Fish houses and wheelhouses require license purchase for ice fishing

Beginning this ice fishing season, anglers using a wheelhouse type of ice or dark-house shelter are required to purchase a license to place the shelter on the ice, even when occupying it.

A new definition for portable shelters has been provided in law, which states that a portable shelter is one that collapses, folds or is disassembled for transportation.

“Wheeled fish houses, which formerly were considered portable – and thus excluded from licensing requirements for shelters – will now need to be licensed,” said Al Stevens, fisheries survey and systems consultant with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “In the past, anglers using wheelhouses could use them without shelter licenses as long as they were occupied, including overnight.” 

A shelter meeting the new definition of portable only needs a license when a person leaves it unattended, meaning they are farther than 200 feet from the shelter.

The change pursued by the DNR and enabled by 2017 legislation accompanied hunting and angling fee increases. An annual resident shelter license is $16. A three-year license is $43. Owners of houses to be rented pay $31 annually or $88 for a three-year license.

A valid license tag must be attached to the outside of the fish house in a readily visible location. On border waters, a shelter license is not required on the Minnesota side if the neighboring state doesn’t require a shelter license for its waters.    

To learn more about the fishing and hunting license dollars are spent, visit mndnr.gov/licensedollarsatwork. Shelter or fishing licenses can be purchased at DNR license agents across Minnesota, by phone at 888-665-4236 or online at mndnr.gov/buyalicense.

MnDOT urges caution in work zones as anglers head for fishing opener

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota walleye fishing opener this weekend will bring out anglers from around the state, increasing car, truck and boat trailer traffic on the state’s highways. The Minnesota Department of Transportation urges motorists to plan ahead and use extra care while driving through highway work zones. 

Motorists may encounter bypasses, lane closures and detours resulting from the more than 200 transportation projects that are underway this construction season. MnDOT recommends that motorists be prepared for slower moving traffic, think about alternate routes, and call 5-1-1 or go to www.511mn.org to get information about road construction detours. 

Highway projects that may affect weekend travel May 12-14 include:

Twin Cities

·         Interstate 94 between St. Paul and Woodbury – intermittent lane closures and ramp closures

·         I-94 between Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center – lane closures and slow traffic

·         Eastbound I-94 at Highway 610 Maple Grove – closed 8 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday

·         Highway 169 Golden Valley to Edina – detour

·         I-694 between Arden Hills and Vadnais Heights – two lanes in each direction, eastbound lanes separated by concrete median barrier

Central Minnesota

·         Westbound I-94 in St. Augusta – reduced to single lane until 10 a.m. Friday.

·         Highway 25 Foley – detour

·         Highway 71 closed in Elrosa – detour

·         Highway 238 south of Upsala – detour

Northern Minnesota

·         I-35 Pine County – all northbound lanes open by 1 p.m. Friday, southbound open by 7 p.m. Saturday

·         Highway 53 relocation project in Virginia – single lane in each direction

·         Highway 10 in Detroit Lakes – lane closures

West central Minnesota

·         Highway 4 Cosmos – detour

·         Highway 22 Litchfield – detour

Southern Minnesota

·         I-35 bridge replacements south of Owatonna – single lane in each direction

·         I-90 between Sherburn and Fairmont – lane and speed restrictions

·         Highway 22 Mapleton to Blue Earth CR 15 – detour

·         Highway 52 between Rochester and Rosemount – lane closures

There will be heavier traffic in the St. Cloud area as the annual governor’s fishing opener will occur on the Mississippi River in the area.

MnDOT urges motorists to be attentive, drive with caution, slow down in work zones and never enter a road blocked with barriers or cones.

For a complete list of projects, including construction dates and traffic impacts, visit www.mndot.gov/roadwork/current.html. Motorists may also sign up to receive email updates for major projects at www.mndot.gov/emailupdates.

DNR Confiscated hunting, fishing equipment auction

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will hold an auction of confiscated hunting and fishing equipment on Saturday, April 29, beginning at 9 a.m. The auction items are from people who forfeited their equipment after committing serious game violations. The last auction was in 2014 and there is a large inventory available.

The public auction will be at Hiller Auction Service, 10785 261st Ave., Zimmerman.

Items offered for sale include, but are not limited to: firearms, bows, tree stands, fishing rods and reels, tip-ups, traps, trail camera, spotlights, scopes and spears. There are 387 firearms, 100 bows, 280 other items.

Inspection of items will be available on Friday, April 28, from 1 to 4 p.m., and at 7 a.m. the day of the auction. Once the auction begins, there will be no access to firearms.

All equipment is sold as is, including all defects or faults, known or unknown. Items cannot be returned once they have been purchased. Buyers may bring their own cases and there will be cases available for purchase to transport firearms.

Anyone purchasing a firearm will be required to pass a background check.

Revenue from the auction goes to the Game and Fish Fund, the DNR's most important fund for delivering fish, wildlife and law enforcement programs. It is used, among other things, to manage 5,400 fishing lakes, 1,400 Wildlife Management Areas and support 150-plus field conservation officers.

A list of firearms and bows being offered for sale is available by visiting the auction website at www.hillerauction.com/04292017.html

Justin Knebel Memorial Ice Fishing Tournament Saturday, February 4th

CROOKSTON, Minn. – Win prizes and support scholarships during the 7^th Annual Justin Knebel Memorial Ice Fishing Tournament to be held Saturday, February 4, 2017. The tournament, which supports scholarships at the University of Minnesota Crookston, will be held at Zippel Bay Resort on Lake of the Woods, Williams, Minn. Tickets are available for $20 by contacting Alysa Tulibaski at 701-215-4300. Tickets are also available at Zippel Bay Resort, 6080 39^th St. NW, Williams, Minn., 800-222-2537

On Friday, February 3 prior to the fishing tournament, all alumni in the area are invited to an alumni social at Izzy’s Bar & Grill, 801 State Ave, Warroad, Minn., from 5 to 8:30 p.m. There will be food, door prizes, and a chance to reconnect with your classmates and friends from the Northwest School of Agriculture and the University of Minnesota Crookston.

Registration for Saturday’s fishing tournament, limited to the first 225 tickets, begins at 9 a.m. on the ice at the tournament site with fishing from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Prizes will be awarded to the first person to catch a fish, along with prizes for the largest walleye, northern, sauger, perch and other species caught during the tournament. The registration fee also includes a raffle ticket and road access fee.

All proceeds from the tournament support the Justin Knebel Memorial Scholarship Fund at the U of M Crookston. Following the tournament, there will be a social at the igloo on the ice. The Justin Knebel Memorial Ice Fishing Tournament corporate sponsors are Streiff Sporting Goods and Zippel Bay Resort.

Prizes sponsored by Streiff Sporting Goods, Cabela's, Fishing House Supply.com, and Grayden Outdoors LLC. A number of other businesses in Northwest Minnesota support the tournament through the donations of prizes and monetary support.

For more information on the tournament, visit http://z.umn.edu/1brc.