Two St. Cloud fishing guides will try to keep Gov. Mark Dayton on a roll

At three of the past four Minnesota fishing openers, Gov. Mark Dayton has cashed in on chances presented to him by some of the best angling guides in the state.

This year in St. Cloud, two local pros who grew up fishing on the Mississippi River will try to keep that catching streak alive under tricky conditions: swollen river currents, a narrow timeline and unfamiliar boats.

They'll also be challenged to catch walleyes on a stretch of the Mississippi where bass are easier to hook this time of year.

"No pressure," said Josh Hagemeister, the guide selected for the fishing group to be headed by Lt. Gov. Tina Smith. "I've been on 5,000 trips in my life."

Hagemeister is owner of Minnesota Fishing Guide Service and co-owner of Island View Lodge on Rainy Lake. Walleyes are his specialty, but he'll go anywhere in the state to catch anything a customer desires. He lives in the Clearwater area, just south of St. Cloud, and maintains a cabin near Park Rapids.

"Any place, any fish," Hagemeister said. "They call me, and I pick them up on whatever lake they want."

But 90 percent of his guiding work happens on lakes located within an inverted triangle that starts in St. Cloud, runs northeast to the Brainerd-Nisswa area and juts west past Itasca County. His "triangle of death" follows Interstate 94 back to St. Cloud, including water bodies around Detroit Lakes, Alexandria and Otter Tail County.

"We're going to be handcuffed a little bit, but we'll find ways to be successful," Bissett said.

Bass fishing is Bissett's strength. He works full-time for the City of St. Cloud as operations manager at the Municipal Athletic Complex. He moonlights on the Ranger Pro Staff as a bass expert during corporate outings on Lake Minnetonka and other lakes. Bissett also owns Leena Lures, a small company that manufactures at his home in the St. Cloud area.

Normally the two men guide customers from their own boats. On Saturday, however, they'll be the respective captains of two promotional "fishing pontoons" supplied by a sponsor of the event. Dayton will be on Bissett's pontoon boat with House Speaker Kurt Daudt and Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, among others. On Hagemeister's pontoon, the lieutenant governor's fishing party will include state Rep. Ilhan Omar, the nation's first Somali-American legislator,

Bissett and Hagemeister said they'll be closely scouting the two-mile stretch of river that lies downstream from the designated launch point at Wilson Park. They've asked for safety buoys to be placed in front of the Tenth Street Dam at the southernmost point of the fishing area. With the river running high, as it normally does in the spring, fishing in the middle won't be an option, they said.

"We have to find a way to anchor and fish the breaks," Bissett said. "The river is cooking right now, so it will be interesting to say the least."

"It's like a long, skinny lake," Hagemeister said. "We want to catch the world-famous Minnesota walleye … so we'll try to find areas where the fish are relaxing after the spawn."

The governor's best opening day of fishing was in 2015 on Lake Vermilion. He caught 11 walleyes that day and his co-anglers hooked even more. Afterward, they lit up cigars.

"We were hauling in walleyes one after another," Dayton said. "That was terrific."

Promoted in part by Explore Minnesota as the kickoff event for the statewide summer travel season, the Governor's Fishing Opener hails fishing for greatly contributing to the state's $14 billion travel and tourism industry. The Governor's Opener started in 1948, and this year's celebration in St. Cloud will include events over four days.

"The community enthusiasm behind these events is just extraordinary," Dayton said.