Minnesota anglers bask in the sun on Fishing Opener

Throngs of Minnesotans flocked to lakes under mostly sunny skies and warming temps Saturday morning to celebrate the opening day of the state's walleye, northern pike, bass and trout-in-lakes season.

Fishing license sales heading into the weekend were up 10% from a year ago, suggesting that more than 410,000 people would wet a line by the weekend's end. Minnesota has 4,500 fishing lakes and anglers cast or drop their lures from Crane Lake at the Canadian border to Lake Sarah in Murray County, where temperatures were expected to climb into the 80s.

On a boat on Crane, a 34-degree early morning warmed to 58 degrees by 8:30 a.m., when a first keeper walleye was landed. Only a week ago, ice was still covering some of the lake.

Crane Lake hosted an eager opening day crowd. The walleye bite early in the morning was a little slower than expected, but the lake had a nice walleye chop without gusty winds. The fishing group was using mainly rainbow chubs. Spottail shiners were available at certain bait outlets, but not everywhere.

In the metro area, Bald Eagle-Otter Lake Regional Park, just north of downtown White Bear Lake, buzzed with people of all ages and all means of gear. Anglers came and went from the busy boat access, while shore anglers fanned out.

Clear and sunny with a light breeze, the opener drew two White Bear Lake brothers and their friend to a popular fishing pier by about 7 a.m.. Three other anglers tried their luck at the other end of the pier, with several more anglers on the shore.

Shao Pheng Leng, 19, and his little brother Yi, 12, were working Whopper Poppers and ChatterBaits when their friend Evan Chang, 19, also of White Bear Lake, reeled in a little bluegill. He was using nightcrawlers.

This wasn't the brothers' first time out. Shao Pheng credited their uncle with getting them into the sport during the COVID-19 pandemic. Young Yi even participated on the Mariner Middle School ice fishing club. The threesome were happy to be out.

"Now that summer is here it is great to get on the waters," Chang said.

Nearby at the boat launch, cousins Marc Wade and Shawn Jones, both of St. Paul, prepared their 14-foot boat and an assortment of rods and other gear for a day to target panfish on Bald Eagle.

This spring, the men had already tried their hand at catching pan fish in north metro lakes Owasso, Keller and White Bear. It was their first time at Bald Eagle Lake.

Smiling, Wade said the two men have a long fishing history and were looking forward to another go.

"We've got a passion for the game," Wade added, "and it's good to get out."

Gov. Tim Walz was in Crosslake with an entourage, celebrating Minnesota's 77th annual Governor's Fishing Opener. The event has been held since 1948, when it was held at Wahkon on Mille Lacs Lake.

This year, Mille Lacs was hopping with a new walleye regulation – the most generous in years. Based on good walleye population data collected by the Department of Natural Resources and eight Ojibwe tribes who co-manage the annual harvest quota, state-licensed anglers this season are allowed to keep two walleyes that are 17 inches or longer, with only one fish allowed to be longer than 20 inches.

Fishing guide Tony Roach reported that bobber rigs tipped with leeches were working on Mille Lacs. So, too, were anglers catching walleyes with jigs tipped with spot tail shiners, he said.

Some 1.7 million people will fish in Minnesota this year, including resident youth who don't have to buy a license until they are 16 years old, the DNR has said. As a group, the anglers spend nearly $6 billion a year on gear, including boats, according to a 2022 survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Fishing supports 28,000 Minnesota jobs, according to the American Sportfishing Association.

Outdoors columnist Dennis Anderson contributed to this story.

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