Minnesota Governor's Fishing Opener

What do you guys think of the “Gov Opener”? Alexandria is looking at hosting it in the future. How many of you want to visit St. Cloud because the Governor fished there Saturday? How many of you watched any coverage of the event? Do you think it helps an area get on the map? Or in this case with virtually no walleye caught does it hurt your opinion of the St. Cloud area as a fishing destination? Any other opinions of the event?

It’s a tremendous amount of work so I’m curious what everyone thinks. For example the hosting area needs to provide food, lodging and 110 fishing boats for the event.

Personally I think it is a great PR move that showcases the States Lakes and Rivers. I cannot find a negative…

How many of you want to visit St. Cloud because the Governor fished there Saturday?

Does not increase my chances of visiting. Have family that live in Sartell and have to drive through St. Cloud while heading further north to fish our families cabin. However I don’t know anything about the river outside of Pool 4.

How many of you watched any coverage of the event?
I saw something on it on the 6:00am news Friday morning, but that was all that I saw. Busy weekend for me, not a lot of time spent with media or social media. I guess I never actually even saw a photo/video or anything of the governor even at it or fishing.

Do you think it helps an area get on the map?
Any publicity is good publicity. It helps, does it provide more money coming into the area than what it costs to host? Not sure, but I have my doubts.

Or in this case with virtually no walleye caught does it hurt your opinion of the St. Cloud area as a fishing destination?
I didn’t know no fish were caught, however fish caught or not, I think it probably increases St. Cloud as a fishing destination to lots of people who don’t view the Miss. as a fishing destination.

Any other opinions of the event?
Without knowing any details, if your community has a chance to host it, you probably should.

I’ve randomly been asking people what they thought of the Governors Opener and the common response is, “where was it at this year”? Seems to me no one cares about it. I think Alexandria is a very over looked fishing area, but for this event to draw people to our area I think people need to care about it… This event takes 100’s and 100’s of volunteers, so its a tough decision.

It was held in Park Rapids a few years back, the spring the ice wasn’t out
There were many events, live music, a bbq with free food for about 500 people. To be honest there might have been more money spent than generated. Having said that we thought it was pretty cool for “our” town to host it. It was also held in White Bear Lake, our primary residence. Lions Park was completely revamped.
I’m always surprised at how average the results are for the Governor.
Like mnrabbit said, if your town has a chance to host it, go for it. Joe, if you were to be a volunteer guide I think it would be a nice addition to your website.

The area seems to be packed enough on the weekends the way it is. Fine by me if its over-looked

Jake D wrote:

The area seems to be packed enough on the weekends the way it is. Fine by me if its over-looked

The selfish part of me agrees with you. I currently have plenty of guide business, so I really don’t need more people coming here taking “my” fish. (sarcastic)

The sensible part of me knows as our town grows, so will all the small shops and businesses. These same businesses that want to grow have been putting in money to stock local lakes with millions of walleye and in my opinion because the area is getting busier the fishing is better than ever.

Looking at this strictly in marketing and PR terms and there is no question in my mind that if you want to promote the outdoors-related tourism in any area, hosting this event is a goldmine.

Just look at the VOLUME of coverage the area gets. Every news outlet, be it TV, web, radio, newspaper, etc in MN carried coverage of the event and they do so every year. And without exception, they all mention WHERE the event is being held in every report. So Alexandria gets mentioned over, and over, and over, and over… Hmmmm. Tough to see a downside to that if you want visibility of your area as a fishing destination. Basically, you get wall-to-wall media blitz for 4 days.

Catching fish/not catching fish, this species, that. Nobody remembers and nobody cares. If the governor doesn’t catch, it’s the guide’s fault anyway . Hopefully, you know of a decent guide in the area.

Of course it’s a lot of work, but any/every event that get’s that kind of visibility is going to be a ton of work and it’s going to require a big budget and lots of time.

From a strategy perspective, I’d be looking at the key strategic goals Alexandria wants to drive through hosting. “Getting on the map” was really St. Cloud’s angle this year. IMO, Alex is “on the map”, but is it seen as a grade A fishing destination?

