Pelican Lake (Pope County)
Pope County, Minnesota - DNR stocking history, depth and survey data
Minnesota · Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) · DOW 61011100
DNR records show 8 stocking entries at Pelican Lake (Pope County) since 2017, most recently walleye fry in 2025 (211,000 fish).
- Pelican Lake (Pope County) has 8 DNR stocking records across 5 years (2017-2025): walleye (8).
- The most-stocked species by count is walleye: 242,380 fish on record.
- Maximum depth 34 ft, mean depth 10 ft; surface area 518 acres, 422 littoral acres, 5.4 miles of shoreline, per the DNR lake survey.
- Average water clarity (Secchi depth) 4.9 ft.
- Fish species DNR lists here: bigmouth buffalo, black bullhead, black crappie, bluegill, bowfin (dogfish), brown bullhead, channel catfish, common carp, freshwater drum, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, and 6 more.
- 1 public access on the DNR list.
- Most recent DNR fish survey: (standard survey).
- Pope County, nearest town Long Beach; DNR lake number (DOW) 61011100.
Depth map
Bathymetric contours from the Minnesota DNR lake survey mapped 7/6/1977 (orig map); depths in feet. Simplified for the web; not for navigation.
Stocking history
| Year | Species | Size | Number | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Walleye | fry | 211,000 | 1.9 |
| 2023 | Walleye | fingerlings | 7,284 | 844.0 |
| 2021 | Walleye | fingerlings | 3,648 | 563.5 |
| 2021 | Walleye | fingerlings | 2,673 | 306.0 |
| 2019 | Walleye | fingerlings | 13,059 | 860.0 |
| 2017 | Walleye | yearlings | 673 | 358.0 |
| 2017 | Walleye | fingerlings | 3,756 | 221.0 |
| 2017 | Walleye | adults | 287 | 265.0 |
Field note · Minnesota stocks by year, not by truck day: walleye fry go in within weeks of ice-out, fingerlings and yearlings mostly in fall, and stream trout in spring and fall. A row here means the fish went in during that year; DNR adds the year's rows after the fact, so the current year can look empty until winter.
Public accesses
| Type | Owner | Where |
|---|---|---|
| concrete ramp | Minnesota DNR |
DNR fish survey, 2022
| Species | Gear | Catch per net | Total catch | Avg lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Largemouth bass | Standard electrofishing | 90.00 | 90 | 1.20 |
| Black bullhead | Standard gill nets | 53.00 | 477 | 0.28 |
| Yellow perch | Standard gill nets | 25.33 | 228 | 0.05 |
| Northern pike | Standard gill nets | 7.67 | 69 | 2.99 |
| Bluegill | Standard gill nets | 6.22 | 56 | 0.37 |
| Walleye | Standard gill nets | 3.33 | 30 | 2.00 |
| White sucker | Standard gill nets | 2.22 | 20 | 2.13 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard gill nets | 1.78 | 16 | 1.09 |
| Largemouth bass | Standard gill nets | 0.78 | 7 | 1.35 |
| Bluegill | Standard trap nets | 34.12 | 273 | 0.08 |
| Yellow bullhead | Standard trap nets | 10.25 | 82 | 0.85 |
| Pumpkinseed | Standard trap nets | 5.88 | 47 | 0.11 |
| Black crappie | Standard trap nets | 1.62 | 13 | 0.32 |
| Yellow perch | Standard trap nets | 1.50 | 12 | 0.07 |
| Black bullhead | Standard trap nets | 1.25 | 10 | 0.78 |
| Northern pike | Standard trap nets | 0.62 | 5 | 2.98 |
| Common carp | Standard trap nets | 0.62 | 5 | 4.43 |
Catch per net (CPUE) is the DNR survey's count per gill net or trap net set; higher means more of that species were sampled, not a fishing forecast. Top species per gear shown; where we have no verified common name for a DNR code, the code itself is shown.
Pelican Lake is a productive, moderately-sized (519-acre) lake located just north of Lake Minnewaska in central Pope County. Maximum depth of the basin is 34 feet. Approximately 80% of the lake is less than 15 feet deep. Due to a large watershed area and nutrient enrichment, water quality can be seasonally impaired during summer months by algae blooms. A public access is located on the northeast side of the lake just off North Pelican Lake Road. Bluegill have been very abundant in past surveys but are currently more moderate (34.1/trap net) for Pelican Lake, which is still abundant when compared to similar lakes. There is currently a very large year class of young (age 2) fish which account for 58% of the Bluegill sampled. However, seven year classes were sampled, with the oldest being age 8. Growth is fast. There has been an increase in the proportion of larger fish compared to previous surveys. Between both gears (gill and trap nets) there were a good number (14%) of Bluegill over 8 inches. Similar to past surveys, few Black crappie were sampled (1.6/trap net). Of the few fish sampled, most were age 2 and therefore small but the largest fish sampled was almost 12 inches. Average length of crappies was 8 inches. Walleye abundance (3.3/gill net) was down from the 2016 high (8.7/gill net) but similar to the long term average (3.8/gill net). Walleye ranged from 9 to 23 inches, with a mean of 17 inches. Growth is fast. Largemouth Bass abundance (90/hour of electrofishing) was the highest observed so far. Most fish were between 13 and 16 inches, and the largest fish sampled was over 19 inches. There appears to be strong reproduction with many 7 to 8 inch fish present. Northern Pike density (7.6/gill net) was down and size structure has improved slightly from previous surveys. Forty-four percent of pike were within the protected slot, which should help to improve the size structure in the coming years. In addition, 22% were over 26 inches, with the largest being almost 35 inches. Anglers are encouraged to harvest small Northern Pike. New Northern Pike regulations were implemented in 2018 to increase size structure. Pelican Lake is in the North-Central Zone, where all pike from 22 to 26 inches must be released. Anglers can keep 10 pike, but not more than two can be longer than 26 inches. Northern Pike taken by spearing follow the same rules except one pike may be between 22 and 26 inches, or two larger than 26 inches. For more information see: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/pike/index.html. Yellow Perch remain abundant (25.3/gill net) even though they have been…
Minnesota DNR survey narrative, .
All Minnesota stockings · every Minnesota lake with a page · state CSV · this lake on DNR LakeFinder
Stocking rows, depths, accesses and survey figures are Minnesota DNR LakeFinder data as of 2026-09-02; contours are the DNR bathymetric survey. Regulations, slot limits and special rules are on the DNR page linked above, not here.
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