Ice fishing frenzy on display at Pelican Lake

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This article was published 21/01/2022 (1326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Westman ice fishing enthusiasts have been coming in droves to Pelican Lake this winter to try their luck at bringing home the big fish while keeping their vehicles above water. 

“I’d say in the last five years, this year has probably been the most amount of people,” said Eric Evans, proprietor of E & J Bait Shop. 

“This has been our best winter so far and this is our third year [running the business]. This year has been unreal and it’s hard to keep up. I sold over a hundred dozen minnows or more over the last week. The fish have been biting lately anyway, it could change any time.” 

Evans operates out of his home in Ninette offering 24-hour access to bait from a cooler outside on his property. The fisherman has called Pelican Lake his place to fish over the last seven to eight years. He said he got into the sales business at the right time to beat the demand before and during the pandemic. 

“I do believe that a lot of people started fishing as you couldn’t do much of anything else and they realized fishing is fun,” Evans said.

“Even fishing supplies are hard to come by, production is down on everything, and everyone is buying it. It’s hard to find stuff right now.” 

Despite the eagerness to get out on the lake, Evans is warning the public to take greater precaution this winter when driving on the ice after hearing of and seeing several trucks fall through the surface this season. 

“There’s been quite a few. I pulled one out with my truck; he was nose down, the engine was underwater and we hooked two trucks together and we managed to pull him out just to get his vehicle safely out so it didn’t fall completely in,” Evans said. 

Evans is advising the public to call someone right away, should you witness a person or vehicle fall through the ice, to avoid hypothermia and to ensure your heaters and equipment are working properly. 

“If you don’t think it’s safe or crossing a ridge is doable, veer on the side of safety. If something looks sketchy, it probably is.” 

Trevor Maguire, chair of the Healthy Lake Committee which oversees the quality of Pelican Lake, said they have been seeing heavier traffic of people unfamiliar with the area. 

Maguire and Evans explained the lake features a series of pressure ridges at various points throughout the 7,000 acres of water. 

“Manhattan Point, it’s the first point on the east side that sticks into the lake from the Ninette side, and there’s a ridge that runs straight across the lake,” Evans said. 

“It’s dangerous all the way across and people have crossed it further towards the centre. Right at the point, it never, ever freezes. Usually in January, it is still open water because the water is shallow and the water swirls. I think there might even be a spring there, because there are quite a few natural springs in Pelican Lake.” 

Maguire said every year somebody thinks it is a good idea to drive near the pressure ridges without knowing, and even saw a side-by-side sink to the bottom of the water in the lake. 

The RCMP detachment in Killarney told the Sun it has not received any calls for fallen vehicles in the lake this winter. 

On the flipside, both Maguire and Evans are encouraged by the vitality of the lake in part to Maguire’s committee to ensure enough oxygen is given to the fish during the winter months. 

“When we formed in 2012, our goal was to aerate the lake, and now we’re running two very large aeration systems on the lake, and from what we’ve seen, we’ve been able to keep the oxygen levels just fine for the fish,” Maguire said. 

He figures the lake would lose nearly every fish if proper aeration treatments were not applied, based on the thick ice and heavy layer of snow preventing algae from creating oxygen underneath the surface. 

“It’s been incredible compared to what it used to be,” Evans said. 

“In the fall, you’d go out in a boat and you’d catch 30 or 40 fish in three to four hours. The bite was unreal. There’s fish from four inches long to 29 inches long for walleye, and there’s jumbo perch. Many master angler perch have come out of Pelican Lake over the last four or five years.” 

The lake level is roughly two feet lower than average, Maguire estimated. He is anticipating a large turnout for the committee’s ice fishing derby currently scheduled for March 5, barring changes to COVID-19 restrictions from Manitoba public health. Evans found he was able to place his camera down in 10 feet of water this winter and while lifting the hook off the bottom, was able to see 10 feet down for the first time as an angler. 

“The water is incredibly clear and I don’t know why, I didn’t think Pelican Lake could be like that.”

In an email, a spokesperson from the provincial government advised that ice fisherman should do their research into location prior to hitting the ice to ensure their safety.

» jbernacki@brandonsun.com 

» Twitter: @JosephBernacki