Fishing Forecast · North Dakota · Updated July 2026

Pelican Lake

Pelican Lake earns a D for water quality. This forecast reads its measured clarity, depth, and trophic state — with each species' biology, the sun and moon, and today's conditions — to call when the fish move on Pelican Lake and how to catch them.

29.3 ft
max depth: 3
fish species: 3.7 ft
water clarity: Eutrophic
trophic state

Today · Sat Jul 25

★★★★★

The bite on Pelican Lake today. Sunrise 6:03 AM, sunset 9:22 PM.

Moon: Waxing Gibbous · 84%
Major windows: 9:08 PM–11:08 PM · 9:33 AM–11:33 AM

Best day · next 2 weeks

Wed Jul 29

★★★★★

Full Moon moon (100%). Fish the major windows at 12:28 AM and 12:52 PM.

Fishing Forecast for Pelican Lake

A multi-factor outlook built from Pelican Lake's measured water quality — clarity, trophic state, depth, and water-body type — combined with each species' biology, seasonal patterns, and today's live weather. It flags spawn timing, where the fish hold, and the techniques that fit this lake's water, not just the moon.

Northern Pike

Game FishSummerSummer pattern

Fair

~69°F est.

Pelican Lake runs 3.7 ft of clarity and grades D for water quality — so add vibration, rattle, and brighter colors to help fish find your bait.

Because Pelican Lake averages 3.7 ft of visibility (stained/turbid), so add vibration, rattle, and brighter colors to help fish find your bait.
Its eutrophic nutrient level puts the summer weedline near 4–8 ft — that edge is the high-percentage zone to hold northern pike through the warm months.
With a max depth of 29.3 ft, Pelican Lake is moderately deep, so expect only a weak summer thermocline.

Techniques for stained water

bladed & rattling baitsbright chartreuse/orange, big profile

Season-by-season on Pelican Lake

Season	Where	Structure	How
Spring	shallow 2–8 ft	weedy bays, marsh mouths, warming flats	spoons, spinnerbaits, big soft plastics
Summer	weed edges 6–18 ft; big pike deeper/cooler	cabbage/coontail edges, deep weedlines, cool water	large spoons, jerkbaits, dead-bait for big fish
Fall	variable 6–25 ft	deep weed edges, drop-offs, cisco/tullibee lakes	big swimbaits, sucker/dead-bait rigs — trophy season
Winter / Ice	6–20 ft	weed edges and flats	tip-ups with large shiners/suckers

Yellow Perch

PanfishSummerSummer pattern

Very Good

~69°F est.

Pelican Lake runs 3.7 ft of clarity and grades D for water quality — so add vibration, rattle, and brighter colors to help fish find your bait.

Because Pelican Lake averages 3.7 ft of visibility (stained/turbid), so add vibration, rattle, and brighter colors to help fish find your bait.
Its eutrophic nutrient level puts the summer weedline near 4–8 ft — that edge is the high-percentage zone to hold yellow perch through the warm months.
With a max depth of 29.3 ft, Pelican Lake is moderately deep, so expect only a weak summer thermocline.

Techniques for stained water

brighter jigs & spoonsscent + a little rattle

Season-by-season on Pelican Lake

Season	Where	Structure	How
Spring	shallow 4–12 ft	weedy/soft-bottom flats, spawning cover	small jigs, minnows, worms
Summer	mid 10–25 ft	sand and gravel flats, weed edges	drop-shot & jigs with minnows/plastics
Fall	mid-to-deep 15–35 ft	basin flats — schools pack up	jigging small spoons and minnows
Winter / Ice	15–35 ft	deep flats and basin	tungsten jigs and small spoons — a top ice target

Black Bullhead

Catfish & BullheadSummerSummer pattern

Very Good

~69°F est.

Pelican Lake runs 3.7 ft of clarity and grades D for water quality — which plays right into catfish & bullhead — work vibration, rattle, and bright colors, and the fish use light more freely through the day.

Because Pelican Lake averages 3.7 ft of visibility (stained/turbid), which plays right into catfish & bullhead — work vibration, rattle, and bright colors, and the fish use light more freely through the day.
Its eutrophic nutrient level puts the summer weedline near 4–8 ft — that edge is the high-percentage zone to hold black bullhead through the warm months.
With a max depth of 29.3 ft, Pelican Lake is moderately deep, so expect only a weak summer thermocline.

