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I'm stunned and can not believe it. Ralph Brunner went fishing!!!
Not since spring of '97 has Ralph Brunner lifted a pole to cast for fish. He gave it up cold turkey. And the many times I have asked him to fish since - with a refusal each time - had me believing that there would only be old fishing stories told by Ralph Brunner.
Now, some of you younsters may not recognize my friend's name, so let me highlight some of his past fishing accomplishments.
First, and most important, Ralph was involved with entering the first tournaments held by Tim Manion (MWC). And it was a good thump that jarred Ralph's memory to tell a few stories about these early tournament years. "Yep" Ralph said while popping the jig out, "it went thump" and he let a few seconds click by and finished, "Oh yeah, that's how it feels"...
And so the memories flowed.
A yellow suited Manion - golf carting around - yelling directions at anyone and everyone on a blowhorn. To hear it told, it was amazing the guy didn't run someone over. And then there was this fisherman contestant Ralph could only remember as 'Stork'. Life of the Party. Alot of fellow contestants hung around after hours with 'Ol Stork just for the entertainment. Seems like one never knew what he was going to say next.
Like during the MWC Championship that first year.
This Manion director/originator guy had a money problem (wonder how much he paid for that suit?), and it was the MC, Babe Winkelman, who had to tell the championship contestants there wasn't enough money to cover the promised payout.
Stork's response was, I quote Ralph, "wait 'til I get my hands on that little squirt, I'm gonna kill him"! ~(All this while Jim Kalkofen watched silently from the background, that should mean something, huh?)~
And the stories kept coming. But first it was a fat perch this author brought to the boat. You should have seen Ralph's eyes soak up the brilliant orange colors of it.
About then Ralph had another story (I might be wrong on the sequence as he told to many!). It was about the time he went fishing on the Illinois River with Bob Probst. Bob kept saying he had a bite. Ralph chuckled and said "Bob never caught a one of them bites".
And Ralph kept chuckling as he told of an episode out tournament fishing in the Dakotas. In those early years they piled the many anglers in 2 person rooms in an effort to save money. And Bob couldn't even afford that, always showing up at tournaments in an old truck and equally old camper resting in the bed.
This particular gusting wind driven rain tournament, had junior along, and seems junior was pretty raw at driving. He drove Bob's truck under the front entrance awning (of the motel), and proceeded to rip the camper off, hitting the low overhead. "It just slid out and plopped on the gound"! Ralph rolled his eyes describing how all the guys had to pitch in to cover Bob's repairs - as he had no money.
Then Ralph caught the largest fish of this day, a monster 15 pounder!
He proceeded to tell the story about a contest on Mil Lacs in Minnesota where he hooked into a heavy fish. As he got it to the side of the boat, the brown flash showed a big promise. When it turned out to be a sucker, he had his partner net the fish and he put it in the livewell. Made some sly moves too and encouraged everyone watching this to believe he just brought in a big 'eye. Of course he moved out when they moved in!
And as we continued to pound the sheephead, more stories were jarred loose.
"You know, sheephead are good to eat, they do taste like fish", and Ralph looked back and smiled. I told him to keep all he wanted (none ever made it to the well). Ralph recalled a time fishing up in Alexandria Minnesota when Norb Wallock brought this huge cast iron frying pan. And as he drew a large circle with his hands emphasizing the diameter, he described how it had this dividing wall and Norb sending aromas of frying walleye and potatoes, each in their half, to tantalize his competitors. "And he didn't stop frying 'til he fed us all"!
Ralph and I both boated a walleye. He on a jig, and I on a crankbait.
Then another story; There was this guy, Joe Miller, who Ralph labeled as a liar who you knew was lying but he would look at you and tell you a lie with such conviction, people would believe him anyway (there are a few tournament guys like that today!).
But anyway, him and a few guys, Joe Miller and Gary Gray included, had to fly from Bay City Michigan to a tournament in Peirre South Dakota. Joe Miller had this boom box on his shoulder and smarted off to the flight attendant about it being a bomb. Of course, he was carted off to be interrogated, making the plane late for departure.
Somehow Joe managed to waggle his way out of trouble and boarded. But as the plane was late, they missed the scheduled transfer in Minneapolis. Joe responded by blaming the airline and claiming he was going to charge the line a thousand dollars a day because he was a big tournament fisherman and the delay was going to cost him this much.
Joe managed to get the flight attendants to treat everyone extra special, including a night's lodging thrown in.
Somehwere inbetween stories, I got into a bit of a whitebass run - and since Ralph thought those fish tasted good too - I splashed the side of the well with them.
Does anyone remember that Ralph and Harvey Shafer won an Otter Street tournament? Ralph also won an MWC event up in Northern Wisconsin, Cisco Chain I think he said. Another of Ralph's accomplishments was running his 16 foot Mirro 20 miles into rough seas to jigfish the far northeastern shoreline, during a Mercury Marine Tournament. Not sure which, but equally important was his telling of hanging on to that 35 horse and winning a new boat and motor (with Lowrance Electronics) by placing second in the contest.
