I received an email the other day from an old acquaintance, Garry Leaf. He was interested in finding out a little bit about the community’s reaction will be to the Governor’s Fishing Opener that is being held in the Albert Lea area in 2019. Garry is an outdoors advocate who was very instrumental in getting the Lessard-Sams Bill brought to a vote by the citizens of Minnesota. Leaf said that since it has been put into effect he has been monitoring it to see if the money is being put to the use in the manner in which it was intended. He said that he was pleased that the money recommended by the Lessard-Sams council is indeed being used for the projects for which it was intended. Leaf said, that in the almost 10 years that the Lessard-Sams bill has been in existence, over a billion dollars in funding has been put to use for various projects. Over 90% of that money has been used for what the counsel intended it for. $350-million has gone to acquire and enhance public lands, $200-million for easements and another $10-$20 million for waterfowl habitat. Money has also been designated to go towards clean water. WMA’s and WPA’s have also benefitted from this fund.
The money people spend on hunting and fishing licenses each year goes into the fish and wildlife fund and is not designated to any specific sport. For example: buying a hunting license doesn’t mean that that money goes for any one hunting project; it could go for fish stocking. While that may happen; the bottom line is that it is still used for fish and game. The tax on a hunting or fishing license goes into the general fund.
Garry was very aware that some of the Lessard-Sams money was designated to be used by the Shellrock River Watershed in the dredging of Fountain Lake and other projects. This is why folks like Garry are very important to all sportsmen; not only for monitoring what goes on with our sporting dollars but what he and others like him do helps ensure that our outdoors heritage will be preserved for future generations.
The opportunity to be a host community for the Governor’s opener is already paying dividends in the form of media coverage. I was asked by Garry to do a short interview on the Mike Max Show on his WCCO Radio sports talk show. He and Garry Leaf wanted to talk about the community’s reaction to hosting this event and about some of the resources that we have for fishing and hunting in our area. I didn’t have the time to name all of the positive things that we have to boast about in our area but this was only the beginning. He will be calling me to do a couple more interviews as the event draws closer.
Mary Nelson and myself are co-chairs on the fishing host committee for the opener. This means that we are looking for volunteers to take media guests and or members of the governor’s staff, or any guests of the governor, fishing. Some folks may choose not to fish, so there will be boats needed to take people on the lake(s) to just see the beauty of our area.
Anyone that is interested in being a boat host or wants to find out more about it can go to <http://www.governorsopener.com/> and click on governor’s fishing opener, go under the community link and click on boat host. This will give you the information needed to sign up. If you are not a computer user; you may stop at the CVB office and pick up an application or you can call me at 507-383-2231 or Susie Peterson at the CVB – 507-373-2316 with any questions that you may have.
Being a boat host is a great way to show off the Albert Lea area and our lakes to the media and guests in a positive way. Many more volunteers will be needed to help with all of the events that are being planned for what is about a three-day event. We want our guests to leave Albert Lea with good memories and a plan to make return visits in the future.
Turn the page: I know that there are still folks who are enjoying the open water fishing season and having pretty good success. I have heard of a few walleye, bass, crappie and northern being caught in Fountain Lake. It seems that the pike fishing in Pickeral has died down considerably. That can probably be attributed to the amount it rained a week or so ago. If I have learned one thing over the many years that I have been fishing; it is that the weather is always a likely scapegoat when it comes to getting skunked.
Until Next time; fall is the perfect time of year to seek out that “fish of a lifetime” which may be lurking just around the next point or under that fallen tree. Yes, that monster could be waiting for that new lure that you saw on TV and just had to have. So what are you waiting for?
Please remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers because they are the reason we are able to enjoy the wonderful freedoms we enjoy today.