Staff photo by Travis Rosenau
Francis Rieger, owner of R & R Bait & Tackle in New Ulm, is keeping stocked up on bait ahead of this weekend’s fishing opener.

The Minnesota fishing opener for walleye, northern pike and sauger is this Saturday, and anglers are preparing to get their leeches and lines in the water.

R&R Bait and Tackle, located at 1405 North Broadway Street in New Ulm, has had good business already this season and is once again stocking up and selling leeches and fathead minnows ahead of the opener. R&R Bait and Tackle owner Francis Rieger, who is in his 30th year with his shop, said many fishermen he’s talked to have plans to head to their cabins up north for the weekend.

“There’s some going to Hanska, a lot of them are talking about going maybe up north a little bit because the river ain’t going to be too good because of how high it is,” Rieger said. “It’s going way up. … But if they’re after sunfish, crappie and perch and that — St. James is just crazy right now.”

Rieger added that he thinks the walleyes will start biting if the water warms up a couple of degrees.

While Northern Minnesota continues to be a go-to destination for the fishing opener each year, Southern Minnesota should provide ample opportunities for quality fishing.

According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR), the warm winter, late ice formation and early ice-out on lakes in March hasn’t led to fish winterkill this past winter. During the 2022-23 winter, however, many shallow lakes had partial to severe fish winterkills.

The good news is that those winterkill events lead to recovery quickly, producing panfish and walleye within two years.

Lake Hanska again made the MNDNR’s list for top walleye fishing spots in 2024, along with Big Swan Lake near Hutchinson and the Minnesota River from Granite Falls to Mankato.

Broadway Bait, located on 1422 North Broadway in New Ulm, is experiencing its first walleye, northern pike and sauger fishing opener as the business opened in July of 2023.

Darrin Weigel of Broadway Bait said he thinks the opener will be good and that the Minnesota River will be a good spot to fish in time.

“I think it’s going to be an amazing opener,” Weigel said. “We get this river back down and I think there’s going to be a lot of walleyes in there.

“You can get a lot of walleyes in [Lake Hanska], they’re smaller, but the crappies have been doing really well. This river here is an amazing piece of water, there’s so much fish in there, so many different species.”

Weigel said he’s been selling a lot of leeches ahead of the opener.

“This opener, everybody is screaming for leeches,” Weigel said. “I got in leeches [Tuesday] and should have more coming in. Everybody’s catfishing already, too, but now that the water’s up, with the catfishing, they use the bullheads and they use the chubs.”

Rieger said he’s been told Lake Sleepy Eye hasn’t seen many sunfish being caught so far, but he said the the lake has always been more of a good spot for northern and bass.

With the river being high and the current moving fast at the moment, however, it could take a few weeks before it’ll be prime for fishing.

“I think they’ll get some walleyes off of Hanska, I think there will be a bunch of guys going out with their boat out there, but the river’s pretty high right now,” Rieger said. “It actually came up some more it looked like and it’s pretty muddy and dirty right now, so probably everybody will wait a little while, maybe a couple weeks it’ll go down where they can start hitting the creeks and everything.”

Weigel said currently

After the weekend fishing opener, Broadway Bait will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, and 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sundays, the store will be open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Weigel said he’s trying to keep Broadway Bait open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. ahead of the opener.

“A lot of people will call us at home and we’ll just run over and get them bait anyway,” he said.

Rieger said R&R Bait and Tackle is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every night, but Saturday hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. This Friday night, Rieger said he plans to stay open later.

“Friday night, we’ll be open late, probably until 10 o’clock, so everybody can get their bait if they want to go after midnight,” Rieger said.

Other top spots in Southern Minnesota to fish based on netting surveys include Traverse Lake (Traverse County), Wakanda Lake (Kandiyohi County), Kansas Lake (Watonwan County), Lake Benton (Lincoln County), Round Lake (Jackson County) and Flaherty Lake (Jackson County).

The 2024 Governor’s Fishing Opener will be held this year from May 9-11 in and around Lake City.

The statewide Smallmouth and Largemouth bass opener, except for in Northeastern Minnesota, is on May 25.

The MNDNR reminds anglers to never release bait, which is illegal because it threatens Minnesota’s fisheries. Bait and bait water can harbor fish diseases and invasive species.

For more information, visit www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/index.html.