And more talk, names came up like Mike McClelland, more Gary Gray, Al Lindner, Jim Kalkofen, names from Mercury who was a good sponsor to him. He told me of Tom Hendrickson, a Manitowoc Native who taught him to fish Winnebago 'eyes.
Then in the end of this gorgegous warm sunny day, I caught another perch and our last walleye - both on jigs. He talked a bit more about tournaments, but I cut him short and asked him to save some stories for our next fishing trip.
He agreed.
Edited by Rick Larson 5/27/2004 8:56 PM
(Ralph's First Waleye Since '97.JPG)
(Ralph with Biggest Fish.JPG)
Attachments
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 Ralph's First Waleye Since '97.JPG (142KB - 203 downloads)
Ralph with Biggest Fish.JPG (147KB - 228 downloads)
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Member
Posts: 874
Location: Neenah, WI | Yup, that's Ralph alright. I knew him a little bit.....back in the day. Does he still smoke a pipe upside down? | |
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I've not seen him with that pipe for years. But my nostrils are filled with the aroma of it now that you mention it! | |
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Location: Rhinelander | Good to see Ralph wet a line again. He was Tuffy guy for quite awhile, so I had occasion to speak with him a bit over the years. The old Tim Manion circuit was a hoot! Tuffy was a sponsor of that mess. Mr. Manion was not very good at running a circuit, and the result of his failure to apply the funds needed for the Championship was the formation of the MWC. It was called the Manufacturer's Walleye Circuit back then. Mariner, Berkely, Lowrance, Tuffy, and Lindy Little Joe hooked up to start the formation of the organization.
I remember Stork real well. He was an entertainment center, all wrapped up in a tall, thin frame.
I also remember Probst Jr' s crash and burn at the hotel out in the Dakotas. Matt Jacobsen ( ask Matt sometime about what he used to do with a leech), a well known Winnebago andger who fished with Tony Smith is a carpenter and fixed up the smashed building face with materials the guys chipped in and bought. It was blowing like mad and raining, which created the first 'weather day' for a walleye circuit.
Glad to see Ralph wet a line again! | |
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It's really great to hear these old stories describing the beginning. Yeah, and Ralph talked of his first Tuffy, hung with 90 horse motor, and how it was the best boat of the times.
Well anyway, his stories are special to me as Ralph introduced me to these tournaments back in '95, and I have been friends with him since.
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Member
Posts: 299
Location: Wind lake, Wi | Good story Rick. Thanks for sharing. | |
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Member
Posts: 2567
Location: Manitowoc, WI | Great to see someone as accomplished as Ralph come back to fishing. I recall seing his name often, high on the leaderboard of the early In-Fisherman Walleye In-sider issues. Great story Rick. Welcome back Ralph!! | |
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Oftentimes you'll find us eating breakfast at Bud Wilmans - acrossed from SuperAmerica on Washington - at 7:30am weekdays. If you want jerry, come and join us for a morning. | |
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Member
Posts: 73
Location: appleton,wi | Rick,
Great story about Ralph, I was wondering what hapen to him!! I remember him from Mil Lacs in Minnesota, in 1995-96. I was there with my brother Dave and the two shared information. You and I fished the am/side. I think it was called the NAWA back then.
Hope he keeps fishing, he's a great guy to be around.
later
Dan V. O. | |
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YEP! I was there. Did we meet?
That NAWA Mil Lacs event is seared into my memory. Had some great experiences including catching a big basket of 'eyes fishing with Mark Leadens. Think I finished in 25th and the NAWA people gave ne a plaque for it and 500 Cabela Bucks I spent every so wisely!
And to think I was so nervous for that event I almost called it off!
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Member
Posts: 73
Location: appleton,wi | Yep, we sure did. I think I remember you places 25 too. | |
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Member
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Location: Kaukauna,WI | "The Stork" that you speak of is Tom Groff of Oshkosh. Stork is still fishing local tournaments out of his Champion and is still as goofy as ever. He loves to talk about the good old days too. | |
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Member
Posts: 23
Location: Kaukauna,WI | Some other good local sticks from early MWC days are Mark Wiechman, Steve Fisher, Dick and Scott Stille, Matt Jacobsen aka, Creeper which Steve Worrall mentioned. Creeper was and is as crazy as they get. He was usually the entertainment at the local taverns on tour and leeches, crawlers and minnows were usually involved. I have heard many war stories from these guys and can never get enough. | |
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| It was a lot of fun fishing, some times we forget to sit back and enjoy it. A nice day on the lake with Rick hitting some of the old spots. I did notice the shore line changed with new homes. Thanks to Ricks GPS those secret spots were only a click away. Gone for me are the Two and Three days sitting in the bow of the boat in the wind and rain running the bow mount. My new position is in the back of the boat on NICE days and talking about the OLD DAYS. I hope to see and meet some of the new and some of the older tournament vets. Fishing is still a LOT OF FUN. Thanks for taking me along Rick. | |
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Anything for a nice guy like you, Ralph.:-) | |
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