Tori McCormick

Dean Paron’s 10-year-plus run as the Minnesota DNR’s Finland area fisheries supervisor officially came to an end recently – a “dream job” that the 53-year-old from Two Harbors thought he’d never want to leave. “It was a hard decision, to be honest,” he said. “But this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

In his new position, Paron said, he will “direct and coordinate” the state’s stream and river habitat projects – no small task in the nation’s 12th-largest state (nearly 87,000 square miles) that has more than 6,564 natural rivers and streams running nearly 70,000 miles.

For trout anglers in southeastern Minnesota, it’s already the dog days of summer.
Most trout streams are low and clear, many are overrun with in-stream vegetation, and the timing of hatches has been sporadic, at best. Given the conditions, the trout are spooky and fishing is difficult, DNR officials, fly-fishing guides, and anglers say. Officials say if conditions persist, trout spawning also could be affected.