Minnesota resort prepares for state's fishing opener.

LAKE PARKE — It’s a sign summer is right around the corner.

After an abnormally warm winter, fishing experts said even with the recent rain, the lake levels will be low.

End of the Road Resort Owner Chery Hedlund said they were blessed with an early ice out this year.

Hedlund said the ice went off Upper Cormorant the first week in April, a month earlier than last year.

So Hedlund has been busy getting the resort’s 10 cabins ready for guests for opening day on May 11.

The resort is booked for the first full week.

“We’re turning around, putting in the docks and cleaning up the cabins and cleaning up the yard, and go to town and buy bait,” said Hedlund.

But it hasn’t been all good news with Mother Nature, as they’re dealing with low lake levels.

“We’ve been blessed with the last couple of weeks of rain. So it brought it up enough to tolerate the people who are going to be able to pull up to the docks, like they normally are used to. But if we don’t get more rain and it starts to drop down, then it’s right back to challenge time,” said Hedlund.

While Upper Cormorant Lake is known for its good fishing, fishing guide Mike Witt says more weeds with warmer water might make fishing harder this season.

“We have a lot of weeds that never died, and the weeds are gonna be strong, you know, coming into the spring, so we might find it might be a little tougher to find the fish,” said Witt, who also owns Quality Bait & Tackle in Detroit Lakes.

But on the bright side, he said he expects there will be more walleye, northerns, bass and pan fish.

“There wasn’t near as much pressure on the fish and the fish caught a big break. And I think we’re going to see lots of fish caught,” Witt said.

For more good news for anglers, Hedlund said the DNR stocks her lake every other year with walleye fingerlings. She said they tend to go to Knights Point.

“And the hotspots kind of change throughout the season,” said Hedlund.

It leaves some adventure for eager anglers.

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