"The One That Didn't Get Away"

Copyright Star Tribune Newspaper of the Twin Cities Dec 21, 1986
Let Donnie Shipman tell you what this creature resembled as it cruised beneath the hole of his fishhouse on Phelps Bay of Lake Minnetonka:
"It was huge. It looked like an eight-foot log."
Or it might have been a two-man submarine. But it wasn't. It was a giant fish.
So Donnie threw his spear into the mucky water, he said, convinced that he was stalking the largest northern pike he had ever seen in Minnetonka.
And he brought the fish in, all four feet of it. When they put it on the scales at Bob Conkey's Bait Shop in Mound, the arrow stopped between 28 and 29 pounds.
Bob Conkey himself witnessed the creature. "It was big, all right," he said, "and it was a muskie."
You cannot legally spear muskies in Lake Minnetonka. Northerns you can.
Which puts us in the middle of a frosty December squall on Lake Minnetonka involving Donnie Shipman, the Department of Natural Resources, spear fishermen, line fishermen, Muskies, Inc., and anybody else who wants to join the hostilities.
All of these people can be located.
The muskie can't.
"I've got it frozen in some towels 25 miles from here to keep it out of harm's way," Donnie Shipman said. "No, I'd rather not say where. To tell you the truth, I can't honestly swear whether it's a muskie or a northern. I do know what it weighs. And I know there is a law that is almost impossible to comply with. Look, I admire the DNR and the work it does. But in the kind of water you have in Minnetonka, you can't tell the difference between a northern and a muskie. Even the wardens tell you that. If it's a muskie, I certainly didn't take it intentionally. But what a fish. It's so big it belongs to everyone on Minnetonka. I don't know anything close to it that's been taken out of Minnetonka. It ought to be mounted and shown. I don't care where. It's the big monster that got away from everybody. It's more than that."
How could it possibly be more?
"It's a Van Gogh of fishing."
His voice ebbed an octave. I wanted to remove my hat. But the meaning was clear. This fish is so big you have to back up to give yourself a decent chance to be amazed. But what has evolved now is a three-cornered clash between the fisherman's pride, the law and what Donnie Shipman believes is the public's right to view something historic. Muskies of that size are not unusual in Minnesota, but he believes it might be the biggest fish taken from Minnetonka. That is impossible to prove. A few others might have taken large Minnetonka muskies in the past couple of years without an uproar. Donnie, on the other hand, is a public property. He runs Donnie's Cafe on the lake in Mound and has gregarious impulses about sharing the glory. He has told the epic of the fish to many people, he said, because he doesn't believe he has anything to hide.
The fish, nonetheless, is being withheld from all interested sleuths, including those from the DNR. One reason may be the potential penalty for spearing muskies in Minnetonka, inadvertently or otherwise. The fine can go up to $1,000, although a sock that severe isn't likely. Shipman believes the law ought to be changed, insists that his intentions were innocent and he should not be fined. He is, however, willing to pay voluntarily. "What I'd like is this: I'd like to give the fish to the DNR so they can research its age and register its size. But I'd like it back to mount. I'd be willing to give a donation up to $500 to any cause the DNR wants to name. I'd be happy to turn over the fish so they can research its age and register its size. I just don't want to be considered a violator."
In other words, Donnie wants the ice fisherman's version of immunity, which the DNR says it is powerless to give.
But it is also powerless to act at the moment because Donnie isn't surrendering the fish. Muskie purists, like those in Muskies, Inc., which stocked the lake with the dreadnought fish 10 years ago under state approval, aren't likely to sympathize with Shipman's predicament.
"It's true you can have a hard time distinguishing between a northern and muskie under some conditions," said Frank Schneider of Muskies, Inc. "But it's something every spear fisherman should think about in that lake. Almost every time one of them hits a muskie, you hear the same excuse. The simple fact is it's illegal to spear muskies in that lake and the DNR has no choice but to enforce the law."
It's a fact, said John Vadness, an area enforcement supervisor for the DNR. "If he says he made an honest mistake, I believe him. But the law is there to protect the muskie and I don't see how we can ignore it. I don't think he has to worry about a huge fine. A judge certainly would take the circumstances into account. Evidently a number of people have seen the fish. We got a few complaints and investigated. We certainly want to resolve this quickly. I don't know whether it's a work of art, and I don't think anybody is going to order the fisherman to turn over the fish, but we would very much like to see that fish."
At the last accounting, however, the Van Gogh was on ice.

Indexing (document details)
People: Shipman, Donnie, Conkey, Bob, Van Gogh, Vincent (1853-90)
Companies: DNR, Muskies Inc
Author(s): Jim Klobuchar, Staff Writer
Column Name: Jim Klobuchar
Section: NEWS
Publication title: Minneapolis Star and Tribune. Minneapolis, Minn.: Dec 21, 1986. pg. 01.B
Source type: Newspaper
ISSN: 07445458
ProQuest document ID: 54600609
Text Word Count 925
Document URL: http://proxy.elm4you.org/login?url=h...=309&VName=PQD