After 27 years of attending the Governor’s fishing opener, I have officially not been invited to this year’s event. This does not make me feel sad, as it will free me up to fish when and wherever I want. No more itinerary to follow, just my own idea of where to wet a line. In all reality, the event has not been the same since Covid. There is no more community get-together on Friday, which to me was the backbone of the event because it brought the people of the community together with the media and other participants in the event. I guess they’re weeding out some or one of the old guys.
I have fond memories of all the folks from some of the smaller communities coming out in force for the Friday night community dinner, which was attended by hundreds of folks from around that particular area. One such fishing event was hosted by Pequot Lakes on two different occasions and the attendance by the community was impressive for a smaller city. Another good memory was from Park Rapids in 2013, where even though the weather was cold, the Friday evening turnout was great. I got to meet my fishing host, Brett Kent, and his wife, Barb, who were gracious hosts. Brett was a true story teller.
I have written many times about taking my two sons to Reeds Lake on the opener. We always had good luck there, but the lake started getting a little too crowded, so I changed plans for the next year. Our last opener fishing together was on Fountain Lake where we caught both walleye and northern. That was a good time.
Until next time: With the opener only a few weeks away, it is time to make plans for fishing one of our many area lakes. If you have plans to go farther north, you may already have a destination in mind. I plan on visiting Fleet Farm and Cabela’s to stock up on some more unnecessary fishing tackle before the opener is upon us.
I spotted the neighborhood cardinal at my feeder this morning. I have heard him around the neighborhood, but this is the first time that he has made an appearance for a while. There are certain birds that give me a good feeling when I see them and then there are the blackbirds and starlings which are a story for another time.
With the rain that we have gotten this past week, hunting for a few night crawlers at night could be productive. I can remember my uncle Ben teaching me the art of catching crawlers, when I was a young aspiring fisherman. There is an art involved when trying to coax a crawler out of its hole without breaking it.
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