In the Land of 10,000 Lakes, you can call the fishing opener an unofficial holiday in Minnesota. 

As hundreds of thousands of anglers hit the lakes across Minnesota, Twin Cities shops like Blue Ribbon Bait & Tackle in Oakdale prepared for the influx of customers. Those doing some last-minute shopping shared their excitement with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.

“I’m pumped! I have been waiting for this since yesterday,” said 10-year-old Alex Koford. “My mom called us in Tampico she’s like, ‘Alex, come here. You should go see the northern lights are out.’ I’m like, nah, I’m looking for some fish.”

“We’re out there to have fun that’s all it is,” said Chris Pasiuk of St. Paul. 

Blue Ribbon Bait & Tackle owner Josh Stevenson says the industry suffered quite a bit during the mild winter, but he says the warmer-than-usual temperatures led to an early ice out, which might benefit anglers for the fishing opener this weekend. 

“The silver lining, I like to call it. Not much pressure on the lakes all winter since they weren’t safe to fish, so I’m hearing great reports of all kinds of fish in the shallows and lots of pan fish, for instance, that are everywhere,” Stevenson said. 

Stevenson adds that because there wasn’t a lot of snow to block the light and oxygen in the water, a lot of places are flourishing. 

He says the shop is seeing a boom in sales and it’s even up compared to other springs.

“It was really tough for a lot of people to not be able to do what they love so much, which is fishing all winter. Now that they can go, it’s just like they’re just going as much as possible. Maybe instead of once a week, they’re going three to five times a week,” said Stevenson. 

As of Tuesday, the DNR says it sold almost 270,000 fishing licenses. That’s 17,000 more than last year.