US EditionDokken: Lake of the Woods and Rainy River Deliver Walleyes – some Too Big to Keep – on ‘the Opener’
- On May 10, 2025, fishing guide Travis DeWitt led a six-person group on Lake of the Woods and Rainy River for Minnesota's fishing season opener.
- The opener followed warm, windy weather that cleared ice chunks and coincided with a DNR fall assessment showing above-average walleye populations.
- DeWitt's group caught multiple walleyes, including a 27.5-inch fish by Joe Banish, and reported favorable weather with a southeast wind causing a small walleye chop on the water.
- In his weekly update, DNR officer Paul Kennedy noted that if anglers struggled to catch walleyes on the bright and pleasant opening Saturday of Minnesota’s 2025 fishing season, the weather was not to blame.
- The successful opener suggests healthy walleye numbers on Lake of the Woods and Rainy River, supporting DeWitt’s decision to make guiding his full-time occupation for about 125 days.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Echo Press
Dokken: Lake of the Woods and Rainy River deliver walleyes – some too big to keep – on ‘the opener’
BAUDETTE, Minn. – If the walleyes didn’t cooperate on this sunny Saturday morning, the opening day of Minnesota’s 2025 fishing season, it certainly wouldn’t be because of the weather. Morning temps in the border country were in the 60s, with a southeast wind less than 10 mph – just strong enough to put a “walleye chop” on the water. In short, Mother Nature had served up a dandy. And while the forecast called for winds strong enough to blow squi…
Gov. Tim Walz helps dump 300,000 walleye fry in Big Trout Lake
CROSSLAKE — As part of the Governor's Fishing Opener event on the Whitefish Chain, Gov. Tim Walz and Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Sarah Strommen accompanied John Kempe, assistant area supervisor with the Brainerd DNR, in a boat to stock Big Trout Lake with 300,000 walleye fry that were each about the size of a mosquito on Friday, May 9. "It was pretty exciting," Walz said of going a few hundred feet offshore from Manhattan Beach …
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