Pawlenty, wife warm to idea of earlier walleye opener

12/29/2007

Pat Doyle
Star Tribune
December 28, 2007



One unlikely benefit of global warming could be the cooling, at long last, of a tension between Minnesotans' devotion to fishing and their devotion to Mom.

On Friday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty tentatively got behind an effort to advance the annual walleye fishing opener, which regularly falls on the same weekend as another spring ritual, Mother's Day.

"I think the positives outweigh the negatives," Pawlenty said of changing the opener's date on his weekly radio show. He was joined by his wife, Mary.

"I would like to see that thing not conflict with Mother's Day," added the First Lady and mother of two.

Pawlenty was reacting to a recent suggestion by state Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, to advance "that thing," the walleye opener, by a week.

Both cited a warming climate as justification for considering an earlier walleye opener.

State law calls for the opener to be held the Saturday two weeks before Memorial Day weekend. Mother's Day falls on the second Sunday of May. If the Legislature moved up the opener, the earliest the change could be effective is 2009, when walleye fishing would start on May 2 instead of May 9.

Motherhood among the walleye is also at issue, however. Chaudhary and Pawlenty said they would need assurances that moving up the date wouldn't adversely affect fish spawning.

"Because of climate change, the spawn is happening one to two weeks earlier, and the spawn is for the most part over by May," Chaudhary said.

An earlier opener could combine with a lower limit for walleyes.