MNYFO Wed Night Derby at Lake O’Dowd

Lake O’Dowd, a 302-acre lake in Shakopee, Minnesota, in Scott County approximately 20 miles southwest of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro, provides the setting for the MNYFO (Minnesota Youth Fishing Organization) Wednesday Night Derby from June 3 through August 27, 2026. The event runs weekly from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the lake’s designated tournament launch, with competition limited to youth anglers ages 14 and under. Each week, trophies are awarded for first through third place overall and for the biggest bass caught, giving multiple participants a chance to be recognized independent of cumulative weight. The Reel Livewell mobile app manages the catch submission and live leaderboard system, which allows competitors to document their catches in real time and track their standing against other boats through the evening session.

MNYFO’s tournament format is specifically designed around the mentorship model that defines youth fishing development: adult boat captains provide vessel operation and on-water supervision, while youth anglers maintain full competitive control of their fishing decisions. Registration opens four weeks before each event and closes one week prior to the competition date unless boat capacity has been reached first; confirm current registration procedures and any waiting list policies through the official MNYFO website. Entry fees and prize structures are published through the organization’s event calendar.

Shakopee and the Minnesota River Valley

Shakopee sits on the Minnesota River in a valley that carries one of the most significant concentrations of Native American cultural sites in the upper Midwest. Mounds Park on the Minnesota River’s south bluff, accessible from the Shakopee waterfront, preserves burial mounds of the Mdewakanton Dakota people constructed between approximately 300 and 1300 CE. The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which runs along the Minnesota River from Jordan to Fort Snelling, provides 14,000 acres of river floodplain habitat accessible from multiple trailheads through the Scott County corridor, with bald eagle nesting, wood duck boxes, and migrating waterfowl visible through the summer season on waters adjacent to the evening tournament grounds.

If You’re Going with Kids
Valleyfair Amusement Park at 1 Valleyfair Drive in Shakopee, which has operated on the Minnesota River’s north bank since 1976, provides a full-day amusement alternative for family members who are not fishing the derby. The park’s height-graduated ride portfolio makes it one of the more genuinely age-inclusive commercial parks in the Twin Cities metro, with programming appropriate from toddlers through adults across its 90-acre grounds.

Nearby Accommodations

Shakopee’s US-169 corridor has chain hotel and motel options within a 10-minute drive of Lake O’Dowd. The Prior Lake and Savage corridors immediately east provide additional lodging options in the Scott County lake district. For vacation rental properties near the Minneapolis-Saint Paul southwest suburbs and the Scott County lake country, look on Lake.com.