Opener

Well did they move up opener or not?

Still no word

The Senate is adjourned until Monday, April 16, nothing will be passed until then, and Gov. Dayton then needs to sign off on it.

And I doubt he will sign it if the bill contains any provision to allow a wolf hunt.

-J.

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And I doubt he will sign it if the bill contains any provision to allow a wolf hunt.

-J.

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Which it still does at this moment…

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The Senate is adjourned until Monday, April 16, nothing will be passed until then, and Gov. Dayton then needs to sign off on it.

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So, 2.5 weeks notice if it passes. What a joke.

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And I doubt he will sign it if the bill contains any provision to allow a wolf hunt.

-J.

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Has he come out against it?

If the senate passes approval to move up date does it still need to be approved by the DNR??? I thought this would just move the allowable date…

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And I doubt he will sign it if the bill contains any provision to allow a wolf hunt.

-J.

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Has he come out against it?

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Has he taken a position on anything??? He will blow where ever the wind takes him….

-J.

$5 says they scrap the opener change before the date. They won’t buy any votes with it and probably will lose quite a few changing it this close to opener.

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$5 says they scrap the opener change before the date. They won’t buy any votes with it and probably will lose quite a few changing it this close to opener.

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I will also wager $5 on “No Go”.

Then they will tick off all the guys that thought they were clear from MD weekend this year. Idiots should have never even brought it up.

Personally I thought it was a Red Herring to keep people from jumping on the Anti AIS bandwagon….but that’s only my take.

My buddy is in Kentucky working long term and he has taken the later dates off for the opener. He is going to be pissed if he has to change flights short notice. Will Gov. Dayton reimburse his for the extra charges if they move it up? How many people will not fish the WI opener if it falls on the same weekend? (Not a big deal I know as nobody fishes in WI! )

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My buddy is in Kentucky working long term and he has taken the later dates off for the opener. He is going to be pissed if he has to change flights short notice. Will Gov. Dayton reimburse his for the extra charges if they move it up? How many people will not fish the WI opener if it falls on the same weekend? (Not a big deal I know as nobody fishes in WI! )

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According to some, it is OK. You could still fish the week after opener and there will be less boats.

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My buddy is in Kentucky working long term and he has taken the later dates off for the opener. He is going to be pissed if he has to change flights short notice. Will Gov. Dayton reimburse his for the extra charges if they move it up? How many people will not fish the WI opener if it falls on the same weekend? (Not a big deal I know as nobody fishes in WI! )

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According to some, it is OK. You could still fish the week after opener and there will be less boats.

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He will sure look funny going to the “Big D Tournament on the Opener” weigh in a week after the tournament.

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My buddy is in Kentucky working long term and he has taken the later dates off for the opener. He is going to be pissed if he has to change flights short notice. Will Gov. Dayton reimburse his for the extra charges if they move it up? How many people will not fish the WI opener if it falls on the same weekend? (Not a big deal I know as nobody fishes in WI! )

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According to some, it is OK. You could still fish the week after opener and there will be less boats.

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He will sure look funny going to the “Big D Tournament on the Opener” weigh in a week after the tournament.

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Stop being selfish

No worries. There is no way it passes…well, wait, these are politicians so anything is possible.

I’m sorry for repeating this question but i still don’t think it has been answered. would this also move up the bass and muskie opener?

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I’m sorry for repeating this question but i still don’t think it has been answered. would this also move up the bass and muskie opener?

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The devil is in the details. These idiots did not specify species. They also didn’t think about special regs like the night ban on Mille Lacs. By the time they get all of the details figured out, we will be talking ice fishing agian.

-J.

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…we will be talking ice fishing agian.

-J.

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Al Gore says there will be no ice fishing again. Last winter was just the start.

This same Al Gore?!
Al Gore

Are the changing the turkey dates too?

I like to hunt during the fishing opener and this is really getting tought to figure out.

Dog

For Christmas next week, I would like a new toilet for my camper.

I thought the early opener bill was just an April Fools joke.

