I cant wait to get back down there and catch another big bass again this summer