Techniques for stained water

scent-heavy prepared/cut bait — clarity barely matters to a scent feeder

Season-by-season on Pelican Lake

Season	Where	Structure	How
Spring	shallow-to-mid 4–15 ft	warming flats, inflows, channel edges	cut bait and nightcrawlers on the bottom
Summer	holes & channels 8–25 ft	deep holes, cover, current — feed hard in warm water	cut/prepared bait on the bottom, best after dark
Fall	mid 8–20 ft	holes and channel edges	cut bait
Winter / Ice	deep 15–35 ft	deep wintering holes	slow, fresh cut bait

The outlook is a transparent heuristic weighting of established angling factors, this lake's measured water quality, and live conditions — not a validated catch predictor. Water temperature is estimated from season and latitude unless a recent USGS gauge reading is available. Planning a meal? Check fish-consumption advisories for Pelican Lake. Always follow current state regulations.

14-Day Fishing Calendar

Plan the next two weeks on Pelican Lake. Anglers target Northern Pike, Yellow Perch, Black Bullhead on Pelican Lake.

Date	Rating	Moon	Sunrise	Sunset	Major Periods	Minor Periods
Sat, Jul 25	☆☆☆☆☆	Waxing Gibbous 84% lit	6:03 AM	9:22 PM	9:08 PM – 11:08 PM 9:33 AM – 11:33 AM	1:23 AM – 2:23 AM
Sun, Jul 26	½☆☆☆☆	Waxing Gibbous 91% lit	6:05 AM	9:21 PM	9:59 PM – 11:59 PM 10:24 AM – 12:24 PM	6:47 PM – 7:47 PM 2:10 AM – 3:10 AM
Mon, Jul 27	★☆☆☆☆	Waxing Gibbous 96% lit	6:06 AM	9:20 PM	10:49 PM – 12:49 AM 11:15 AM – 1:15 PM	7:35 PM – 8:35 PM 3:07 AM – 4:07 AM
Tue, Jul 28	★★☆☆☆	Waxing Gibbous 99% lit	6:07 AM	9:18 PM	11:40 PM – 1:40 AM 12:04 PM – 2:04 PM	8:12 PM – 9:12 PM 4:13 AM – 5:13 AM
Wed, Jul 29	★★½☆☆	Full Moon 100% lit	6:08 AM	9:17 PM	12:28 AM – 2:28 AM 12:52 PM – 2:52 PM	8:42 PM – 9:42 PM 5:23 AM – 6:23 AM
Thu, Jul 30	★★☆☆☆	Waning Gibbous 99% lit	6:10 AM	9:16 PM	1:15 AM – 3:15 AM 1:38 PM – 3:38 PM	9:05 PM – 10:05 PM 6:35 AM – 7:35 AM
Fri, Jul 31	★☆☆☆☆	Waning Gibbous 95% lit	6:11 AM	9:14 PM	2:00 AM – 4:00 AM 2:22 PM – 4:22 PM	9:24 PM – 10:24 PM 7:48 AM – 8:48 AM
Sat, Aug 1	½☆☆☆☆	Waning Gibbous 89% lit	6:12 AM	9:13 PM	2:44 AM – 4:44 AM 3:05 PM – 5:05 PM	9:40 PM – 10:40 PM 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Sun, Aug 2	☆☆☆☆☆	Waning Gibbous 82% lit	6:13 AM	9:11 PM	3:27 AM – 5:27 AM 3:49 PM – 5:49 PM	9:55 PM – 10:55 PM 10:14 AM – 11:14 AM
Mon, Aug 3	★½☆☆☆	Waning Gibbous 73% lit	6:15 AM	9:10 PM	4:11 AM – 6:11 AM 4:34 PM – 6:34 PM	10:10 PM – 11:10 PM 11:28 AM – 12:28 PM
Tue, Aug 4	★★☆☆☆	Waning Gibbous 63% lit	6:16 AM	9:08 PM	4:57 AM – 6:57 AM 5:21 PM – 7:21 PM	10:26 PM – 11:26 PM 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM
Wed, Aug 5	★★☆☆☆	Last Quarter 53% lit	6:17 AM	9:07 PM	5:46 AM – 7:46 AM	10:45 PM – 11:45 PM 2:06 PM – 3:06 PM
Thu, Aug 6	★☆☆☆☆	Last Quarter 42% lit	6:19 AM	9:05 PM	6:12 PM – 8:12 PM 6:39 AM – 8:39 AM	11:08 PM – 12:08 AM 3:28 PM – 4:28 PM
Fri, Aug 7	☆☆☆☆☆	Waning Crescent 32% lit	6:20 AM	9:04 PM	7:08 PM – 9:08 PM 7:38 AM – 9:38 AM	11:41 PM – 12:41 AM 4:48 PM – 5:48 PM

Server-rendered 14-day calendar starting 2026-07-25. Live in your browser shortly.

