brainerd is a ghost town

This certainly does not feel like opening weekend. I was on the river for 4 hours yesterday, seen one boat. Didn’t hardly see any boats on the roads, normally every other car is towing a boat. Brother-in-law works at gas station bait shop, he figures sales was down 80% from last year. He never sold a leech yesterday. We went for a drive around mille lacs to tour the ice damage and it was weird to see all the accesses near empty, even on the small lakes that were open. Did see about a dozen boats on mille lacs in the 150 yards of open water along the north shore. I feel bad for all the businesses that rely heavily on this weekend, hopefully they make up for it this summer.

Was it due to the weather or the economy not from there just curious.

Most of the lakes in the area are still covered in ice and it was horrible weather yesterday.

Heard MN license sales were down by 1/3 from last year on the news. I would expect that gap to close as the lakes open though.

I drove from mille lacs to Brainerd Saturday a.m. and counted less then 5 other boats on the road. The bait shop was a ghost town as well.

I was in Fleet Farm in Oakdale on Friday at 3:00 PM. Finshing isles were almost empty of people. Couldn’t believe it.

My parents were driving south on 35 on Friday and they said a notable lack of boats being towed north. Very, very few rigs compared to a normal.

Obviously, the ice coverage was a major factor. Also, it was well-known as early as Monday that the wind was going to be an issue both days. I think those factors kept lots of cabin owners south for the entire weekend.

Chaos will simply be delayed until next weekend.

Grouse

Speaking with a buddy who is good friends with an owner of a well known resort on Winnie. They figured the lack of fishing and subsequent cancellations of reservations cost them 40k for the weekend. That is just one resort.