As much money as you have — or can borrow — you can spend at the Minneapolis Boat Show, which opened Thursday at the Convention Center downtown and runs through Sunday. Boats costing $200,000 and more are squeezed among all manner of watercraft in all price ranges, from paddle boards to cruisers.
But some of the best takeaways at the show are free, including four publications produced by the Department of Natural Resources. Depending where you fish or boat — and Minnesota registers more boats per capita than any other state — one or more of these spiral-bound publications should go afloat with you:
• Public water access in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area — boat launching and fishing pier guide.
This recently released, updated version is indispensable for metro-area boaters, from Sherburne County in the northwest, to Le Sueur and Goodhue counties in the southwest and southeast, respectively, to Chisago County in the northeast. Maps included are highly detailed, easy to read and include lake and river locations and availability of boat-trailer access sites, carry-in accesses, fishing piers and shore fishing locations.
• Metro area rivers guide — a guide to boating on the Mississippi, St. Croix and Minnesota rivers.
Especially important here is information about and locations of locks and dams, draw bridges, and perhaps most important, lower-unit-wrecking wing dams.
• Mississippi River Guide — a guide to boating on the Mississippi River between Hastings and the Iowa border.
Anglers who fish the Red Wing area of the Mississippi in spring will especially find the detailed maps included here important if they are unfamiliar with the big river.
