They Came to Catch the Big Ones – An Early History of Fishing on Pelican Lake by Dr. James D. Henderson

ndigenous Americans were most likely the earliest people to fish on Pelican Lake, although no written records have been found to suggest when this began. After the last ice age, about 12,000 years ago, the lake now known as Pelican Lake appeared

as the glaciers receded. As early as 11,500 years ago, unknown groups of people were fishing in Minnesota as evidenced by the discovery of chipped stone hook-like artifacts from prehistoric excavations. Around 3,000 years ago, Dakota tribes in the Midwest, migrating through Minnesota towards the Great Lakes region, were known to have fished the waters that would become part of Minnesota. About 1000 years ago the Ojibwe people moved into Minnesota and by the mid-1700s had settled in what would become central Minnesota. Like the earlier Dakota, they too fished the local lakes and streams. The first white men to arrive in the area were French fur traders from Quebec in the mid-1600s. They were amazed at the abundant number of fish found in local lakes and streams. When the US took over the region following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, they called the lake, Lake Taliaferro after Indian Agent Major Lawrence Taliaferro who was stationed at Fort Snelling. When the first land survey was completed in 1855 and published in 1860 the lake became known as Pelican Lake. The first known person to harvest fish from Pelican was an immigrant from Maine, Solomon “Sol” Marquis, Jr. and his brother Alex. An extensive history of the Marquis family has been written by Brainerd historian, Carl A. Zapffe, and published in 1988. During the winter of 1888-1889, Sol and Alex had “discovered” walleye fishing on Pelican Lake. The ice fishing was so good they began taking gunny sacks full of frozen fish into Brainerd for sale. As the lake ice melted in the spring, they fished by torchlight and caught even more fish. Soon they were hauling a wagonload of fish twice a week into town. As a result of their fishing success, the brothers decided to build a log cabin near the lake in 1891. In 1898 Sol homesteaded 156 acres between Pelican and Little Pelican Lake and proceeded to construct the first resort on the lake known as Wassena Lodge. Wassena was the first resort on Pelican where guests could fish. Sol would pack their catch on ice and shuttle them by wagon to the train in Nisswa (Smiley) for the ride back to Brainerd. Sol Marquis was likely one of the first fishing guides on Pelican Lake. When the fishermen from Lincoln, Nebraska first arrived at Pelican Lake, Sol was there to provide their supplies and show them where to fish. By 1902 the cornhuskers had established the Pelican Lake Outing Club (PLOC) on the peninsula that later would be known as Lincoln Point.

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Solomon Marquis, Jr. sits for his portrait in this circa 1925 photo.

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Apart from Sol Marquis, Lake Edward homesteader Orlo Van Doren provided row boats, known as clinker boats, to the members of the PLOC. Orlo also was one of the first fishing guides on Pelican. At that time there were no boat motors. If you wanted to get anywhere on the lake you rowed. Another early fishing guide on Pelican was Edward Young. Ed and his wife Gertrude came from Wisconsin and homesteaded the northwest quarter of Section 30 in Mission Township. His farm included the 57-acre lake then known as Little Horseshoe (later renamed Young Lake). Ed farmed, worked in the woods and fished nearby lakes including Pelican. According to Edward’s grandson, Robert “Bob” Young, who still lives on the homestead, fishing was so good his grandpa, along with others, shipped fish to Duluth, Brainerd and even the Twin Cities.

Edward Young holds a large northern pike caught in Young Lake in this undated photo. Courtesy of ancestry.com

Advertisement announcing guide service on Pelican Lake. Brainerd Dispatch 6 July 1908

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Increasingly, the area around Pelican Lake was opening up to the outside world. With the completion of Capt. Billy Fawcett’s Breezy Point Lodge in the early 1920s, people flocked to Pelican Lake. At that time, one could drive a car from either Merrifield or Nisswa to the new resort. Fishing at Breezy Point was, of course, one of many of the activities offered to guests. Family-owned resorts began sprouting up like weeds around the lake. These resort owners as well as many local residents provided guide services to their guests.

Capt. Billy Fawcett demonstrates how big northern pikes can get in Pelican Lake off the shore of his Breezy Point Lodge. This “slightly” enhanced photo taken circa 1925, in the days before the internet and fake news, was a great marketing ploy to promote the outstanding fishing on Pelican.

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Harry Van Doren, Orlo’s second son, born at the family homestead on the north shore of Lake Edward in 1909, began guiding at an early age. By the time he was twelve he was taking visitors out on area lakes to fish. Since his dad was also a boat builder, Harry most likely fished in his own boat on Pelican. Years later he would develop a splash guard that was attached to the stern so he could troll backwards without getting water in his boat. This caught on and soon all guides were using them. The rigid aluminum splash guards were first listed for sale in Marv Koep’s 1974 fishing catalog. A pair sold for $19.95. By 1980 they had been redesigned and were made of curved durable plastic with rubber on the center sides that allowed for a snugger fit around the motor. The price was $24.95 with free shipping. Many fishermen made their own guards out of rubber truck mud flaps. Guides loved these since they kept a lot of fishing lines from getting snagged on the props of the trolling motors. Harry was also one of the early adopters of the electronic fish finder in the early 1960s.

