This story, “The Legend of Muskie Joe,” appeared within the Could 1983 situation of Outside Life.
Muskie Joe Stamper was a dwelling legend alongside the tree-lined banks of Kentucky’s Kinniconick Creek. For almost 50 years, the devoted angler pursued the muskies that this stream is famed for. He was the primary full-time muskie fisherman anybody might keep in mind in jap Kentucky, and was maybe the oldest energetic muskie fisherman within the nation till he died of a sudden sickness within the late winter of 1981. In his lifetime he most likely caught as many as 300 legal-size muskies and was thought-about the all-time champion muskie angler all through this rugged hill nation. His fame as a muskie fisherman was widespread. Few are the fishermen within the tri-state space of Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia who haven’t heard the legend of Muskie Joe. Many thought he was simply that — a legend. However in reality he was actual — very actual. That is the story of Muskie Joe:
Espresso was a dime a pound, good bacon price 8½¢ and you may purchase a 25-pound sack of flour for 30¢ when Muskie Joe Stamper first caught muskie fever. That was simply after the tum of the century and Joe was only a “barefoot boy”-as he at all times referred to his youthful days-when he obtained in on the final, massive crosstie float down the Kinniconick.
It was on that journey, whereas working as camp prepare dinner, tie jam breaker and basic ginhand, that Joe was to see his first 3ófoot muskie. The nice silver-sided fish swam underneath a tie jam and, when Joe stepped onto the blockage, he spooked the fish which, in tum, got here up by means of the stacked-up ties, hit him throughout the knees and nearly knocked him into the chilly waters of the spring-running stream.
He was born Joe Edward Stamper on March 13, 1887, on the Head of Grassy, Kentucky, on the headwaters of the Laurel Fork of the Kinniconick. His father, the late Taylor Stamper, was a barrel maker and crosstie drifter. The Stamper household was identified for its nice 35-mile tie floats down the Kinniconick. Every spring they routed as many as 150,000 hand-hewn crossties throughout a float that required six weeks and 20 males to finish.
Joe’s recollections of Kinniconick muskies actually went again to when he was only a toddler wading within the clear waters of the Laurel Fork. The “massive pike,” as they have been identified within the late 1800s, ·got here to the clear water and gravel backside of the little stream every spring to spawn. Joe recalled that he and his associates had at all times tried to gig the large fish with pitchforks.
Early muskie fishing strategies alongside the Kinniconick included stout strains tied to swinging limbs, trotlines, pitchforks and rifle bullets. Sometimes, somebody would even trend a large seine to web them or discover just a few sticks of dynamite to convey sufficient fish dwelling to fill a “90-gallon picklin’ barrel,” Joe mentioned.
Joe turned a severe muskie fisherman within the late Thirties when he and his brother Commodore constructed a small cabin on the banks of the Buckeye Spring eddy on the Kinniconick. There they operated a small sawmill for awhile.
“It obtained so we didn’t get a lot sawin’ accomplished,” Joe defined. “Commodore was a household man and owned an enormous farm, and I couldn’t function the mill on my own so I simply began doing just a little fishing to kill a while.”
By this time, Joe had acquired a casting outfit and a few plugs his uncle had given him. One of many plugs was damaged off by an enormous muskie the second time he solid it. His uncle later shot the fish, pondering the plug would nonetheless be in its mouth!
For a number of years Joe lived a laid-back life-style in his small cabin alongside the clear waters of the Kinniconick. He made some boats from massive yellow poplar bushes.
“Why son, I’d fish one eddy within the mornin’, come dwelling and have an enormous dinner of cornbread and beans and exit and fish one other eddy within the evenin’. Typically I’d exit an catch me a three-footer within the evenin’ after an enormous supper of cornbread and beans. I’ll inform you fellers, I ate an terrible lot of cornbread and beans again in these days,” Joe recalled, chuckling.
He lived off the land throughout these early years on the Kinniconick. Meals from the backyard, wild geese off the creek and loads of squirrels, rabbit and grouse from surrounding woodlands saved him match and wholesome. Unusually sufficient, he by no means cared for the style of fish till his later years.
Joe was one of many only a few native residents who picked up a rod and reel for sport. There was little or no cash for sportfishing within the aftermath of the Melancholy years and, when World Warfare II broke out, all of the younger males alongside the Kinniconick went off to struggle. By this time, Joe was 53 years outdated and too outdated to return into the service. He had served honorably throughout World Warfare I, preventing in three main battles, and was later honored as a sharpshooter.
Joe by no means caught a six-footer. The most effective he might ever do was a four-footer that weighed 32 kilos. The fish was saved and eaten on Joe’s birthday.
“I used to be a sniper and a darned good one in addition,” he mentioned with a gleam in his pale, blue eyes. “Had quite a lot of apply huntin’ squirrels alongside Kinniconick.” Throughout World Warfare II, Joe was about the one fisherman to be discovered on the Kinniconick.
Throughout his boat-building years, Joe constructed greater than a dozen wood johnboats that he rented to visiting fishermen for $1 a day. It was a Cincinnati group of sportfishermen who hung the title of”Muskie Joe” on the longtime muskie angler.
He remembered when the primary rod and reel was seen on Kinniconick Creek. Joe was solely about 10 years outdated when his uncle, G. W. Stamper, introduced a casting outfit up from Cincinnati together with an enormous spoon. In keeping with Joe, G. W. instantly went out and hooked a five-footer.
