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Old 07-10-2020, 07:36 PM
Mr Flyguy Mr Flyguy is offline
 
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Default Pelicans!

On my favourite trout lake this morning and swarmed by pelicans. Every time I had fish on 3 or 4 pelicans would rush over to check out the situation. Don't know what they would do with an 18 or 19 inch trout but they sure were interested in the action. Even after I left the "hot" area and returned an hour later they came over to watch, just in case.
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Old 07-10-2020, 11:17 PM
trigger7mm trigger7mm is offline
 
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Default Pelicans

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Originally Posted by Mr Flyguy View Post
On my favourite trout lake this morning and swarmed by pelicans. Every time I had fish on 3 or 4 pelicans would rush over to check out the situation. Don't know what they would do with an 18 or 19 inch trout but they sure were interested in the action. Even after I left the "hot" area and returned an hour later they came over to watch, just in case.
Check with Northwinds on this forum. He can tell you what a pelican will do. Is unreal how big a fish one of those things can choke down. A 20” trout is nothing for one of those buggers.

Last edited by trigger7mm; 07-10-2020 at 11:17 PM. Reason: More info
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  #3  
Old 07-10-2020, 11:17 PM
goldscud goldscud is offline
 
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They will gladly eat your 19"er.
I watched one eat a grebe that had a minnow in it's beak
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Old 07-10-2020, 11:53 PM
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There is a video out there of a pelican eating a danged rabbit i think!
I have seen them at our place on Baptiste and they can choke down a pretty big Jack!
Cat
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Old 07-11-2020, 08:47 AM
Scottmisfits Scottmisfits is offline
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I was out st the Bow river last night. I was greeted by about a dozen pelicans, some ducks nd geese, and three beavers. I didn't get the chance to say hello to any fish though. I guess they were practicing social distancing too.
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Old 07-11-2020, 12:42 PM
cranky cranky is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Flyguy View Post
On my favourite trout lake this morning and swarmed by pelicans. Every time I had fish on 3 or 4 pelicans would rush over to check out the situation. Don't know what they would do with an 18 or 19 inch trout but they sure were interested in the action. Even after I left the "hot" area and returned an hour later they came over to watch, just in case.
Better at your favourite lake than at my favourite lake.

Last edited by cranky; 07-11-2020 at 12:50 PM.
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  #7  
Old 07-11-2020, 01:27 PM
buckman buckman is offline
 
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Pelicans eat around four pounds of fish per day according to my research.
Along with the huge numbers of Cormorants and other flying fish eaters they must take a huge amount of the fish biomass.

The flying wolves of the water I guess.
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Old 07-13-2020, 02:48 PM
Jokey75 Jokey75 is offline
 
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On a pothole on Saturday and my boat mate's trout got dive bombed by an osprey only about 15ft from the boat. Came from behind us so we didn't see it and it startled the hell out of us. Didn't get the fish.

A little later same bird came down and smoked a loon that had stolen another anglers trout. He got that trout.

Pretty cool.

J
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  #9  
Old 07-19-2020, 01:55 AM
Bigrib Bigrib is offline
 
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We had finished up surveying near Travers reservoir in the afternoon one autumn day walking back to the truck we noticed several large moving shadows on the ground near us , looking up was a group of pelicans gliding by. They look a lot like pterodactyls sp? , was a bit odd seeing them drift by silently , they are big .

The prairies were a lot different pre-farming , many more sloughs and potholes dotting the land. Farmers slowly nipped away at the edges until they gradually filled them in .
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Old 07-19-2020, 11:56 AM
Jayhad Jayhad is offline
 
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I've been trying, but can't find the info. I once read that Calgary has the most northern year round pelican population and it is directly related to the available food source the warm water effluent allows access too.

4lbs a day.... that's a hit on the biomass
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Old 07-19-2020, 02:14 PM
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Red Bullets Red Bullets is offline
 
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Quote:
=Jayhad;4205170

4lbs a day.... that's a hit on the biomass
And a cormorant eats 1.5 lbs. of fish a day. just around Lac La Biche there were over 36000 cormorants a few years ago. That's a few tons of fish and frogs a day.
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Old 07-28-2020, 07:23 AM
pipco pipco is offline
 
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What's the best way to prepare a pelican?

Stuffed with cormorant and slow roasted?