Grouse

Agree with Grouse. Definitely worth looking into, and “over-looked” areas would see the most benefit. Alex doesn’t have the same reputation as Brainerd, but is very similar with possibly better fishing. Even when they go to the trophy lakes, the governor still struggles to catch fish, so the results are inconsequential imo. St. Cloud probably benefitted most just from some positive PR, as everything else of late seems to be negative. But it will never be looked at a walleye mecca. And even with that said it would have to be a significant net gain, just from the free advertising the area hosting gets. They start promo’s a year in advance and it is covered extensively by every media outlet the week of.

BigWerm wrote:

Even when they go to the trophy lakes, the governor still struggles to catch fish…

Good guides are hard to find. Governor not catching = bad guide. Everybody knows that.

Hosting the Gov’s Opener is not “free advertising” as I’m sure the organizing and running costs are significant. But IMO for a place with the tourism and outdoor rec industry like Alexandria has, the investment would certainly be worth it.

IMO, Alex should put a twist on this opener to make it their own and address their own target market. IMO, I’d look at inviting the Gov’s from ND and SD and make it a regional event, with the obvious regional PR/marketing bounce, of course. Have you been in marketing long, there, Grouse?

Alexandria has been scoring some notable PR and marketing attention in the outdoor rec space lately. Hosting the MN High School Trapshooting championships and the sheer size of that event has gotten national attention in the oudoors media for several years running now. Adding the Gov’s Opener would be another big visibility builder, no doubt.

Grouse

Didn’t think there “governors opener” was more than a news story about some guy thing fishing… If which I care nothing about.

So it is something different than that… I guess I care even less if that is possible.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Good guides are hard to find. Governor not catching = bad guide. Everybody knows that.

I hope you were being humorous…? From what I’ve heard the Governor goes fishing late morning for an hour or two at the most. There have been some great guides over the years who have had very poor luck getting the Governor on fish.

I don’t know how much it adds to an area, but I’m sure it most certainly doesn’t hurt at all. I listen to a couple of outdoor radio shows, and visit the DNR site fairly often, and I’ve heard multiple people talking about the Governor opener every year. I believe that for about the first 10 years it was always at Mille Lacs, but since then it’s been bounced around the state, which I like. Just think if it was still at ML every year, it would get far less coverage than it does now. When listening to people who are part of the planning around the event talk about it on the radio, it really isn’t about whether the Gov catches a walleye or a fish at all. They really emphasize the fishing opportunities, resorts, business, etc of the area. I think this year being in St. Cloud, it really shed light on how good the MS river can be, for all kinds of species. I saw that Dayton caught a nice smallie this year. The female Somali legislator from MPLS actually caught the most fish, with 13 or something like that, which is kind of neat.

Joe, it sounds like you’re seriously interested in it, so I’d assume you’d be part of the planning. I’d suggest talking to someone at Visit MN or Mike Kurre from the DNR who does PR stuff with the DNR and is always involved with the event.

There was a Gov’s opener this year? Didn’t know. Didn’t care.
I’m sure I’d care if it was in my area and I’d go see or at least read about the spectacle.

How can the Gov not catch a walleye in a couple hours on opener? I’m just a dumb schlep and boated my first walleye after about 100 yards of trolling at 5am Saturday. Granted, that doesn’t always happen but there should be at least 1 fish in two hours. IMO, zero fish for the Gov does look bad for the lake and guide. Just my $0.02.

Kyhl wrote:

How can the Gov not catch a walleye in a couple hours on opener?

Usually because the Gov along w/ the other parties leader start fishing at 11 am within 1/4 mile of wherever they launch from with about 10 press boats following…

blank wrote:

Joe, it sounds like you’re seriously interested in it, so I’d assume you’d be part of the planning. I’d suggest talking to someone at Visit MN or Mike Kurre from the DNR who does PR stuff with the DNR and is always involved with the event.

Like I said this is a huge undertaking so I’d be a very small cog in the planning process. There are people a lot better at marketing than I am, that will be in charge. It will take a huge committee to put this together. First Alexandria has to apply for the opportunity to host, then once you’re selected you can start planning. Cities that have hosted previously will defiantly be a huge resource in the planning of the event. There are also people employed by the state that help out with some planning.

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Kyhl wrote:</div>
How can the Gov not catch a walleye in a couple hours on opener?

Usually because the Gov along w/ the other parties leader start fishing at 11 am within 1/4 mile of wherever they launch from with about 10 press boats following…

Exactly.

A couple of years ago they did real well on Lake Vermilion. This year, and years past the Gov usually shares the boat with the Speak of the House and Majority Leader, which I think is kind of nice gesture, showing some civility.

