Holding onto winter
This time of year, fishing the waters that border Minnesota and Canada is the only way to go.
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Unfortunately.
There, you will still have the opportunity to catch - and keep - most species of note in Minnesota. And keep a staple of Minnesota ice fishing - convenient, "permanent" ice-fishing houses - on the ice.
On Sunday, the season for most species - including walleyes and saugers, northern pike and largemouth and smallmouth bass - ended for Minnesota anglers on inland waters. And by midnight Feb. 29 - Friday - dark houses, fish houses and shelters must by off the ice of inland waters in the southern two-thirds of the state, which includes the Brainerd lakes area. The northern third has until March 15.
Some of the more extravagant ice-fishing houses at the recent Eelpout Festival on Walker's Leech Lake. All such "permanent" houses must be off Brainerd area lakes by midnight Friday. Brainerd Dispatch/ Brian S. Peterson » Purchase reprints of this photo.
But not certain border waters.
Our fishing friends to the north - a four-hour drive away - can legally catch walleyes and/or saugers until April 14, and the seasons for pike and largemouth and smallmouth bass are continuous. And "permanent" ice-fishing houses don't have to come off the lakes there until March 31.
Most winters, the ice doesn't come off northern border lakes until, sometimes, just before the open-water opener. The conditions often are prime for a long winter season up there. It would make for a very long winter if the season ended, say, three-quarters of the way through what could be regarded as winter up north.
Here, folks probably are already starting to think open water.
Or are they?
This winter, we've had several major cold spells, making for unusually thick ice - at least compared to recent years - on Brainerd area lakes. Snow accumulation has again been at a minimum, but we did get a good base in early winter, which because of the cold temps, has survived. Unless we get a real warm-up here shortly, area lakes will be primed for ice fishing well into next month.
Brainerd Dispatch/ Brian S. Peterson » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Most years, a late February deadline for fish species of note and "permanent" ice-fishing houses probably wouldn't be a big deal. But it would be nice if the DNR could come up with regs that might offer more flexibility. In other words, during winters like this, make a decision in mid-February that the season will stay open until March 15 (the same goes for ice-fishing houses). If they can legally catch and keep walleyes until mid-April at Lake of the Woods, why not mid-March here?
I know that stretching fishing seasons for certain species - particularly walleye - is easier said than done and that there are fish management issues to consider. But it appears there is still a lot of ice fishing to be done in this area. And would another few weeks make that much of a dent in the highly protected walleye population in area lakes?
We are still allowed to catch and keep perch and panfish and the like and fish from "temporary" houses here - portable shelters may be placed on the ice and used from one hour before sunrise to midnight if there is an open fishing season on the lake, according to the DNR. But fishing for perch or panfish doesn't mean an angler won't catch the occasional walleye or northern, and there's no guarantee a hooked fish will survive once released. It's inevitable, and it could mean a big waste of what, during season, would be perfectly good keepers.
Brainerd Dispatch/ Brian S. Peterson » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Also, this year, Minnesota fishing licenses are good through April instead of through the end of February, as had been the case in previous years. So why not allow us to get the most out of those licenses? I know the conditions probably won't allow for it, but if they do, who wants to ice fish for nothing but perch and panfish for two months?
I know that the DNR has our safety - and that of the fishing population - in mind with these deadlines, and that implementing some sort of flexible regs would be difficult.
But it pains me to have to go to the northern points of the state to do some late-winter walleye fishing when we are knee-deep in as extreme a winter as our neighbors to the far north.
But without the perks.
BRIAN S. PETERSON, outdoors editor, may be reached at brian.peterson@ brainerddispatch.com or 855-5864.