Pawlenty Lands His Fish
Can He Reel In His veep Nomination??
On location with Doni-Mae B. Rauch, Outdoor Features Writer
- While many are invited to fish in the vicinity, only one is actually chosen to be in the boat with Minnesota's Governor on the first day of open water angling seasons.
The reason is taught early in Fishing 101: lotsa people make too much boat noise and scare away the fish.
PHOTO COURTESY OF EXPLOREMINNESOTA.COM
When walleye guide Dan (Walleyedan's Guide Service) Eigen learned that he had been chosen to fish with Tim Pawlenty and First Lady Mary Pawlenty for the 2008 event on Pelican Lake, "chills went through my body," he said.
"What excitement and what an honor. I have been blessed with good fortune and this . is a high point in my career," he said of the May Saturday at Breezy Point Resort on the shores of Pelican Lake.
Pawlenty and the invited legion of media types were hopeful that the beautiful, crystal-clear 8,200-acre lake would let loose of some walleyes and northern for bragging board rights.
Last year, the opener was held on Leech Lake with outstanding guide Chip Leer as the boat host.
Leer put the Pawlenty husband and wife on some good fish. Then, Pawlenty caught his first fish - a 4-pound northern pike - off of Stony Point in the lake near Walker just aft er 8 a.m., the governor's offi ce said. Pawlenty ended up reeling in two northerns, two walleye and a perch before heading in for a shore lunch. First Lady Mary Pawlenty caught three walleye and two perch.
This year, as they have done the previous years of their tenure, the governor and the lieutenant governor put their fishing egos on the line. And it started last Friday aft ernoon before hundreds of spectators at a Community Picnic in downtown Pequot Lakes.
"With me, the first lady and the lieutenant governor, there's a little competition that starts tomorrow," Pawlenty said. "It goes like this: The first fish caught, the longest fish and the most fish."
Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau with boat host Tom Whitehead edged the Governor in the "friendly" first fish competition. Her 19-inch walleye was boated more than 2 hours before the Governor landed his 17-inch "eye" at 11:05 a.m. Both politicians had found their fish in less than 5 feet of water tempted with lightweight brightly colored jigs tipped with shiners.
By the shore lunchtime, First Lady Mary Pawlenty was still waiting for the bite to turn back on.
It was cold and iffy going on the open water in the morning; afternoon rains dampened the best of intentions for the majority of anglers in the center of the state. But, as one of the fishermen put it, "Other than that, it was perfect."
Temperatures on opening day have ranged from a high of 92 degrees in St. Cloud in 1987 to a brrrrrrrrrrr low of 24 degrees at International Falls in 1996.
And so, as it has been since 1948, Minnesota's Governor's Opener has highlighted a fishing community from one end of the state to the other. Local dignitaries, state and national officials have been spotted in the crowds over the years. This year was no exception: State Representatives Carol McFarlane (R-White Bear Lake) and Steve Drazowski (R-Wabasha), plus fellow Republican U.S. Senator Norm Coleman were spotted in the throngs.
"I love this," Coleman told The Citizen. "I take great pleasure from enjoying our great fisheries."
Coleman was kibitzing with former State Senator Bob Lessard, a stalwart advocate for everything hunting and fishing in Minnesota politics for more than 25 years before retiring in 2002.
Coleman's staff reported that the Senator's morning-caught walleye was some 21-inches.
Minnesota Vikings Jim Kleinsasser and Steve Hutchinson spent the day talking with children about fishing and football; the athletes posed with boat companions and showed off a handsome catch of walleyes from Pelican Lake, the best catch of many boats in the early going.
Although walleye is the prize, fishing sometimes comes second to "getting the story" about the current Governor.
To be honest, many of us media types were hoping to see a battleship pull up to Breezy Point's docks and to watch presumptive Republican Presidential candidate John McCain emerge in resplendent fishing ensemble.
Had that happened, all walleye would have been safe: too much boat noise would have ensued as media scrambled to learn that, possibly, Pawlenty had reeled in the Veep place on the Republican ticket this fall.