The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is seeking public comment on its winter trout season in lakes.
The department is encouraging anglers to take a simple survey because it wants to clean up some of the verbiage about the start and end dates of Minnesota’s winter trout seasons, and it would like to hear what anglers have to say, according to Beth Holbrook, research scientist with the DNR’s Fish and Wildlife Division.
“This survey is only for the winter trout season in lakes. There are separate seasons for streams,” she told the Grand Forks Herald.
However, stream trout species — among them, rainbow trout, brook trout and brown trout — are also found in some Minnesota lakes.
“This [survey] includes both our lake trout lakes and our stream trout lakes,” excluding Lake Superior, Holbrook said.
As an example of changes the department is seeking, there now exists two different end dates for trout fishing, and the DNR wants to make a universal end date of March 31. Revisions also intend to unify dates in the Boundary Waters. Currently, there’s one opening date for lakes inside the Boundary Waters and another date for those outside of the Boundary Waters.
“There are currently a handful of lakes with different dates,” Holbrook said. “This gives us the opportunity to get the language all cleaned up.”
Although the majority of the state’s trout lakes are in the northeast region, she said several waters that have trout are also scattered in the northwest and north-central areas. In total, Minnesota has 291 trout lakes across the state. A listing of lakes can be found on the department’s online trout map at
dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/trout/map.html
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As for anglers, Holbrook said the number of people who purchase trout stamps is about 125,000 annually and includes people who fish for trout in lakes, streams and in the Minnesota waters of Lake Superior.
The survey — which includes five questions — is purposefully simple and won’t take but a brief time to complete. For those who prefer, individuals may also request a paper copy be mailed to them by contacting calling 218-203-4312 or writing to
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At the time she spoke with the Herald, Holbrook said she had not received any emails from anglers about the proposed changes. She is hoping they are utilizing the online questionnaire, noting a couple minutes of anglers’ time will go a long way to help the DNR better plan its winter trout seasons.
“We kept it short because we want to get responses,” she said. “Even if they’re just standing in line at the store, they can click through the survey.”
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Andrew Weeks is an award-winning journalist who has reported for newspapers and magazines. Prior to joining the Grand Forks Herald as its outdoors editor, Weeks was editor for several years of Prairie Business, a publication of the Grand Forks Herald and Forum Communications Co. Before that role, he was outdoors editor for a daily newspaper in Idaho.