Opener is fast approaching but why wait?

The fishing opener is fast approaching, and, as I no longer have to plan around it, I may just pass on the opener and wait until the following weekend to wet a line. For years, I was invited to the opener, but, like many things, my getting invited to attend the Governor’s opener ended a couple of years ago. Print media has taken a backseat to podcasts, radio, and other means of communication, so I am kind of a relic. I was more disappointed when the local Tribune no longer wanted my columns than when the Opener dumped me. I am still writing for my friend Jim Lutgens and his son, Eli, in the New Richland paper, and I take pride in contributing to a paper that knows what living in a local community means.

Enough whining for one day: I want to keep writing for as long as I can, God willing. I enjoy sharing my love for the outdoors with and about my friends and family.

This is the time of year when there is a certain downtime between now and the opener. If a person wants to, you can buy an Iowa license and begin fishing now. You can also go to the Mississippi River and fish with a Minnesota license. My oldest grandson, Trevor, has done both. He connected with his friend from New Ulm, Collins, and they went to the Rainey River. According to pictures Trevor sent, the fishing was fantastic.

When Trevor and his friend were in Linesman school over in Jackson, they decided to go to the Rainy River and try their luck. They caught and released some huge sturgeon, a 65-incher, and a 73-incher. They both had fish on at the same time while fishing out of Trevor’s 14-foot boat. Luckily, a guy and his wife were fishing nearby and the guy offered to help them land the fish. It turned out, the guy worked for Midwest Outdoors magazine. Later on, they went out on Lake of the Woods and caught walleye and sauger. Trevor said that by the time they headed home, he was actually fished out. He said that they caught and released about a dozen sturgeon and many walleye. They kept some walleye and sauger to bring to the table

Last weekend those two went back to the same area of the Rainy River fishing for Walleye and sturgeon. Trevor caught and released a 60-inch sturgeon while they were there. They caught many lunker walleye, most of which they released to fight another day. Just looking at those pictures made me feel like a kid again, at least in spirit.

Trevor has taken me to Iowa a couple of times to fish walleye, and I wasn’t disappointed. The kid knows how to find fish and, better yet, how to catch them.

Until next time: If you want to fish now, I have heard that the crappie are biting on Fountain Lake. I hope to get in on some of that this spring. We have a great resource right here in our own backyard and we need to take advantage of it.

I have always preferred to fish in a secluded area whenever possible. Not being a crowd type of fisherman is hard these days. I can remember as a kid when there were times that I would be the only one fishing on the shores of Fountain Lake. Back then there were mainly bullheads, sunfish, and crappie to be found. If I wanted big bluegills, I would ride my bike out to the “mink farm” which sat where Bancroft Bay Park is today. We would buy a package of horse meat for a quarter and we caught big bluegills and huge yellow-bellied bullheads. We were amateur adventurers, climbing on the trees that leaned over the lake to find a good fishing hole. We could spend a whole summer day there fishing and exploring. Some fishing line, a sinker and a hook was all you needed. If you had an actual fishing rod & reel, you were a rich kid. You got accepted anyway, but most of us got by just fine with simple tackle. We made our own fun, and, in many ways, that made us who we are today.

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