Joe at all times referred to the muskie he noticed, hooked or caught, as being so many “toes” lengthy. He by no means used inches for measurements of the large gamefish. He was at all times speaking in regards to the legendary six-footers that he claimed lived within the deep holes of the Kinniconick.
“Why me and a girl was fishing the Armstrong eddy someday when a six-footer got here as much as solar himself awhile,” Joe reminisced. “I had loads of time to measure the fish — utilizing a seven-foot boat oar for comparability. Yep, no query about it, that fish was six toes.”
Joe by no means caught a six-footer. The most effective he might ever do was a four-footer that weighed 32 kilos. The fish was saved and eaten on Joe’s birthday.
The most effective muskie that Joe remembered being taken from the Kinniconick was caught by Outdated Doc Bertram. He introduced a brand new casting outfit and a few lures up from Cincinnati and caught eight muskies that ranged in measurement from 12 to 19 kilos — all on the identical day.
It’s troublesome to say simply what number of legal-size muskies Muskie Joe caught in his lifetime. “Me and Outdated Charley Rose saved observe of the fish he and I caught whereas we fished collectively, and it was greater than 100!” Joe as soon as mentioned. “Course, you bought to recollect, me and Outdated Charley solely fished collectively for about 15 years.”
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Joe did all of his muskie fishing from the large, 16-foot john boats he made within the late ’30s. He by no means favored aluminum and figured fiberglass boats have been too costly. Apart from, he felt that commercially constructed fishing boats have been too skimpy on house. “You’ve obtained to have some room in a ship to battle an enormous creek muskie,” he at all times suggested.
The muskie man’s sort out field wasn’t something to brag about, both. He by no means owned greater than a dozen lures and didn’t determine he wanted any extra.
“It ain’t the lure, boys. It’s the time that’s most vital whenever you’re muskie fishing,” Joe would say.
Joe claimed a muskie on the prowl would “hit a corncob however wouldn’t be fooled by the most effective piece of {hardware} that ever got here down the pike if it ain’t on the prowl!”
Despite the fact that Joe fished on and off for muskies most of his life, it wasn’t till he moved to the cabin on the banks of Kinniconick that he turned a full-time muskie fisherman. In these early days, one among his favourite methods for fooling muskies was to nail some brush to the facet of his boat.
“I’d reel a plug in and a muskie would come after it,” he mentioned. “When it thought the plug was gettin’ away within the brush on the facet of the boat, it will hit, 9 occasions out of 10.”
Within the greater than 40 years that Joe fished for muskies, he noticed that the fish are like a lazy man: “They’ll keep within the shade at any time when attainable!”
He additionally famous that muskies are deepwater loafers however will take two-thirds of their meals from the floor. “Ain’t no use to throw a bottom-bouncer for a muskie, as a result of it ain’t even lookin’ that method,” he’d say.
Throughout his observations of muskie feeding habits on the Kinniconick, Joe seen that the water tigers would feed as soon as each 9 days and fewer than that throughout the warmth of summer time. He at all times claimed that the most effective time to hook a muskie was throughout April and Could. Fishing throughout September and October was his second alternative with November and December his third alternative.
“I’ve caught a muskie on each vacation of the 12 months and needed to make just a few up of my very own,” Joe would brag.
His favourite time of the 12 months to fish for muskies was throughout October, when there have been numerous leaves on the water. “Minnows conceal within the leaves within the fall and an outdated muskie watches the open-water locations,” he defined. “That’s the place you need to place that plug, boys.”
One in every of his favourite methods for fooling muskies was to nail some brush to the facet of his boat.
Joe additionally seen that muskies feed when the temperature rises from its low at evening to a excessive throughout the day. “When it frosts throughout the evening after which warms as much as about 65° throughout the day, it’s a doggone good time to be muskie fishing,” Joe claimed.
Joe additionally favored to fish for creek muskies earlier than a serious storm entrance moved in. “A creek can get excessive and keep that method for every week or extra when heavy rains come,” he mentioned. “A muskie is aware of that, and can feed as much as the final minute. Boy, it’s time to be tossin’ {hardware}. I’m a-tellin’ ya, these muskies positive favored that water.”
Joe at all times suggested anglers to fish in a shaded space, whether or not the solar is shining or not. “Even at evening, the shaded areas are the place the muskies will lay,” he mentioned.
A nasty time to fish for muskies is anytime throughout July and August, when the air temperature is falling, after a flood, when the stream is falling and on vibrant sunny days.
“I’ll fish proper on so long as I’m ready and I’m going to catch that six-footer sometime,” he mentioned. “I do know the log that he’s laying underneath!”
If Muskie Joe Stamper would have lived 11 days longer, he would have made it to his 94th birthday. “You understand boys, it’s the winter that will get us outdated of us. If I could make it by means of March, I’ll catch that fish this summer time!”
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Sarcastically, true to his observations, Joe by no means made it by means of March. On one of many only a few occasions he had left his Kinniconick cabin, Muskie Joe Stamper died whereas on a go to to Indiana. For 40 years, the spirited muskie fisherman from Kentucky’s famed Kinniconick Creek was a dwelling legend. Joe’s gone now, however the legend he instilled within the hearts of muskie males down by means of the years will stay on for so long as stout-hearted anglers float the twisting stream, looking for the fabled six-footer that Muskie Joe knew was there.
“You understand boys,” he would usually say, “I’ve obtained a sweet-water spring in my entrance yard, , heat cabin, loads of fishing sort out and muskies in my yard.
“What else might a person need in his lifetime!”