Something else has to be trying to slide by and this has to be a diversion…..

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I’m sorry for repeating this question but i still don’t think it has been answered. would this also move up the bass and muskie opener?

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The actual text from the bill…

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Sec. 81. FISHING OPENER; 2012.
The 2012 open season for taking fish by angling shall begin on Saturday, May 5, 2012, for the taking of species that would otherwise begin on May 12, 2012, under Minnesota Statutes, section 97C.395, and rules of the commissioner of natural resources.

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So no, only walleye/pike opener.

Some of you guys really need to get over this! It’s getting old. By memorial day, it won’t even be remembered. The people that will benefit the most are the people who live close to a walleye lake.

I am over it, as I know it won’t pass. But in the event it does, the reaction is going to be hilarious.

If you guys are so itching to fish for walleye, I hear they are doing pretty good on Pool 4. Also, if that is too far, Pool 2 is open to Catch and Release only.

Opener

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“It’s been an incredible spring weather-wise, but we’ve used that time to work on other projects that might not get done until later in the spring,” said Paige Brown, owner of McArdle’s Resort on Lake Winnibigoshish. “Our cabins wouldn’t be ready and we don’t have supplies like bait, beer and pop coming until the week of May 12 – that stuff is all ordered in advance.”

Brown and other members of the Lake Winnibigoshish Resort Association met this week after they caught wind that the opener could be moved up. She said that all seven resort owners in attendance were against the idea.

Jacki LaValla is a manager at Sportsman’s Lodge on Lake of the Woods and she too was surprised when word got out that opening day could be moved up a week.

If it does pass, she doesn’t expect an earlier start to have much, if any, positive economic impact for the resorts in this area. LaValla, like most resort owners at Lake of the Woods, believes opening day is fine where it’s originally scheduled.

If the opener was to change and it’s not something she’d support, LaValla says legislators should be working to move opening day up a week for next year.

Biologically, adding an additional week of angling pressure could have a major impact on select lakes such as Upper Red and Mille Lacs, where the annual walleye harvest by anglers is capped.

For example, if the bite was really strong, the weather was good, and angling pressure was high at Mille Lacs, Peterson said angler harvest could increase as much as 60,000 pounds by adding a week at the front end of the season. That could result in more restrictive regulations on the lake later in the year.

As for those spawning walleyes and all the rhetoric that points to them being completely done spawning well before the scheduled opener because of the early ice-out dates – that might not be the case

Gary Barnard is the DNR fisheries manager in Bemidji and he says the walleye spawn isn’t as far ahead as people might think in the northern part of the state. In fact, there hasn’t been much of a walleye spawning run at all up to this point.

At Cutfoot Sioux Lake, which is one of the largest egg taking facilities in the state, DNR officials had yet to collect any walleye eggs from spawning fish as of Thursday afternoon.

There is walleyes running this stretch of water, but Barnard said they’re isn’t many and those that have are coming through “green”, which means they aren’t ready to drop their eggs.

He points out that walleyes spawn more according to the length of daylight rather than when the ice goes off the lakes. Until the days get longer and water temperatures climb, the main walleye run will be delayed.

“I don’t know what’s driving the proposal to change opening day, we have early springs and late springs and they almost always seem to even themselves out,” Barnard said. “It’s rather surprising that the opener is being jerked around like this and if it’s a one year deal, that’s even more silly because we’re trying to moderate harvest not increase it.”

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Bite on Pool 4? Nah…

Let me introduce….

Edward Saugerhands

I for one would love it, as a kitchen manager I work every Mothers Day. There are plenty of others in the same boat as me.

I am fishing the weekend before the Mn opener no matter what…

But passing this bill might keep me in Mn and not WI like I normally do, thus keeping my money in this state. The only thing I would need to decide is whether I would fish for walleyes in Mn or bass fishing in WI.

I know it isn’t going to pass as there is way to many other items with this bill that are sketchy at best. If it passes and brings some more money to the resorts and other tourist industry, I am all for it The thing is I won’t, like most, will not lose any sleep worrying about it.

Ron