Drew Geving, president of Native Fish for Tomorrow, hefts a prized redhorse sucker before releasing it back into the river. (Photo courtesy of Drew Geving)
Tyler Winter was a self-described know-it-all as a kid growing up in the river bottoms of southern Minnesota. He’d often fish for carp in drainage ditches around his home, but one day he caught a mooneye, a license-plate-sized, fork-tailed fish with large eyes and fine teeth on its tongue. The mooneye is native to most rivers in the Upper Midwest, but it was brand new to know-it-all Winter.
“When that bright silver fish jumped from the muddy ditch, it ignited a curiosity in Minnesota’s native fish,” says Winter. “It was living proof that there were mysteries left even in the most mundane water.”
Winter built on that formative experience to...