My uncle Arthur has been “goin’ fishing” for as long as I can remember. It’s as much a pastime for him as catching a baseball game is for some other men.
I’m not even sure if he brings the fish back home anymore or if my aunt Dora would even clean them if he did. Knowing how particular he is, he’d probably clean them himself. He’s also more the type who seeks out familiar fishing spots – not one of those guys who spend big bucks for a trip to catch a fish to mount on his wall.
That’s the type of fish and by extension fisherman (or woman) I came across at auction recently. Hanging on a wall and situated on a table in one room of the auction house were six mounted fish in taxidermy style. One even looked to be framed against a blue-water background. Another was mounted among rocks and driftwood on a tabletop stand.
Mounted animals appear at auction from time to time, and I’ve written about mounted heads of rams and bears, a pachyderm’s foot (made into an ashtray), iguanas (made of resin) and a bat. At another auction house recently, I even walked right up to a fully stuffed black bear – another first for me. I’m sure that hunter had a great story to tell, and tell, and tell.
The mounted fish had apparently been someone’s pride, and I could imagine them hanging prominently on a wall. All appeared clean and well-taken-care of, and not allowed to gather dust because the owner had no use for the memory of the catch anymore. Now, they were here at auction, likely offered up by family members who themselves had no reason to keep them and the fisherman no longer around to care.
Beneath two of the northern pikes were labels touting the day of his exploits:
“Caught at Lac du Fils, July 4, 1976, 25 LBS. 40 IN.”
“Caught at Lac du Fils, September 11, 1975, 19 LBS. 41 IN.”
Handwritten in ink on another smaller one was simply “Flying Fish.”
Lac du Fils appeared to be a major fishing site in Quebec, Canada, in the western part of the province. On a Google satellite map, the lake seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, which, I’m sure, worked well for fishermen. The fishing for northern pike, whitefish, walleye and yellow perch was good whether you’re “spinning, fly fishing or bait casting,” the website hookandbullet.com boasted of the lake.
“If all goes well, the whitefish will be hooked by your large chubs, the perch will be biting your minnows and the walleye will be grabbing your grubs,” according to the site.
I was able to identify several of the mounted fish as northern pike and walleye.
I wasn’t around when the fish were auctioned, but someone on craigslist was selling a northern pike caught at Lac du Fils in 1975 for $175.