Methodology

How this forecast works

A plain solunar table only knows the moon. The LakeQuality Fishing Forecast starts there and adds what actually decides where and how fish bite on Pelican Lake — factors we measure rather than guess:

Water clarity — Pelican Lake's Secchi reading flips the playbook between clear-water finesse and stained-water reaction baits, and sets the low-light bite window.
Trophic state & depth — nutrient level and max depth set the summer weedline and whether the lake stratifies, which tells you how deep to fish.
Water-body type — natural lake vs. reservoir changes the structure that holds fish.
Species & season — each species' spawn-temperature window and seasonal movements, matched to the lake's estimated water temperature.
Sun & moon — the solunar major/minor periods and dawn/dusk twilight in the calendar below.

The species outlook is a transparent heuristic weighting of these established factors, and it now also factors in today's live conditions — wind, cloud cover, and the barometric (pressure) trend, recomputed for the current day. It's not a validated catch predictor, and water temperature is still an estimate from season and latitude unless a recent USGS gauge reading exists. It's the analysis a solunar table can't do, grounded in Pelican Lake's real, measured water quality.

How to read the calendar

Major periods (≈2 hours) are centered on lunar transit (when the moon is highest in the sky) and lunar opposition (when the moon is directly underfoot). These are typically the strongest feeding windows.

Minor periods (≈1 hour) are centered on moonrise and moonset. They're secondary windows that often produce well — especially when they coincide with sunrise or sunset.

Day rating combines moon phase (peak near new and full moons, when lunar gravity is strongest) with the overlap of major periods and the dawn/dusk twilight. A 4–5 star day stacks all three.

At Pelican Lake (lat 48.15°N), the longest day of the year is around June 21 with 16h 4m of daylight. The shortest is around December 21 with 8h 21m. Plan summer trips around the early-morning bite (as early as 5:00 AM) and the long evening window before sunset.

Frequently asked questions

What makes this better than a solunar fishing table for Pelican Lake?

A solunar table only uses the moon. The LakeQuality Fishing Forecast adds Pelican Lake's measured water quality — its stained water, trophic state, depth, and water-body type — matched to each species' spawn window and seasonal movements. That measured data drives where the fish hold and which techniques fit this lake's water, then the solunar calendar below adds the sun/moon timing. It's a transparent, multi-factor outlook, not a validated catch guarantee.

What is the best time to fish Pelican Lake today?

Today's solunar calendar for Pelican Lake (lat 48.15, lon -99.16) shows sunrise at 6:03 AM and sunset at 9:22 PM. The strongest fishing windows are around major solunar periods at 9:08 PM–11:08 PM and 9:33 AM–11:33 AM, plus the 30-90 minutes around dawn and dusk.

What does the moon phase mean for fishing Pelican Lake?

Solunar theory holds that fish activity peaks during major periods (when the moon is overhead or directly underfoot) and minor periods (moonrise and moonset). Fish feeding tends to intensify during the days surrounding the new moon and full moon, when lunar gravity is strongest. Today's moon at Pelican Lake is Waxing Gibbous (84% illuminated).

When are the longest and shortest days at Pelican Lake?

At Pelican Lake's latitude (48.15°N), the longest day of the year is around June 21 with about 16h 4m of daylight. The shortest day is around December 21 with about 8h 21m of daylight. Sunrise and sunset shift by roughly 6 hours between solstices.

Are major or minor solunar periods more important?

Major periods (about 2 hours, centered on lunar transit and lunar opposition) are generally considered the strongest feeding windows. Minor periods (about 1 hour, centered on moonrise and moonset) are secondary but still productive — especially when they overlap with sunrise or sunset.

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The species outlook is a transparent, multi-factor heuristic built from Pelican Lake's measured water quality (clarity, trophic state, depth, water-body type) and established species biology, and it now also factors in today's live conditions — wind, cloud cover, and the barometric (pressure) trend, recomputed for the current day. It's not a validated catch predictor, and water temperature is still an estimate from season and latitude unless a recent USGS gauge reading is available. Solunar times use lat/lon and Meeus astronomical formulas, shown in Central Time. Always check local regulations and current conditions before fishing.

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.

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