Deep fried?

Maybe rotisserie on the BBQ?


I'd guess lots of seasoning and spice to cut the fishy flavor.


Cool birds. Go fly away now.

M*#$^%*!&ers.

Flock off.
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Old 08-10-2020, 12:16 PM
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Sundancefisher Sundancefisher is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by catnthehat View Post
There is a video out there of a pelican eating a danged rabbit i think!
I have seen them at our place on Baptiste and they can choke down a pretty big Jack!
Cat
And ducks and seagulls and ...pigeons

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6sTUSnUgDXI


Herons

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nzCK7qrr4-w
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Old 08-10-2020, 08:38 PM
pikeman06 pikeman06 is offline
 
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used to watch groups of them herding up schools of perch in moose lake. They would always use the sun behind them to push them into 3 or 4 other birds waiting with their beaks open. They would gulp down a disoriented school of perch for minutes at a time they did it everyday the same bunch. Gotta wonder how many fish they killed over the course of a summer.
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Old 08-19-2020, 05:59 PM
buckman buckman is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jayhad View Post
I've been trying, but can't find the info. I once read that Calgary has the most northern year round pelican population and it is directly related to the available food source the warm water effluent allows access too.

4lbs a day.... that's a hit on the biomass
They all fly south for the winter. I think the cormorants do as well.
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  #16  
Old 08-22-2020, 09:54 AM
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Dark Wing Dark Wing is offline
 
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What I can’t figure out is why Alberta stocks the majority of it’s tiger trout in a lake that Is swarmed by pelicans and cormorants. From what I understand no one is really catching any there after they stocked 70000 in 2019.

Last edited by Dark Wing; 08-22-2020 at 10:07 AM.
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  #17  
Old 08-26-2020, 05:53 PM
pipco pipco is offline
 
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The crane hunt is on ( why?) let's open season on Pelicans and cormorants. It will bring tens of dollars to our guides and outfitters and literally save thousands of stocked and native fish.

Problem solved.

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Old 08-26-2020, 08:34 PM
trigger7mm trigger7mm is offline
 
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Default Pelicans

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Originally Posted by pipco View Post
The crane hunt is on ( why?) let's open season on Pelicans and cormorants. It will bring tens of dollars to our guides and outfitters and literally save thousands of stocked and native fish.

Problem solved.

Excellent idea!! Let us shoot them with our coyote rifles too.
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  #19  
Old 08-26-2020, 08:46 PM
pipco pipco is offline
 
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Quote:
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Excellent idea!! Let us shoot them with our coyote rifles too.
Rubber bullets?
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  #20  
Old 08-27-2020, 08:04 AM
brass410 brass410 is offline
 
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Default cormorant

Ontario has finally opened season on cormorants this year what they need to do is add and bonus tag for pelicans
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  #21  
Old 08-27-2020, 10:46 AM
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Douglas N Douglas N is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Flyguy View Post
On my favourite trout lake this morning and swarmed by pelicans. Every time I had fish on 3 or 4 pelicans would rush over to check out the situation. Don't know what they would do with an 18 or 19 inch trout but they sure were interested in the action. Even after I left the "hot" area and returned an hour later they came over to watch, just in case.
We released a healthy 99 cm pike and watched a pelican promptly scoop it up and fly away. It took about 200 yards for it to get airborne, but it did. A 19” trout is just a snack to a pelican.
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  #22  
Old 08-27-2020, 11:38 AM
tallieho tallieho is offline
 
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They don't just eat fish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlhmWfpZQWQ
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  #23  
Old 08-27-2020, 01:04 PM
pipco pipco is offline
 
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Quote:
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Sweet baby jesus!

friggin' feathered prehistoric Pteradactyl!
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  #24  
Old 08-27-2020, 04:03 PM
Mr Flyguy Mr Flyguy is offline
 
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Yikes is right! The good news is they seem to disappear now so should not be a problem in the fall fishing.
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  #25  
Old 08-31-2020, 03:51 PM
midgetwaiter midgetwaiter is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Douglas N View Post
We released a healthy 99 cm pike and watched a pelican promptly scoop it up and fly away. It took about 200 yards for it to get airborne, but it did. A 19” trout is just a snack to a pelican.
I saw one grab a decent skipjack off a dock in Cabo, been wary of them ever since.
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