Opening Minnesota's walleye fishing season one week earlier wouldn’t likely impact Borderland's tourism economy or Mother's Day.

But it couldn’t hurt. And it might make for better relations in some families.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently cast his support behind a proposal to push the state's walleye fishing opener a week earlier, in part to reduce conflicts with traditional Mother's Day celebrations, as well as to give a boost to tourism efforts in some parts of the state.

The idea has been proposed by Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, DFL-Fridley, who has said he will introduce a bill this session that would move the opener a week earlier.

Pawlenty said the potential for positive outweighs the negative. However, he rightly said he wanted to be sure of no negative biological impacts before moving forward.

It seems First lady Mary Pawlenty is in tune with northern Minnesota openers. She has fished openers on Rainy Lake, Lake of the Woods and Vermilion Lake. She knows well the potential for cool weather in northern Minnesota on the opener. She wondered on her husband's weekly radio show whether ice would remain on some northern lakes with an opener conducted a week earlier.

However, she, too, said it would be nice to move the opener from the Mother's Day weekend.

Northern Minnesota lakes often remain cooler than other lakes in the state in the spring, and walleye here traditionally spawn and turn on to anglers later. The fish will do what comes naturally regardless of the date of the opener.

We see no reason not to move the opener a week earlier. It could improve tourism in some parts of the state while at the same time make it easier for some families to celebrate Mother's Day. That said, we’ll bet that many moms in Borderland will fish with their families regardless of whether the opener and Mother's Day coincide.