Journal of a Minnesota Angler

A few weeks ago I was at my in-laws to celebrate my brother-in-law’s birthday. To my surprise, my parents-in-law presented me with an early birthday present (it’s not til later this month). It was for a community ed fishing class titled “Fishing in the Twin Cities” that my father-in-law and I could attend. It sounded like a great deal because ever since I started fishing the local lakes with Mark, I’ve been wanting to see what else is around the area when Mark was unavailable. The description was as follows:

How to Fish Twin Cities Lakes

Learn how to select the best lakes in all seasons, the three magic words to consistently put fish in your boat, and how to fish the milfoil for monster bass. You will also learn some good all season shore fishing spots and how to make a slip bobber rig, jig worm, and weedless plastic worm. Take home everything you make plus door prizes, free maps, booklets, and other fun stuff.

From the description, it sounded like a pretty basic class, but I was there mostly to discover new places to fish in the Twin Cities. I wasn’t disappointed.

The instructor was Sybil Smith, also known as the “crazy fishing lady.” She’s been fishing Twin Cities’ lakes since 1980 and wrote two books: the “Twin Cities Fishing Guide : Where the Experts Fish…And How!” (look for the updated 2009 edition) and the “Twin Cities Shore Fishing Guide,” East and West versions. She is also invited to the Governor’s Fishing Opener each year.

She first started by giving us a bunch of literature and talked a little about each piece. The most interesting piece was a booklet about the Fishing in the Neighborhood (FiN) program. You can read FiN’s official statement of its purpose, but essentially, it’s a program where the Minnesota DNR works with cities to build parking lots, piers, and paths at local ponds to encourage fishing. The program also stocks the ponds with game fish.

The brochure lists 60 local ponds in the seven county metro area as part of the FiN program. It provides information about location, species that live in the pond, pond depth, and other amenities available like handicap accessibility, walking paths, and playgrounds.

The FiN pages at the Minnesota DNR web site provide some additional information on each of the ponds as well as other metro lakes that aren’t part of the FiN program. The information is a bit inconsistent between the bodies of water, but is still very useful.

Ms. Smith then showed a slide show that helped her cover tips on where to find fish and told anecdotes about fishing the local lakes. The rest of the time was hands-on demonstrations on how to tie knots, how to make a slip-bobber rig, and discussion about some of the things she carries in her tackle box at all times. Some of the information was basic stuff, but it’s never a bad thing to review Fishing 101.

What I took away most from the class is that there are hundreds of opportunities to fish the Twin Cities metro area. You just have to explore.

I have lived in the Twin Cities almost all of my life and I’ve always traveled up North to fish. Part of that was my parents’ paranoia about pollution within the Metro area. They believed you should travel at least an hour from the city before consuming any of the fish you catch. Because of that, I never considered fishing the local lakes. My neighbor and fishing buddy, Mark, changed that attitude last year.

I also had a preconceived notion that shore fishing is too difficult. I like casting along a lot of shore line, so that presumes mobility. I assumed being landlocked on shore limits the productivity you could experience while in a boat. That’s a preconception I’m trying rid myself of. This class was a first step in doing that. Now I just have to get out there and try out some new fishing holes.

If you’ve done a lot of shore fishing, I’d love to learn any tips you have to make sure I’m successful. What should I look for? What should I fish with? Please leave a comment with any help you can provide.