Free licenses for elder Minnesotans

A bill that would give anyone at least age 90 a free fishing license is named for a 91-year-old Isle woman who, despite growing up near Lake Mille Lacs, didn’t start fishing until well into her 80s.

“I never could go fishing when I lived on the farm by Mille Lacs because we had too much work to do,” Irene Long told members of the House Game, Fish and Forestry Division March 23. “Even if you don’t catch one, it’s a joy to be out there.”

Long and a few of her “grandma” friends have been fishing for eight years with Isle Postmaster Gene Miller, who takes the women out in shifts and is paid with Long’s homemade fudge. Long has caught a 42-inch northern pike and a 43-inch muskie. Miller has a policy that the women have to reel the fish to the boat in order to take credit for the catch. Two years ago, she reeled in a 54-inch muskie that wiggled so much it tossed the glasses off her face and into the bottom of the boat.

“I could hardly move my arm for three days,” she said.

Long, who lives on a fixed income of $450 per month, told division members some of the “grandmas” can’t afford a license and have stopped going on the trips. Last year, 937 licenses were sold to people age 90 or older.

“I’m hoping that we’re going to get to where the seniors don’t have to have a license so they can enjoy what’s left of their life to go fishing,” she said.

HF1712, sponsored by Rep. Gail Kulick Jackson (DFL-Milaca), the so-called “Irene Long Act,” was laid over for possible inclusion in the division’s omnibus bill. Its companion, SF1433, sponsored by Sen. Lisa Fobbe (DFL-Zimmerman), awaits action by the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.