(Above) Guide Harry Van Doren with a 22 ½ lb. northern pike taken from Pelican Lake on 19 June 1958 and entered in Cole’s Sport Shop fishing contest. (Left) John Edelbauer, a press feeder for Brown & Bigelow publishing company in St. Paul and Harry Van Doren stand in front of a shed at Van Doren’s home on Lake Edward. This batch of fish weighed a total of 57 lbs. the day after they were caught. Apparently, these were the first sunfish Harry had caught out of Edward when he began guiding. He was 19 years old. Photo taken 2 July 1928.

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Other guides relied on resort-owned boats that they could rent to take guests out on the lake. One of these resorts was Haze Haven on Pelican’s southwest shore. Pat and Jo Hays had bought Barlow’s Resort in 1959. Barlow’s originally was the home and small resort owned by Solomon and Caroline Marquis. The Marquis had built the place after they sold the Wassena Lodge across Co. Hwy. 4 on the shore of Little Pelican. Pat Hays also was a guide for his resort guests. Fish caught by Haze Haven lodgers were often featured in articles and photos printed in the Brainerd Dispatch.

For nearly 40 years individual guides or “fishing experts” plied their trade on Pelican Lake. Things began to change however following the end

of World War II as outboard motors on row boats increased in popularity. Marv and Judy Koep bought a bait shop in Nisswa in 1961 and soon realized they needed to expand their business to include tackle and other fishing related merchandise. The first electronic fish locator, the Fish-Lo-K-Tor, also known as the “little green box”, created by Carl Lowrance in 1956 reached the marketplace in 1959. The Koep’s became dealers for the locator around 1963 and in 1972 set up a repair area in their bait and tackle shop. As a result, this drew more guides to their store and Marv and Judy got to know many of them very well. Marv required all the guides working out of his shop to use the Lowrance Lo-K-Tor. In 1968 Marv Koep and other guides who worked out of his shop at Nisswa Bait and Tackle got together for a meeting in Koep’s home next to the shop and created the Nisswa Guides League. Early members included Marv Koep, Harry Van Doren, Al and Ron Lindner, Max Slocum, Cully Swensen, Rod Romine, Dick Young, Gary Roach, Royal Karels and Ron Kristofferson. The history of the Nisswa

(Above) Resort-owner Pat Hays stands on the dock at Haze Haven with a stringer of fish taken from Pelican Lake. (Right)-Pat’s wife Jo hauled in this 11 lb. 15 oz. walleye from Pelican on 4 January 1968.

The cover art for this catalog was painted by the well-known illustrator Jack Smith, a son-in-law of deceased Pelican Lake resort owner Vance Doyle who operated Johnnie’s Resort from the late 1960s until his death in 1996.

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Guides’ League has been elegantly described by Ray Gildow in his book, Legends & Legacies (Evergreen Press, 2005). Several Pelican Lake resort owners like Pat Hays at Haze Haven, John Hoffman at Johnnie’s Resort, and Lloyd Nelson at Camp Lora were also guides. These local men knew the lake bottom’s topography well, especially areas near where the resorts were located. During the 1950s there were two channels from the lake into the bay to Johnnie’s Resort. Johnnie would drive birchwood posts into the lake bottom at the entrance of the channel and hang lit kerosene lanterns to guide guests’ boats in and out of the bay at night. He loved to tell stories and one night as he passed the lanterns with a boatload of his guests he remarked that once the posts had gotten blown over in a storm, but the lanterns stayed lit under water so they could make it back in through the channel. One of the fishermen on board said that was a load of crap. Johnnie replied if the fisherman would release five of the fish on his stringer, he’d show him the lit lantern! Denny Gustafson, owner of the Edgewater Beach Store in the late 1940s and later the Edgewater Shopping Center in the 1960s was also a guide on Pelican. For 19 years he and his wife Julie sold bait, tackle, gas and groceries to resorts and to their guests on the west shore of the lake. Although ice fishing on Pelican dates back to Sol Marquis’ time in the late 1890s, Denny may be the record holder for the largest northern pulled from the lake on 20 January 1973. The fish scaled 30 lbs. and was 46 ½ in. long when it was registered at Sportland in Nisswa. Brothers Denny and Vern Gustafson were also great walleye fisherman. The Brainerd Dispatch reported their take from a wild night on Pelican Lake during a 30-mph gale. They fished from 11:30 pm to 1:45 am the next morning when no one should have been out on the lake. The water was very choppy, and it began to sleet around 1 am. The brothers were casting and dragging the bottom of one of their favorite drop-offs with minnow bait and came up with 13 walleyes. A pair scaled at 7 pounds, two at 6 ½ pounds, and two at six pounds with the rest ranging from 2 to 3 pounds. Another guide who fished Pelican was John Christianson. John grew up at Upper Cullen Resort that his family had purchased in 1945. When he was 10 years old, he began rowing the boat taking out resort guests. He’d get $5 for rowing them around the lake all morning, sold them bait and cleaned the fish as well. Later as he began to take clients over to Pelican to fish for walleyes, he made friends with many of the cornhuskers over

