Brooklyn Park Bait Shop Highlights Impact of Fishing Opener
About half a million Minnesotans — some of them in the northwest suburbs — hit the water during opening fishing weekend looking to hook the state’s largest game fish.
The fishing season for walleye, sauger and northern pike opens on Saturday, May 11.
It’s a significant day for Twin Cities anglers given the unseasonably warm winter. The lack of ice meant there were few opportunities to ice fish in the metro.
As a result, there’s an influx of anglers looking to get on the water this weekend.
“I think the early spring kind of had people kind of getting excited about, you know, breaking that cabin fever a little bit and getting out on the water a little bit earlier,” said Brian Nerbonne, regional fisheries manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
J.R.’s Tackle in Brooklyn Park has also seen a bump in spring shoppers.
“With the warmer winter, I think people are getting the itch more to go out this summer, so maybe that will play a little bit in the warmer winter and following into the opener this year,” said Jack Betker with J.R.’s Tackle.
Nerbonne thinks fishing efforts will be productive this year.
“When we have these early springs like this, the fish — especially some of the species like walleye, northern pike and stuff — have gotten their spawning activity well out of the way by this point,” he said. “They’re moving into their more springtime feeding patterns. And so they’re kind of putting the feedbag on after expending a lot of energy during that spawning time.”
J.R.’s Tackle in Brooklyn Park says they’ve seen a bump in business ahead of the state’s fishing opener. They’re hoping that trend continues throughout the summer fishing season.
Business Impact
For many businesses in the state, the opener isn’t just about shoreline relaxation.
“The economics of fishing are really important in Minnesota, it’s literally a $4-to-$5 billion annual industry,”Nerbonne said. “It has a bigger economic impact for the state of Minnesota than the Mayo Clinic does.”
A bump in sales is significant for a small, family business like J.R.’s Tackle. They use the opener to forecast future sales.
“It’s starting to pick up coming with fishing opener,” Betker said. “It plays a big role in how summer is going to go, we can kind of play that off how opener went.”
According to the DNR, fishing licenses are selling better than expected this spring.
That’s a good sign for J.R.’s, but doesn’t mean guaranteed sales.
“New people are coming in getting worms, getting bait, all that stuff,” Betker said. “Hopes would be that it stays steady throughout the whole summer.”
Fishing Spots in the Northwest Suburbs
For anglers living in the northwest suburbs, Nerbonne says Medicine Lake in Plymouth offers great fishing opportunities.
“It’s got really good access, French Lake Regional Park, it has a really great launching facility and they also have some shore fishing opportunities there, both from the shore and a fishing pier,” he said. “Medicine Lake has a really diverse fish population, so it’s got all these different species that are present there … if you wanted to target any one of those species and have a really good chance to bring home some fish, or at least have a chance to catch-and-release some fish, it’s a great option.”
The Mississippi River also has abundant fishing spots.
“There’s lots of shore fishing access,” Nerbonne said. “The Mississippi is a great fishery … there’s almost always something biting on the Mississippi River, so it’s a great place to bring newer anglers and kids.”