Joe Scegura wrote:

I hope you were being humorous…? From what I’ve heard the Governor goes fishing late morning for an hour or two at the most. There have been some great guides over the years who have had very poor luck getting the Governor on fish.

Obviously, I was being facetious. Geeze, guides these days are so sensitive. As I said, nobody remembers who caught what or cares. The win is in having the host location mentioned over and over.

Grouse

I think the governor’s opener should be held at Mille Lacs next year to show the resorts and bait shops some help for the way the state has completely screwed up the lake.
If this past weekend was any indication, any politician could catch a fish.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Scegura wrote:</div>
I hope you were being humorous…? From what I’ve heard the Governor goes fishing late morning for an hour or two at the most. There have been some great guides over the years who have had very poor luck getting the Governor on fish.

Obviously, I was being facetious. Geeze, guides these days are so sensitive. As I said, nobody remembers who caught what or cares. The win is in having the host location mentioned over and over.

Grouse

Sensitive…? I guess I was just clarifying.

Actually I think Alex would be a perfect venue for a Governor’s opener. It has a variety of larger lakes, charming downtown, etc. Do they need/want more business? I don’t know but I think its an ideal setting. The river is just so hard, there really isn’t a main harbor near St. Cloud, main street, etc like many other areas of the state.

Mille Lacs would actually be good too, but if the season is closed there – well… IMO Mille Lacs is really just a trophy smallmouth fishery anyway now

I don’t know but I’d bet your Minn. governor could open up a can of whoop a$$ on our poor excuse for a governor here in Wi.

Just an FYI Gov. Goofy will be fishing the opener on Mille Lacs this year. He will be fishing with Feider and I’ll bet he catches a few big ones. Was something going on in St Cloud last weekend?

c_w wrote:

Just an FYI Gov. Goofy will be fishing the opener on Mille Lacs this year. He will be fishing with Feider and I’ll bet he catches a few big ones. Was something going on in St Cloud last weekend?

I was waiting for that one after being sarcastic in my previous post. How far in the thread of the Gov opener did we have to get before anyone realized that there are two Gov openers this year.

The point being, no one cares unless it’s on their lake.

BigWerm wrote:

Usually because the Gov along w/ the other parties leader start fishing at 11 am within 1/4 mile of wherever they launch from with about 10 press boats following…

I was being sarcastic. You can lead a man to fish but you can’t catch them for him.

Example, I fished opener with my dad (76) and I boated the first walleye after about 10 minutes of fishing. On the flip side, 2.1 days (one hour on Monday) of fishing and my dad did not catch a walleye. We were fishing in the same boat, on the same water, at the same time, with the same gear, and the same bait. At one point we even traded rods.
He caught two nice smallies though.

Me {first fish}: Fish on!
Old man: Cool!
Me {2nd fish}: Fish on!
Old man: Alright!
Me {3rd fish}: Fish on!
Old man: Son of a Bit@ch!
Me: {ROFL} SOB!

Fishing with your dad on opener, priceless.

Think it wold boost business for opening weekend. Be surprised if it did much after that. Now you are talking about inviting the same guy that promoted mille lacs last summer. Thats seems to be working well for that area.

I think it has little effect on anything, it’s just a tradition.

Mike W wrote:

Think it wold boost business for opening weekend. Be surprised if it did much after that. Now you are talking about inviting the same guy that promoted mille lacs last summer. Thats seems to be working well for that area.

You don’t just decide to do the Governors Opener. It takes years of planning so no it would be a new Governor if that’s what you are talking about.

Kyhl wrote:

Me {first fish}: Fish on!
Old man: Cool!
Me {2nd fish}: Fish on!
Old man: Alright!
Me {3rd fish}: Fish on!
Old man: Son of a Bit@ch!
Me: {ROFL} SOB! rotflol rotflol rotflol

Fishing with your dad on opener, priceless.

Very funny!
Reminds me of my dad.
When I go home to the farm in SW MN I usually bring a dozen worms and a rod… Make a 4 mile drive from farm to Des Moines river and fish off a bridge for a few minutes. Catch a 20″ eye.

Pisses my dad off Everytime…”I’ve never caught a Walleye from there but you show up and do it Everytime” LOL

“Dad, dunk a worm in a current seam”