District 3: (includes this area)

Last updated: 2023-05-15

CO Daniel Baumbarger (Glenwood) reports enforcement efforts for the week were concentrated on checking fishermen, turkey hunters and ATV operators. Additional time was spent working AIS and boating safety. Fishermen are reminded that water from lakes can’t be transported in bait buckets or live-wells.

CO Andrew Goodman (Fergus Falls) focused on angling, turkey hunting and ATV enforcement throughout the week. Fishing opener presented its typical challenges for folks as any other year. Hit-or-miss weather, fish bite and serviceable equipment didn’t deter many from making some memories partaking in the tradition. Most anglers looked to panfish after the opening hours past and found some success. ATVs have claimed too many lives already this year, riders should expect focused enforcement efforts this season in attempts to curb an unfortunate trend. 

CO Ryan Brown (Elbow Lake) reports seeing a lot of anglers out for the fishing opener. Due to the weather, anglers showed mild fishing success the first day. Some enforcement action this week included, taking bass out of season, fishing with an extra line and no life jackets onboard watercraft. 

CO Shane Osborne (Evansville) checked fishermen, boaters and ATV’s. Life jacket and boat registration were the violations that were most prominent for the fishing opener. Complaints of people backing into an access and then preparing their boat to launch were received. Osborne explained that it is not against the law to do that but proper boat launching etiquette requires people to prepare their boat ahead of time out of the way rather than congesting the access.

CO Mitch Lawler (Alexandria) reports a busy weekend fishing opener around Alex, despite the wind and Saturday rain. Lots of good contacts were made with anglers around the area, some with fish and some without. It was great checking some young anglers on Sunday as the weather improved. A few anglers were issued citations for not buying their fishing license prior to wetting their line. A landowner was cited for burning several piles of brush without a permit during the current burning restrictions. Time was also spent this week at Camp Ripley instructing the new cadets at the academy.

CO Felicia Znajda (Osakis) has begun receiving reports of anglers trespassing on private property to get to bodies of water to fish. CO Znajda has continued to see many dumped fish, along with various angling violations including, northern pike measuring within the slot being kept, angling without a license and fish taken outside of season. The rain and wind kept the anglers back on opening day, but made up for it the following day. Seeing lots of fish in the buckets. 

CO Hanna Wood (Wheaton) spent the opener weekend working angling enforcement in Grant and Stevens Counties. During the week she spent some time at Camp Ripley for the Deputy Boating School and worked some ATV enforcement. CO Wood would like to remind people that most of the inflatable PFDs only count WHEN WORN and if people don’t want to wear them, then they need to have enough of the regular life jackets to cover everyone in the boat.