Gov. Tim Pawlenty landed a 17-inch walleye Saturday during the Governor’s 60th Annual Fishing Opener at Breezy Point on Pelican Lake.
But Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau reeled in a 19-inch walleye about 2 1/2 hours earlier.
In the past six years, Molnau and Pawlenty have had a friendly competition for first fish caught, longest fish and most fish caught on opening day. Molnau has been the unofficial winner each year _ and this year was no different.
First Lady Mary Pawlenty was fishing with her husband. She says she got a few bites, but nothing in the boat.
Of the anglers near the governor, only a few caught fish Saturday morning. But a slow day was expected because of a late ice-out on Pelican Lake. While parts of northern Minnesota saw snow, the Brainerd area saw little or no wind, overcast skies, and temperatures that were a bit chilly _ in the high 40s.
"This is the start of summer," Pawlenty said before he went fishing. "So why am I sitting here in a snowmobile suit?"
On the eve of the opener, ice still clung to Lake Winnibigoshish and Leech Lake as well as Lake Bemidji, Lake of the Woods, Lake Vermilion and Rainy Lake, although all had some open water. Gunflint Lake, north of Grand Marais, was still covered in ice.
"Ice is causing some major problems in the north," said Tim Browning, DNR trails and waterways regional manager. "Hundreds of concrete boat ramps have been buckled from ice movement over the winter and repairs are being hampered by the late ice-out."
Ted Robertson and his sons, Tony and Robbie, have been making the trek north from their home in Chaska to Lake Vermilion for the opener for many years. They had hoped to launch from the marina at Fortune Bay Resort & Casino and head to their favorite fishing hole near Ely Island.
This year, however, a big sheet of ice made that impossible.
"That’s all we wanted to do was go there," Robertson said to Fortune Bay marina manager Sally Bergquist as they examined a map on the wall of the shop, trying to find an alternative way to get to Ely Island.
Bergquist said north winds Friday pushed a giant sheet of ice across Big Bay and locked her guests in. She said some anglers had tried launching their boats in the morning only to pull them out of the water when they learned it was impossible to get very far.
The entire lake wasn’t iced over, however, as the northern half of Big Bay had open water, Berquist said, even if getting there from launch points on the south half of the Tower end of the lake was nearly impossible.
After a slow day Friday ahead of the opener, Joe Kruchowski of Northwoods Bait and Tackle in Cook didn’t expect business to pick up much on Saturday. But to his surprise, he found that lots of people made it out onto Lake Vermilion and others in the area _ and had good success.
"I talked to a handful of guys, Kruchowski said. "One of them came in with a 19-pound northern and another had two 23-inch walleyes. Another big group came in to buy some minnows and they wouldn’t tell me what they caught, but they said the fishing was good late."
It became legal to keep fish starting at midnight, and Kruchowski said they might have meant early.
Going out early sure worked for Scott Mabusth, of St. Michael, who reached into a bucket and pulled a string of 12 walleyes he and his son, Patrick, caught on Horseshoe Lake near Richmond in central Minnesota.
The Mabusths got their boat on the lake at 4 a.m. By about 7:30 a.m., they had reached their limit and were ready to head home.
"It’s a father-and-son fishing thing," said Scott Mabusth, who was wearing a black hat that read "Got Fishing?"
Pao Lee, of St. Paul and three of his friends headed out even earlier. They caught 15 walleyes between 16 and 26 inches in length.
"It wasn’t bad at all," said Lee, who tries to make it to the opener each year.
Lee said his group picked Horseshoe Lake because it’s a great place to land fish.
"This is one of the only spots that we know that we hit (fish)," Lee said.
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