Sportsman’s club to share fish house with Ashby community during hard-water season

At more than 3,000 acres and with just one established public boat access, Pelican Lake near Ashby, Minn., isn’t, well, overly accessible.

It’s probably easier sledding during the hard-water season, when the beauty of the season is you don’t need a boat to access a lake that is “highly productive and supports very good fishing,” according to the Minnesota DNR fisheries lake survey of Pelican.

And now, thanks to Coots Unlimited, fishing the lake located off Interstate 94 between Fergus Falls and Alexandria will be even more doable this winter.

And anglers will be able to do it in style.

Coots Unlimited, Ashby’s sportsman’s club, has purchased a new fish house that it plans to share with the community, free of charge, this winter on Pelican, according to a report by the Fergus Falls Daily Journal.

A 2017 Ice Castle Trophy Hunter, which measures 8 feet by 16 feet and includes a bathroom, will be set up on the lake from Jan. 1 to Feb. 25. It will be offered up to the community seven days a week during that time, with two openings available per day. The heat will be on and the holes will be drilled, the report said.

According to the Daily Journal, it is a way for Coots to give back to the community. Donations are welcomed as there will be annual expenses, the report added, and may be mailed to Coots Unlimited, P.O. Box 264, Ashby, Minn., 56309.

Fish-house users must be 18 years of age or older, and reservations may be made at First State Bank of Ashby (110 Main St., Ashby; 218-747-2235 – ask for Kyle or Dallas).