WHOLE LOT OF FISHING HOLES

There are myriad places to fish in the Twin Cities metro region. The DNR manages about 250 lakes, and there are 62 kids' fishing ponds, stocked with panfish. And, of course, there are the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers.

"The Mississippi River Pool 2 is a trophy walleye fishery almost in the shadow of the Capitol," said Dirk Peterson, DNR regional fisheries manager. "It's catch-and-release."

The Fishing In the Neighborhood (FiN) program stocks fishing ponds for kids in numerous communities. For information on those -- as well as information on family-friendly metro fishing lakes -- see www.startribune.com/a4393.