Are you ready for some open water fishing? It won’t be long now until we’ll be wetting a line in search of early season perch or crappie. If you can’t wait that long, there are opportunities to the east of us to catch some early season trout. The winter catch and release trout season will remain open until March 31. The spring season opens on April 1 and runs through April 17. The regular season in southeast Minnesota opens on April 18 runs through Sept. 30.

I have only on rare occasions sought out and fished for trout. The few times I have I was actually moderately successful. I can see where sportsmen and women can get hooked on trout fishing at least for the sport of catching them. Although a lot of people do enjoy eating them I’ve never had the desire to devour this fish in a restaurant and I consider trout in the category of a little bit going a long way.

One year when our boys were young we went to the Black Hills with some friends and their two kids. We camped in Custer State Park and enjoyed the many different things there were to do in the Black Hills. It was a great family vacation that I’d highly recommend to anyone.

I had checked out the fishing situation and was told that Stockade Lake was a good place to catch trout. I had no clue about what to use but was told by some people that miniature marshmallows were good bait.

I decided to opt for night crawlers and after purchasing a 24-hour license we were off to do some “serious” fishing.

With no trout fishing experience I decided that a Lindy Rig and crawler should work for trout just as it does for walleye and the ever-elusive bullhead in Minnesota. We bought our 24-hour license at noon with the idea that we’d be able to fish for parts of two days that way. Well, the fishing was excellent and we ended up catching nine dandy brookies and even a couple of largemouth bass, which we released.

While we were at the lake I met this guy who said he and his wife had been traveling all across the country in his new motor home. He said he was retired and had been fishing trout at every opportunity. He went on to say that he had yet to see trout that averaged the size of the ones we were catching, even in Glacier National Park. It seems that my old “country boy” approach to fishing was pretty effective, at least on that day.

My boys still bring up the instance at that lake where I was taking a fish off the hook for their mom and had laid my pole down. When I looked up, my fishing pole was making a hasty trip toward the lake and I had to dive to grab it just before it was about to disappear into the depths of the lake.

That was when one of my boys turned to the other and asked “did you know that dad could move that fast?” At the time it seemed to be a lot funnier to them than it was to me but then you never really wanted to give those two very much ammunition. It must have been a pretty funny sight because they still bring that incident up from time to time and it seems to have gotten funnier as they have gotten older.

After we’d had our fishing fun for the day we cleaned the trout and headed back to the campground. I had been told that the best way to prepare them was to put lemon and onion on them with a little butter and wrap them in aluminum foil and put them on the grill. Although I had no idea what I was doing I proceeded to put the fish on the grill and waited with great anticipation to taste the results. The coals weren’t getting very hot and after much coaxing (lighter fluid) the coals were hot and the fish was finally done. I have to say the fish was OK, but I have come to the conclusion that I should leave the preparation of trout to someone who knows what he or she is doing. When we awoke the next morning it didn’t seem like anyone was really all that excited about heading back to catch another meal.

If you want to spend a few days on a great family vacation I would definitely recommend the Black Hills. There is no scenic route to take out there, but once you get there it is well worth it. There are many historic sights to see and if you have a little time you might try fishing Stockade Lake. Who knows — maybe the old “lindy rig” with a crawler will still work today?

2009 fishing licenses, walleye stamp on sale

Minnesota’s 2009 fishing licenses and the state’s first-ever walleye stamp now are on sale.

Anglers who purchase a license in early March can fish for 14 months as the license does not expire until April 30, 2010.

The state’s new walleye stamp also is on sale. The stamp, though not necessary to catch and keep walleye, is an innovative new way for anglers to voluntarily donate funds for walleye stocking and related activities.

The 2008 fishing licenses expire April 30, 2009.

Funds from the $5 walleye stamp validation will flow into a dedicated account for walleye stocking activities. For $2 more, the DNR will mail the actual stamp to you as a collector’s item.

“Minnesota artist Nick Reitzel painted a powerful image for the state’s first-ever walleye stamp,” said Steve Michaels, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) license center manager. “Purchasing the 2009 stamp is a way to own a piece of history, start a stamp collecting tradition and support Minnesota’s state fish.”

Minnesota fishing licenses are available at more than 1,800 vendors throughout the state, by phone at 1-888-665-4236 or “http://mndnr.gov/licenses.”

Until next time stay warm, play safe, keep off the thin ice and get out and enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors. Remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers during the coming year.

Dick Herfindahl’s outdoors column appears in Friday’s Tribune.