The Minnesota fishing opener is set for the last possible day the season can start.
Minnesota statute sets the opener each year on the Saturday two weeks prior to the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend (May 29-31). That puts this opener on May 15 for walleye, bass, northern pike and trout in lakes.
What kind of opener does the Minnesota Department of National Resources expect?
“We definitely expect higher than normal numbers of anglers to get out for the fishing opener once again this year,” said Jon Hansen, fisheries program consultant for the DNR. “I don’t think we’ll top last year’s surge where we saw nearly a 50% increase in fishing license sales for the opener compared to 2019.
“However, fishing still offers a great way to safely recreate outside and we expect a lot of people to hit the water,” Hansen added.
The 73rd Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener will be held May 13-15 in Otter Tail County on Pelican Lake. The annual event has been a tradition since 1948, but last year’s event was canceled due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Take a Mom Fishing Weekend is slated a week before the opener, May 8-9. Moms can fish without a license. That weekend coincides with Mother’s Day. No walleyes can be caught, but anglers can reel in crappie, sunfish and other species not available to catch until the opener.
So where are the best place to fish in the opener? Mille Lacs Lake is always one of the most popular spots for walleye. Daryl Ellison, the DNR’s area fisheries supervisor for the west metro, said the best place to find new spots to fish is online at dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/outlooks.
The website breaks the state into four regions — northwest, northeast, central and southern — and the DNR prepares summary outlooks based on their observations and experience.
Ellison said the outlook this season looks to “be real close to last year’s.”
Mille Lacs is in the central region, along the Hinckley area, down to the Twin Cities and all the way down to southeast Iowa border.
This season there’s a one-fish walleye limit on Mille Lacs from May 15-31. For the month of June, walleye fishing there will be catch-and-release. There’s a two-week closure from July 1-15, before catch-and-release fishing resumes July 16 and continues through Sept. 15.
The one walleye limit resumes again from Sept. 16, through Nov. 30.
Minnesota is only second to Alaska in terms of resident fishing participation. In 2020, there were 1.5 million licenses anglers in the state.
According to Explore Minnesota, Minnesota is the third most popular inland fishing destination in the country.
Pelican Lake is considered one of the best spots for large and smallmouth bass, as well as northern pike and walleyes that are more than 20 inches. Lake Minnetonka is also well known for its northern pike and bass.
Minnesota’s stream trout fishing season opened April 17. The state has about 3,800 miles of designated streams available for fly or bait casting.
April 22, 2021 at 08:00PM
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Ready to reel in some fish? Opener set for May 15 - SW News Media
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