Denny Gustafson shows off his 30 lb. 46 ½ in. long northern he speared on Pelican Lake.

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on Lincoln Point. John shared his views on fishing on Pelican in Marjorie Wilson Richison’s book Living Near to Nature's Heart–The History of the Pelican Lake Outing Club 1902-1992. John became a professional fisherman and worked for Babe Winkelman Productions, Inc. in Nisswa. In his early days of guiding he rented boats from Denny and Julie Gustafson at the Edgewater Bait and Tackle Shop and rowed out to Gooseberry Island to fish. In those days he had no electronic locator, so he tied a lead weight on one end of an 18 ft. line and an old Hylex® jug on the other. When the jug stopped moving that’s where you fished. Often, he would line up the tip of the island with the Breezy Point water tower to find a spot that’s still fished today. In the 1920s Perry Hardware in Brainerd was a place to register and exhibit big fish caught on area lakes. Another location was at the Alderman-Maghan Hardware Co. in Brainerd in 1930. Cole’s Sport Shop held contests in the 1950s. In 1967 the Brainerd Area Fishing Derby was sponsored by King’s Sporting Goods. The Lake Shore Rod & Gun Club sponsored a weekend contest through Nisswa’s Sportland Bait & Tackle on 13 May 1967. Although no nationally sponsored fishing contests have been held on Pelican Lake, the Pelican Lake Conservation Fishing Club has held an annual contest since 1971. The PLCC was organized in 1947. One of their first projects was to build a walleye rearing pond on Lincoln Point with permission granted by the owners of PLOC. The pond was completed in 1950. In spite of repeated stocking of the pond over the next five years few fish survived the winters and the project was abandoned. The Minnesota Governors Fishing Opener event began in 1948 on the second Saturday of May. Pelican Lake held the event out of Breezy Point Resort in 1970 with Governor Harold LeVander, in 1989 with Rudy Perpich, in 2001 with Jesse Ventura and in 2008 with Tim Pawlenty. The general idea of the event was to promote fishing and tourism throughout Minnesota. With all the fishing that has taken place on Pelican Lake for more than 100 years with accompanying reports published in the Brainerd Dispatch, one would think it would be easy to find records for the biggest fish caught on the lake. Certainly, the monster northern landed by Denny Gustafson during the winter of 1973 is likely a record for the largest fish taken from Pelican Lake. Other large fish caught on the lake include a 10 lb. 8 oz. walleye, a 6 lb. 13 oz. largemouth bass, and a 2 lb. crappie all taken during 1980. While these are examples of big fish, they may not be records for the species. Marv Koep said he knows of a 14 to15 lb. walleye pulled out of Pelican and other members of the Nisswa Guides League may know of larger fish taken from the lake. Bigger fish have been taken from other area lakes, but the intent of the research was to focus only on what was caught on Pelican.

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Species Lbs Oz Length Girth County Date Pike, Northern 45 12 Lake 5/16/1929 Walleye 17 8 35 ¾ 21 ¼ Cook 5/13/1979 Bass, Largemouth 8 12 23 ½ 17 ½ Carver 10/3/2005 Bass, Smallmouth 8 0 Otter Tail 1948 Crappie, Black 5 0 21 Dakota 1940 Sunfish, Bluegill 2 13 Hubbard 1948 Sunfish, Pumpkinseed 1 5 10 12 Cass 6/6/1999

Pelican continues to be a great mixed-species fishing lake. With lots of structure available to the fish and variable depths, good fishing spots exist all around the lake; one just needs to know where they are and that’s where the local fishing guides can be helpful. __________________ The author wishes to thank Marv Koep and his wife Judy for providing information and documents that were used in preparation for this article. Dr. Henderson is the author of Lost in The Woods–The Legacy of CCC Camp Pelican. He has written many articles about the history of the area around the lake for the Pelican Lakes Association newsletter. He currently is collecting information and old photos of resorts, cabins and cottages around Pelican Lake for future articles in the PLA newsletter. If you have photos or information you’d like to share with our readers, please email Jim Henderson at james7122@gmail.com.

For the curious, here are the state fishing records for species found in Minnesota lakes posted by the DNR as of 15 February 2019. None were caught in Pelican Lake.