In Wisconsin, the official start of the fishing season is the first weekend in May. Every year for the last 54 years, the fishing opener was celebrated with the “Governor's Open” which is a weekend media event to showcase Wisconsin’s valuable fishing industry. Fishing is big business for WI and the economic impact of this industry is huge.
The Governors Open event is by invitation only and is primarily a media event with a variety of outdoor communicators in attendance. The event is produced by the Indianhead Country tourism and is always held in the NW part of the state. I decided that this would be a great event to attend and bring The Woman Angler and Adventurer podcast to cover the festivities. After several phone calls, emails, and general inquiries, I managed to get an invitation to this years event, which was held in Rusk County, WI on the Dairyland Flowage.
Listen in to this podcast, and find out how I managed to not only get an invite but ended up having Governor Tony Evers in MY brand new Crestliner boat, with the help of my co-angler and former Teacher of the Year, Jane McMahon. Not only did we get an invite, AND have the Gov in our boat, Jane managed to take first place in the bass category of the Governors Open Tournament. From our initial arrival to the event when older media men asked us if we knew how to use an open face reel, to winning a portion of the tournament and helping the Governor catch a fish, it is a memory I won’t soon forget. Listen in and be sure to watch the videos, and see how the weekend went down. -Barb Carey
Full show notes at thewomanangler.com/61
