Wisconsin Assembly Representative Joel Kleefisch (pronounced “CLAY-fish) likes to fish. You can see in this photo that he really enjoys the outdoors and is very happy when his hands are full of crappies (pronounced “CROPP-eez"). The photo was posted by fishing guide Chris Terry in 2009. Chris works at “Musky Mike’s Bait and Tackle” in Okauchee, Wisconsin.
That’s nice. I like to fish, too, on occasion.
Representative Kleefisch, who represents Okauchee in the Assembly, mentions in his Assembly bio that he is a member of “Musky Mike’s fishing pro-staff”. I’m not sure what “Musky Mike’s fishing pro-staff” is, but it has to be the same Musky Mike. (A muskie is a type of fish, by the way, short for "muskellunge.")
Representative Kleefisch introduced a bill earlier this year that would remove restrictions on “culling” by bass-fishing tournament participants. Culling is the practice of keeping a fish as part of your daily bag limit with the intention of releasing it later if you catch a larger one to replace it. Culling is not allowed in Wisconsin.
According to Kleefisch, his bill to allow culling during tournaments is a jobs bill. He says there are millions of dollars to be made by Wisconsin communities who want to attract big, national bass tournaments to Wisconsin – dollars currently being reeled in by states that do not prohibit culling.
Says Kleefisch:
“Right now, we are losing millions in revenue to our state’s economy because several large fishing tournaments refuse to hold events in Wisconsin until the state allows culling. Surrounding states which allow culling are getting the tournaments, particularly those bordering the Mississippi. In a D.N.R. study in 2005 an experimental culling tournament was allowed near Chippewa Falls. That one tournament was shown to bring in $2.1 million to the immediate area.”
Wow, that’s a lot of money. No wonder our unemployment rate is so high. It's those damned culling restrictions!
But wait a minute. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wrote a report in 2007 describing the findings of their pilot tournaments held in 2005 and 2006, and here is what they concluded:
• Bass tournaments can boost the host community’s economy, particularly if the contest attracts out-of-state participants and spectators, but the additional economic boost of allowing tournaments that cull was small and it isn’t clear that allowing culling will attract a lot of new tournaments.
• A majority of anglers are opposed to culling for bass tournament participants and that attitude is driven by perceived impacts of culling. If tournament participants do not need to follow live well standards, 85 percent of sport anglers are opposed to culling; that opposition drops to 51 percent if participants are required to have live wells that meet minimum standards.
“The studies confirmed much of what we had seen from other states and what we expected here in Wisconsin,” says Mike Staggs, Department of Natural Resources fisheries management director. “The most significant result is that regardless of the measures tournament organizers have taken to date to keep fish alive, some bass do suffer delayed mortality particularly when water temperatures are high.”
So, back to Okauchee. Even with the culling restrictions in place, Wisconsin businesses, fishing clubs, and other organizations sponsored 215 fishing tournaments in 2010, including a regular Tuesday night bass tournament sponsored by Musky Mike’s Bait and Tackle. Musky Mike’s also sponsored a big, end-of-season “Classic Bass Tournament.”
Did I mention that Mike Kitchen, the founder of Musky Mike’s, died a few years ago? Sadly, he did. His father turned down an offer from 'an attractive county clerk' and her husband, 'a ruggedly handsome process server', and tried running the business himself for a while.
Eventually the father decided to sell the business. The forward-thinking clerk and her husband had assumed they’d eventually get their shot at buying the bait shop, so they had their residential property rezoned in the interim. They bought the business from Mike’s dad, including the name and telephone number, and moved it to their newly rezoned residence/business. They reassured their customers that "Anglers who have participated in previous Tuesday night bass tournaments will be happy to hear the tradition will continue.”
Indeed. It’s a major part of their business model. The tournaments will continue thanks to Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus (yes, that Kathy Nickolaus) and her husband Greg, the owners of Musky Mike’s Bait and Tackle. It’s a given that many tournament fishers do not like bans on culling, so perhaps they’ll soon be able to start culling during the tournaments, thanks to Joel Kleefisch.
So...is Kleefisch's bill really a jobs bill, or is it a favor for his fishing buddies and bait supplier?
Regardless of that answer, Kathy and Greg are real entrepreneurs, aren't they? Not in the classic “free-market”, “no-government” sense, but in the “make connections to get government jobs and official favors” sense. That involves things like breaking the law doing partisan campaign work while working at your government job but being granted immunity; hiding the fact for two days that you forgot to add 14,000 Supreme Court votes while working at your current government job; donating to the Republican County Executive’s birthday fundraiser and other Republican politicians; asking your local government to sell your products for you…
Discussion/action regarding the sale of bait at the boat launch.
Mr. Wiemer explained that he had been contacted by Greg and Kathy Nickolaus, owners of Musky Mike’s in Okauchee. Musky Mike’s offers fishing bait for sale, and Mr. Nickolaus proposed that the Village sell bait at the boat launch on the week ends when an attendant was present. The bait would be sold for eighty cents per container. All unsold containers would be returned to Musky Mike’s for credit. Motion (Shult/Bickler) to authorize the Village Administrator to investigate the sale of bait and other possible items that could be sold at the Village’s boat launch site, Carried Unanimously.
…and, of course, swapping fish stories with Assembly Republicans.
