By Jenny Van Sickle, Staff Writer
On the eve of the Sucker Moon, a log cabin style multi-purpose building in Lac du Flambeau, Wis. came alive for a second night of carving and painting fish decoys as the aromas of warm bread and wild rice soup filtered through the air.
Voigt Intertribal Task Force representatives Gerry Mann and Lyle Chapman organized the three-day camp with Lac du Flambeau’s special events committee member, Charlene Theobald to encourage beginner, adult carvers to learn crafting skills and to ultimately test their spearfishing decoys under the ice on a nearby lake.
Around the room, tribal members and descendants worked basswood rounds down until they were the size of small bricks. Organizers explained that larger tree limbs/branches can be plenty for decoy carving, rather than taking the whole tree.
“Basswood dries well and it’s sturdy,” said Arthur LaBarge, an instructor and longtime carver from the Oneida Nation. Instructors also noted that birch and pine are good options too because they’re light and can last long time. “Pine is real soft and easy to carve with a knife if you just want to sit down and give it a try,” said Lac du Flambeau President John Johnson, who developed the idea for the adult-focused decoy workshop and fishing camp with Mann and Chapman last winter.
Once carvers had their blocks in hand, they decided which giigoonh template to go with. Tracing a template might not seem too involved but this is a critical point in re-shaping their block into its end purpose.
“The wood retains its character, its being,” said Duane “Dewey” Poupart. He explained that understanding wood’s grain will help carvers learn more about how the decoy will behave, turn, and ‘muskie dance’ in the water.
At Poupart’s table, he explained to first time carver, Robyn Cobb that details such as fin placement and tending to the distance from the metal weight up to the nose are important elements that help decoys balance. Generally, making a decoy follows a specific process. Many carvers burn the scales before inserting the fins, and pour the weight after the fins are in place.
Lac du Flambeau’s Brooks Big John also helped students capture their creativity in front of a vast array of decoys, acrylic paint, and brushes. “Brooks and I have been carving for years. There’s a fair amount to learn in the process, but it’s important that students know their decoys are unique to them. They’ll develop their own carving and painting style,” said Poupart.
Instructor Kevin Decota, acknowledged that there have been many people over the years who have influenced and supported his path in this this art and becoming a small business owner: “Bob Williams, Nick Hockings, Ray Labarge, Dr. Mike, my uncle—people who were willing to spend time teaching. That’s an important part of why I’m here,” he said.
After all the decoys were painted and weighted, students packed up for the night. Poupart advised that it’s good practice, but not necessary, to soak decoys a couple hours, before fishing with them: “The wood will swell up and fill in any gaps around the fins and weights,” he said.
Time for a swim
On the ice by 8:00 A.M., Decota laid out a layer of balsam boughs around a hole cut in the ice, followed by a rubber mat and wool blankets. Above, alder poles are tied together, and more wool blankets are draped around the structure to make a teepee or belly tent.
“This set up is really comfortable,” Decota said. “You just Army crawl right in and use a shorter style of spear,” explained Decota.
Other spearfishers choose to set up a more common ice shack. Then the group commenced unpacking a variety of colorful decoys and prepared to take them for a swim.
“This one is called Mr. Ugly, but has pretty good luck in the water,” said LaBarge, looking over a decoy. As he went through his box of decoys, each wrapped in their own towel, he shared the collection’s nicknames and their own unique battle stories. Each decoy seemed to have a personality and LaBarge delighted in retelling the adventures they’d take together or with family members over the years.
A few feet away, Cobb and Devon DeVerney patiently jigged more than two hours when a muskie finally made a lightning-fast appearance through the window in the ice. This time though, Cobb’s excitement got the best of her and the muskie got away.
During lunch Cobb endured some gentle teasing as the group enjoyed hot food and some laughs. Sean Christianson, III tended a fishing pole where he bagged a few perch.
“When there’s too many perch it can mean the muskie aren’t in the immediate area,” said Chapman, grandson of “Walleye Warrior” Tom Maulson Sr. “Part of what you’re watching for in the water is when the little fish get skittish all of a sudden. It usually means a muskie is lurking closer than you think.”
In the end, Lac du Flambeau organizers were pleased with camp and discussed plans to add more skill-building, such as demonstrating how to fillet a muskie which can be intimidating because of the Y-bones; Another opportunity could be learning the difference in walleye, muskie, and sturgeon spears and how to make each of them. Johnson spoke about the importance of teaching and that it brought happiness to his heart to see Mann and Chapman’s camp be such a success: “We spend a lot of time working with our youth—that’s a responsibility we have to our kids, to our culture but we also need to remember there are parents and relatives who missed some of these teachings and want to learn too.”