The much-anticipated walleye fishing opener is at hand. We call this day the official fishing opener for Minnesota although we still have to wait for the bass, May 23, and muskie, June 6, openers, which follow soon after.

The walleye and northern pike opener has always signaled the official beginning of fishing season for as long as I can remember. I guess if you are a bass fisherman this weekend is just a teaser for the “real thing.”

It’s now crunch time and all the time spent straightening and cleaning out the old tackle box is about to pay off. Of course if you are prone to wait until the last minute there is still a little time to buy that new lure that you know is “the one.” Now is also a good time to replace that old line so that you’ll be less likely to lose that “lunker.”

I guess you could say I had a trial run for this fishing season when I headed north the first part of the week to see if the cabin was still standing. Everything was in good shape and all is ready for another summer in the north woods. Some of the deeper lakes still had ice on them and on Friday they had an inch of snow in the area. The evening temperatures were in the high 20s and the fire in the old wood stove felt mighty good. The lakes should be clear in that part of the state by the opener.

There is no way to describe the peaceful feeling I get when sitting outside listening to the birds and sounds that nature makes. I am always looking for signs of deer and critters as I take an early morning walk along the road through the woods that leads to our little piece of land in what I like to call God’s Country.

Once again this year I will be attending the Governor’s Fishing Opener as a media representative. I have to thank my friend Jim Lutgens who was the Tribune sports editor at the time for getting me involved. It was before the ‘95 fishing opener and he said he had gotten invited but asked if I would want to go in his place. I was hesitant at first because this was out of the norm for a guy like me that just worked on the composition end of the paper. Jim assured me that there would be nothing to it and all that I had to do was take a few notes, shoot some pictures and write a little bit about the experience. I’d never really thought of myself as a writer but he assured me that I would do just fine.

The opener that year was at Willmar and as I arrived at the resort for check-in I was nervous as a cat. Once I got situated and followed the itinerary it was pretty cool. I was pumped for some fishing and the next morning my host picked me up at the resort and we headed out for a day of fishing.

The weather was less than perfect and I can truthfully say that it was probably the most miserable fishing opener that I have ever experienced. I didn’t have the proper rain gear and with the temperatures in the 40s and the wind gusting at 30-plus mph and the corn snow made it feel like someone was shooting BBs at me. Putting on a minnow was a real task, my hands were so cold that I could only will them what to do but they seemed to have a will of their own and felt like clubs on the end of my arms.

Even with the miserable weather and the fact that I was drenched to the bone I still have fond memories of this opener. I’ve never been one to be awestruck by celebrities but before I knew it I was rubbing elbows with some pretty important people like the guy that wrote the walleye song. I even got my picture taken with Arnie, but I have to say it was a pretty fun experience and I guess you could say I was “hooked.”

Every year is different and every year I meet new people and see old friends again. Oh yeah, fishing — there is some of that, too. The best part of fishing with a new host or guide is that you always learn new techniques and also learn about different areas of the state. This year will be interesting because instead of sitting in a cabin somewhere in the north woods I’ll be in White Bear Lake. Each year we learn about the area and what the community does to promote it. I guess now is the time to find out what Twin Cities fishing is all about. You can be sure of one thing and that is that it should be another good experience.

Looking back to the years prior to my annual event I always went somewhere on the opener. Most often it would be a trip to my favorite lake of that time Reed’s Lake which is just outside of Elysian. The boys and I would always seem to have good luck there on opener. My eldest, Brian and I also went a few times with the boys’ grandpa, my father-in-law Orville Johnson. The fishing at Reed’s was almost always good, but of course, fishing is always good no matter what’s on the stringer.

I can remember one particular time that Brian, his grandpa and I were on the lake for the opener and we had caught what we considered some nice walleyes. As we trolled past another boat they waved and Brian said, “show them our fish grandpa” so he held up the stringer with our three ‘decent’ walleyes and then they lifted theirs up. Well I have to say I didn’t think that a couple of those fish were ever going to stop coming out of the water — they were lunkers!

I do think that on that day there was one young boy who learned a valuable lesson about bragging.

As the boys grew older and grandpa passed we still took the annual trip to Reed’s. Although he was gone the memory of the times we spent fishing together will always be there.

Until next time enjoy the spring, play safe and get out and enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors.

Remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers throughout the year.