Interesting story from today’s St Paul Pioneer Press.
Posted on Wed, Nov. 02, 2005
Something’s fishy
Wisconsin’s Fishing Hall of Fame must decide whether Louis Spray was the world’s best muskie angler or the fishing world’s biggest liar.
BY CHRIS NISKANEN
Outdoors Editor
HAYWARD, Wis.
This much is known for sure about Louis Spray: He was a Hayward fishing legend, he knew how to make friends and enemies, and he was a fabulous carouser.
But what the fishing world can’t decide is whether Spray was the greatest muskie fisherman to walk the planet. Or history’s greatest fishing liar.
Emmett Brown and the institution he directs, the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, have been thrown onto the hot seat to make that determination.
“We take our records program very, very seriously,” said Brown, who stood Monday in front of a display case at the hall containing a replica of Spray’s record muskie, caught Oct. 20, 1949, near Hayward and known as “Chin Whiskered Charlie.” “We’re only in the hot seat if we don’t do our job properly.”
Spray, debilitated by arthritis, committed suicide in 1984, and the famous muskies the 84-year-old caught — three world records in all, including his last, a 69-pound, 11-ouncer — were destroyed in a fire in 1959. So the fishing world is left to argue over the veracity of historic photos, documents and the written word of witnesses who may or may not have told the truth about the famous angler, who also gained renown as a logger, Prohibition-era bootlegger, and tavern owner in Hayward and Rice Lake.
But in an effort straight from the “CSI” television show, an Illinois-based group of muskie anglers has spent the past 18 months examining historic photographs of Spray’s fish and the sworn affidavits of those who witnessed his catches, especially the current world record. They hired a Canadian firm to digitize photos of Spray and his fish and compare his known height with the fish’s reported size, a whopping 63½ inches, and had an expert taxidermist examine pictures of the mounted fish.
The conclusion of the World Record Muskie Alliance, announced on the 56th anniversary of Spray’s trophy catch?
“We are calling Louis Spray a liar, unequivocally,” said Rich Delaney, an Oak Park, Ill., high school teacher, muskie angler and president of the WRMA, which has some of today’s most famous muskie anglers as members.
Delaney said the digital pictures show Spray’s world record was likely closer to 53.6 inches long, give or take 1½ inches, which could make the fish as much as 20 pounds lighter and far from a world record. The WRMA’s conclusion is that Spray lied about the fish’s weight and length, persuaded a taxidermist to augment the fish to make it longer and later earned thousands of dollars in cash and free products from companies that wanted their products associated with the world muskie record.
“It should be that the brass ring of our sport be untarnished,” said Delaney, adding that his group has asked the Hall of Fame to disregard three record muskies Spray caught during a 10-year-period starting in 1939.
Delaney can’t say how Spray might have perpetrated the hoax, except to speculate that the fish may have been loaded with weights or ice during weighing and that the required paperwork at the time didn’t meet today’s standards. When it came to signed affidavits, “You say to your friends, ‘Hey, do me a favor,’ ” Delaney said. “If you were willing to lie, it wasn’t hard (to get world records.)”
John Dettloff, president of the Hall of Fame’s board of trustees, is one of Spray’s supporters. He said Spray’s record fish has always been questioned by doubters since the day it was caught, a fact he attributed to other anglers’ jealousy and “conspiracy” theorists.
In 1992, Dettloff undertook his own photo analysis of the record that supplanted Spray’s fish in the 1950s, a fish caught by Art Lawton that beat Spray’s by mere ounces. Lawton’s fish was recognized as the world record until Dettloff proved that Lawton, a New Yorker who caught his fish in the St. Lawrence River in 1957, exaggerated the fish’s size. Lawton’s fish was thrown out of the Hall of Fame, and Spray’s became the record. Dettloff has subsequently written a book about Spray’s life called “Three Record Muskies in His Day: The Life and Times of Louis Spray.”
Dettloff, who will help determine whether Spray’s fish will be disqualified, declined to comment specifically on the WRMA report this week, saying he wouldn’t address it until the Hall of Fame makes its decision.
But he adamantly defended Spray’s record fish, saying his muskies are documented and historically factual. And standing on the dock of his Indian Trail Resort near Hayward, Dettloff pointed to the spot on the Chippewa Flowage less than a half-mile away where Spray caught the 69-pound, 11-ounce muskie and Spray’s friend dispatched it with two shots to the head with a .22-caliber pistol, a legal practice in its day.
Not everyone in Hayward agrees Spray’s fish is legitimate.
“I’ve never had any doubt in the my mind (that the fish is a fraud),” said Pete Maina, a professional muskie angler who lives in Hayward and is a member of the WRMA. He is also skeptical that the Hall of Fame can give any criticism of the Spray fish a fair shake. “I assume John Dettloff is going to fight it. It’s a promotional thing for him because he has a business on the Flowage. He’s doing the same thing Spray did.”
Dettloff disputed that his support for Spray benefits his business. “I have all the customers I need right now,” he said. “They come because we have good fishing.”
If the Spray world record is thrown out, the next in line is a 67½-pounder caught in July 1949 by Minneapolis outdoors writer Cal Johnson out of nearby Lac Courte Oreilles. That fish is on display at the Moccasin Bar in downtown Hayward.
Brown said it could be months before the Hall of Fame makes its decision, but the institution’s director said the decision will be made objectively and based on facts.
“John (Dettloff) is part of the board, so he will obviously be giving his input. But we will give this protest all due consideration.”
Spray, however, might be having the last laugh. In the display case at the hall, a photo of one of his largest muskies shows the fish ensconced in a glass case. Above the case is written: “The Lord was with me when I caught this fish, so for more information, contact him.”
Online: The Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame’s Web site is http://www.freshwater-fishing.org.
By the way, John23, you just broke my hart man! 
Going to have to find a new Guru! 
) prevaricator holds a false record that prevents a true record fish from being registered, wouldn’t that be a shame? What if the MN 
