"We had an early snowmelt, so streams are running clear. Barring heavy rains close to opening day, we should have great conditions for the opener. For fly anglers, there have been reports of insect hatches in southeastern Minnesota during the early catch-and-release season. And trout abundance in southeastern Minnesota streams remains high, with numbers that are twice what they were in the 1980s and 1990s."

Brian Nerbonne, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources stream habitat consultant, in a news release on the stream trout opener April 18. For more information, go online to www.mndnr.gov/fishmn/trout.