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Fish Fight: Lunker-Finding Tech Debate Rages Ahead of MN Opener
Racket didn't find a spicy Minnesota fishing-opener angle this year, due mostly to our not looking. Kirsti Marohn of MPR News, on the other fin, discovered a doozy ahead of Saturday's holiday for fisherfolks.
Did you know a newish technology called front-facing sonar (FFS) has been gamifying fishing in recent years? The booming tech lets anglers find fish, follow 'em, and even observe how they respond to lures in real-time. Predictably, that's leading to more catches, though the trend is deeply divisive.
Some argue making fishing more like video gaming will broaden the sport's appeal. Others, like Grand Rapids-based fishing guide Jeff Sundin, say FFS ruins the tranquility, conversation, and enjoyment of nature that make it special. (We would add drinking on a boat—any bites serve as incidental enjoyment.) Additionally, Aaron Meyer of the Minnesota Muskie & Pike Alliance says many in his group are "very concerned" the tech could deplete fragile fish populations.
“It's a really polarizing subject,” Sundin tells MPR. “There's people that are really for it, and there's a lot of people that are really against it.”
Sundid doesn't deploy FFS in his business, though he wonders how much longer he can hold out because of customer demand. "It's making fishing more fun... especially with kids,” Brainerd-based guide Tony Roach says.
Last year on Gull Lake, up near Brainerd, around 75% of walleye anglers were using FFS, according to a survey. Ben Nestrud, owner of Ben's Marine Motorsports in Merrifield, reports that installing sonar tech makes up most his business these days. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources isn't considering any regulation around FFS at the moment. Instead, the agency is holding working groups and mailing out surveys to better understand the stakes.
The Walleye Alliance's Adam Mord thinks they're high enough to warrant potential guardrails.
“I think if we don't do a good job as an angling community of understanding how much damage we can do as humans with this technology, then there may potentially have to be some regulations to protect us from damaging the resource,” he says.
And when have humans ever struggled to understand how much damage we're doing to the natural world?
A Delightful Twin Peaks Local Angle
Did you know that actor Michael Horse lives in Two Harbors?
Horse, who appeared as Deputy Hawk in David Lynch's weird, wonderful, kinda disturbing mystery melodrama Twin Peaks, laughs when he tells MPR News's Gretchen Brown he feels like he lives in the titular small town today. And perhaps that's not a coincidence; series co-creator Mark Frost resided in Minnesota for 10 years as a teen and young adult.
Frost's family lived in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Minneapolis, and he interned at the Guthrie Theater as a student at Marshall-University High School. His dad, Warren, taught in the theater department at the University of Minnesota. And although in the show the fictional town of Twin Peaks is located in Washington, "Oddly enough, we first set the series and the very first draft that we did in North Dakota,” Frost tells MPR. “The working title was ‘Northwest Passage.’”
It's a lot of fun to hear Frost and Horse reflect on Twin Peaks, Minnesota, and the connections (tenuous though they may be) between the two, though I did genuinely laugh out loud at this callout post. What can I say? An obsession with finding local angles is a sickness, one with which your friends at Racket are absolutely afflicted. Speaking of...
Therapy ‘Shrooms One Step Closer to Legalization
On Thursday afternoon the Minnesota House passed the Health and Human Services budget bill, but not before tacking on a provision that would make psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms, legal in a therapeutic setting.
No, we’re not heading toward a ‘shroom summer (at best, we might get a stoner one), but if the bill makes its way through the Senate and Gov. Tim Walz signs off on it, then folks with certain conditions (chronic pain, PTSD, severe addiction) will be able to participate in a pilot program managed by the Office of Cannabis Management.
Advocates have been quick to stress that, unlike the sudden legalization of hemp-derived products in 2022, this process has been delicate and deliberate.
"This program is a very conservative, slow entrance into this new area of psychedelic medicine," Rep. Andy Smith (DFL-Rochester) tells Caroline Cummings for WCCO.
"It's a very careful entry into this," says Rep. Max Rymer (R-North Branch).
How’s About a Little Summer Concert Roundup?
The buzzword for outdoor music events this year? More than ever, it’s “local.”
When Live Nation’s Mystic Lake Amphitheater opens up in Shakopee on June 20, there’ll be an all-MN lineup onstage: Motion City Soundtrack, Ber, Rocket Club, and, as headliner, everyone’s favorite local act, To Be Determined. St. Paul native Tommy Brennan, a new Saturday Night Live cast member, will emcee. Sounds a helluva lot more fun than the first touring act to play the amphitheater, Dylan-approved rap-rocker Machine Gun Kelly.
Meanwhile, Taste of Minnesota will be saving its money honoring Minnesota musicians with an all-local lineup on the 4th of July weekend. Friday you can catch Poliça, Dillinger Four, and Bad Bad Hats perform in downtown Minneapolis, while Saturday features Brother Ali, Ant, Dessa, Nur-D, and Gully Boys. Honestly, some pretty solid bookings for a free show.
To see even more lineups, the city tourism board is maintaining a running list of "don't miss" summer concerts here.
