WILD BLOG: An American trout-fishing tradition upheld in Mineral
Spring Archive, 2008

Like many other American traditions, the spring trout opener has gradually, inexorably faded into the background over the past two decades. It’s just a sign of the times: changing interests, changing fisheries management and changing priorities have altered the way American families think about the last Saturday in April.

Not, however, if you live in Mineral, Washington.

Never heard of Mineral? Not many outside of western Washington have. This tiny hamlet of 300 lies hard in the shadow of Mount Rainier in rural Lewis County, two hours from the hustle and bustle of Seattle's Pugetropolis.

Mineral's claim to fame is that its post office – all 8 x 8 feet of it – once owned the title of “Smallest Post Office in the World”.

And, oh yes, there’s a lake here, too.

At a modest 277 acres, little Mineral Lake is certainly not the biggest trout fishery in the state. But, by almost any definition, it hosts one of the greatest Opening Days on the West Coast.

Upholding a tradition: The spring trout opener at Mineral Lake is just as important in the town of Mineral as Easter and Thanksgiving, and, frankly, it generates a bigger community-wide buzz. For three days in late April, the small town swells tenfold as upon thousands of trout anglers from western Washington make a pilgrimage down Highway 7 and across State Route 706 to participate in an American tradition that’s just as good today as it was 20 years ago.

“We’ve owned this resort for 19 years, and I’ve been here for every opening day since then,” says Kenna Bergstrom of Mineral Lake Resort. “We just love it. And, I think it’s actually better now than it was then, because it’s more organized. Opening day is a very strong community function. The whole town participates.”

That much becomes obvious as soon as you roll into town on Friday before the opener, when the Mineral Lake Events Center hosts the start of a community-wide swap meet ("the biggest in Lewis County!", the signs say), and the Mineral Arts & Crafts Guild kicks off their annual arts & crafts sale. It becomes even more apparent when the sun goes down on Friday night, and the activity level in downtown Mineral rises to a whole 'nother level.

12:00.00: There’ll be hungry fisherpeople to feed at the Schoolhouse Cafe, because the trout season at Mineral Lake kicks off at precisely 12:00 a.m., Saturday, April 25.

“The tradition of the midnight opener is the same today as it’s always been,” Bergstrom says. “People will be out there, whooping and hollering, you’ll see the lights bobbing and maybe a few fireworks going off. The big loads of people still come here to experience that.”

Bergstrom’s resort opens for business at 5 a.m. on Saturday, and she’ll be greeted by a line of people who have been waiting for the first-come, first-served boat rentals since 4 a.m.  The resort’s fishing dock ($1 for access!) will cycle through several hundred people by noon, and many of those anglers – the majority of whom are families, with happy first-time trout hunters – will leave with limits of trout.

That’s courtesy of the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Mossyrock Hatchery, which will have stuffed Mineral Lake’s waters with several thousand German browns, legal-size rainbows and fast-growing triploids in the last month, to join a population of holdover fish that often hit the 10-pound mark.

“There are so many holdovers there,” Bergstrom says. “People always ask us ‘Doesn’t that lake get fished out?”, but it really doesn’t. We’ll see a few 8- and 9-pounders early, but the really big ones will come in the summer. We’ll see a bunch of 10-pounders then.”

Good, better, best: If you grew up like so many fishermen of the 50s, 60s and 70s generations - when the trout opener was an honest-to-God E-V-E-N-T - you simply can't resist the enthusiastic vibe that envelopes Mineral for those magical three days in April. Bergstrom has been an opening-day guest on Wild Country every year since we first went on the air in 2003, and I've chatted with her the week before ever opener the past 10 seasons.

The enthusiasm in her voice hasn’t changed. As a matter of fact, if anything, she sounds happier and more enthusiastic this year than ever.

It’s infectious. And in a time when a beloved tradition has become – in Bergstrom’s words – “a little mundane”, it’s easy to appreciate the people of Mineral, and their opening-day celebration.

“I think it gets more fun every year,” Bergstrom says. “The older I get and the longer I’ve been here, the more I appreciate that the opening is going to be a great event. After 19 years, the people still come out and have a wonderful time.”

And that, folks, is what it’s all about.