MN Governor’s Fishing Opener floats on familiar waters

I just got off the phone with my wife, a Friday morning regular at the Caribou Coffee in Grand Rapids. Today there were a lot of fancy strangers with Macintosh computers on hand, streets choked with Mitsubishis and Hondas. This can mean only one thing: The Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener is here.

Because Minnesota is such an iconic fishing state, what with our (more than) 10,000 lakes, our governor is expected to fish on the opener of the walleye fishing season every year in the view of hundreds of members of the media and various dignitaries. A well-known professional fishing guide, someone you probably haven’t heard of, aids the chief bureaucrat in this endeavor, which at best ends with the execution of a hungry fish. The event costs scads of money, raised privately, mostly in lodging and meals for reporters. It is a cherished Minnesota tradition that extends beyond political party or even which part of Scandinavia most of your relatives are from.

Explore Minnesota actually invited me to go to the Opener this year, which would have made sense as I live just 25 miles from Grand Rapids. But the semester is ending and Dylan Days is coming soon, so I have decided to stay close to the compound to see if I can get the mower running this weekend. Have fun out there, folks!

The community picnic for the opener will be held very soon. That runs from 4-7 p.m. at the IRA Civic Center in Grand Rapids. Late tonight Gov. Mark Dayton will hold a press conference at 11:30 p.m. at the Mishawaka Landing before heading out on a midnight fishing jaunt on Lake Pokegama (Po-KEG-a-ma).

Tomorrow, the official walleye opener, brings the larger fishing send-off ceremony at 7:45 a.m. featuring Dayton, Lt. Governor Yvonne Prettner Solon, Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers, Senator Al Franken and the local cadre, to include hometown legislators State Sen. Tom Saxhaug (DFL-Grand Rapids) and Rep. Carolyn McElfatrick (R-Grand Rapids) and the host committee. This event will be held at Zorbaz, a bar/restaurant on the lake that features the replacement of all the “s” letters in the building with “z” letters.

Zo, it goez for the fizhing opener in Minnezota. It’z come to thiz.

The pozt fizhing prezz conference will be held zometime around 10:30, to zee if they caught any fizh. Zome folkz will take picturez and then we will go back to being zad about the legizlature.

Below, Gov. Mark Dayton buyz his fizhing licenze:

Comments

  1. I love it when he pulls out his driver’s license for ID at the DNR.

    I would also like to take the governor fly fishing for trout sometime; that season opens in the middle of April.

  2. Interesting observation by Spot. Yet, Dayton can vote (multiple times) because in part he’s not required to show an ID..
    “Let’s go voting, there’re no conservation officers checking up on me!”.

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