In the very near future, Champions Tour anglers will blast off for the final regular season tournament of the 2021 season. Pelican Lake in Orr, Minnesota will be the location of this event, which seems to have everyone around the tour excited. Pelican Lake is northwest of Lake Vermilion and more than 4 hours from the Twin Cities. It’s just under 12,000 acres in size with a wide variety of largemouth and smallmouth habitat.
Most likely due to its lack of proximity to the cities, Pelican is a relatively unknown body of water for several Champions Tour anglers and the bass community in general. It certainly sees its fair share of fishing boats but it’s not one of Minnesota’s bass tournament mainstays. For this reason, it’s shaping up to be one of the most highly anticipated Champions Tour events yet.
The stakes are very high for this tournament. Championship qualification is on the minds of many participants, as well as the Angler of the Year race. When this tournament is complete, the championship field will be set, and those anglers will turn their attention to mighty Lake Mille Lacs the following week on September 2nd for the championship and the chance to win a Skeeter bass boat.
Predicting winning patterns and techniques for this tournament isn’t easy. Again, there’s a big question mark around Pelican Lake and just what type of bite will greet the tour. One commonality seems to exist amongst the chatter, and it has to do with big bass and plenty of them. There’s a very healthy population of fish in the lake with 3 to 5+ pound bass being a common occurrence. Anglers will also have to weigh their options when considering smallmouth vs. largemouth. Which species can be caught most often and/or which will provide the most weight?
With the lack of pressure the lake sees when compared to bodies of water like Minnetonka or Mille Lacs, power fishing techniques may play into the mix more than we’ve seen in past Champions Tour events. These bass shouldn’t have to be finessed into biting, meaning we just might see several more casting rods rigged with moving baits and flippin’ equipment vs spinning tackle with light line and small plastics.
These questions and more will be answered on Thursday, August 26th as we watch 50 fishermen compete for a $12,000 first place prize and more. Tune into www.classicbass.com and all of our Social Media channels to see the action unfold!
