Another Minnesota fishing opener is in the books. I guess if you consider it officially starting when the governor hits the water it actually started at about 3 a.m. The official statewide opener was at 12:01 a.m. and I wouldn’t venture to guess how many die-hard fishermen actually hit the water at that time but I know there were a few. When Arnie was governor his opener started late and ended early. This might be part of the reason for his record number of “non-fish” openers.

This year’s opener was held in White Bear Lake and Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his wife, Mary, were game for hitting the water early which many people felt was the best time to land a walleye on White Bear.

When I first heard that the city of White Bear Lake was to host this year’s opener I didn’t really know what to expect. Since White Bear has the label of Minnesota’s “First Resort Town” it makes sense that they were the first metro area host in the 61-year history of the Governor’s Fishing Opener.

White Bear Lake is 2,416 acres, has a maximum depth of 83 feet and boasts a healthy population of pretty much all species of fish from walleye, northern, Muskellunge, both large and smallmouth bass, bluegill, crappie, perch and bullhead.

The walleye fishing is best in early summer and in the fall while the northern population is plentiful the average size runs small.

The DNR stocked the lake with adult walleye in late fall and again during the winter but the bulk of the summer fishing is for bass and muskie, which have a 48 inch limit on the lake.

There are also Bald Eagle, Otter, Goose and Birch Lakes within a 5-mile radius of White Bear.

Not only is White Bear Lake a good fishing lake but downtown White Bear is one of the best kept secrets in Minnesota. It has a downtown area that conveniently offers more than 175 shops and services and would rival any that I’ve seen as far as historic buildings and specialty shops.

While looking around the town my friend, Jeff Anderson, and I wandered into a shop called the “Chocolate Spoon.” We met Nancy Poferl, the co-owner, who gave us a brush up on the history of the town and her business. She went on to say that Stillwater has the reputation of a historical downtown but she would put her town up against them any day.

The residents of White Bear went out of their way to not only promote the area but also to make sure everyone enjoyed themselves. If you didn’t know where this city was located you would swear it was not part of the metropolitan area. You could actually take this town and plop it down anywhere in the state of Minnesota and it would fit right in. The people of the town are not only “Minnesota Nice” they are “smalltown friendly.” There were an estimated 5,000-plus attendees at the community supper on Friday and although the line was more than a block long, you didn’t really notice because there was so much going on and so much to see.

The community had more than 600 volunteers working on the event making sure that everything went off without a hitch. Each year that I attend the opener the host community always impresses me and this year surpassed my expectations.

On Saturday morning Jeff and I hooked up with our host for the day Jim Griemann, who was anxious to show us his lake. I could tell from the start that he was my kind of fisherman.

On Friday night when we met him for the first time he had to show us some pictures that he carried in his wallet. They were photos of him holding some dandy muskies, three different ones to be exact. Jim was also pretty proud of the fact that he had gotten his hat autographed by Minnesotan Larry Dahlberg who stars in his own TV show, “The Hunt for Big Fish” on the Versus channel.

Before we hit the lake we went to Jim’s office, which by the way, is right on the lake and faces the dock where he keeps his boat. Hanging on his office walls, were more pictures of muskies that he had caught. He has caught some dandy fish over the years and those pictures were evidence of that.

When we hit the lake an old friend of Jim’s, Ray Hoyt, was the fourth member to join our party.

The morning started out cool and sunny and then it clouded up, the wind picked up and it became a different day than the night before. Jim said “too bad they couldn’t hold the opener on Fridays because the day before is usually always better.”

Jim said that the lake has gone down about four feet in the last three years and you could really tell by the looks of the shoreline.

Jim and Ray said they had already fished the lake numerous times since ice-out and had caught some dandy crappie. I was game for any type of fishing and they were trying to oblige. We trolled at first, tried jigging and finally bobber fishing which I passed on because I’d just purchased a fresh supply of “Killer Slurpies” and was sure that casting one of them bad old boys would be the ticket. I didn’t exactly knock them dead but over the course of the day I did manage to catch a couple of those small “governor-sized” northern, two small bass and a crappie. I didn’t knock ‘em dead but I also didn’t catch the “skunk,” which my friend Jeff did this year. Usually he manages to tie into a nice northern but not this time although he did have something big snap his line, which I’m sure, was that northern.

Fishing with Jim was fun because not only was he a good host but you could tell that he truly loved not only the lake but also his community. He grew up in White Bear and has lived there all his life. He said he couldn’t imagine living anywhere else and I can’t say that I would disagree. He said that the school he graduated from had 83 graduates and of them more than 50 still live in the community. Let’s face it, there are not too many places where a man can walk out of his office, go a few yards and be in his boat fishing in a matter of a couple of minutes.

As our day on the water with Jim and Ray was coming to a close Ray made the statement that kind of scared me, “We’re not going in until you guys get a keeper.”

I was starting to think we’d be there for a while but after trying just about everything possible to raise a keeper walleye we headed to the dock without that keeper but with a day filled with laughs, some fish and memories of time spent with “good folks.”

Once again it was another fun opener and it was definitely an eye-opener for me. I travel 35E many times on the way to the cabin but now I’ll be tempted to take Exit 117 at White Bear just to spend a little time in this metropolitan community with small town hospitality.

Until next time enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors and let’s go fishin’.

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