Minnesotans Ready for Fishing as Walleye Season Approaches

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (AP) – Minnesota is ready to start fishing. The state has an estimated 1.4 million licensed anglers and around 500,000 are expected to fish when walleye season opens Saturday, May 13.

Governor Mark Dayton is hosting the 70th annual Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener along the Mississippi River in the St. Cloud area of central Minnesota.

That stretch of river may not be the first destination on most anglers’ minds, but local experts say it’s a hot spot, and the Department of Natural Resources says it has a walleye catch rate comparable with Minnesota’s best lakes.

This is the first time the St. Cloud-Sauk Rapids-Sartell area has hosted the event. The only previous governor’s openers on the Mississippi were at Red Wing in 1998 and Winona in 1973.