Fish are speared in fresh and seawaters all over the globe, but for all practical purposes,
the use of fish effigies to attract game into a fisherman's range is limited to North America.
Although there may have been decoy use among ice fishermen in Northeast Asia
in the remote past, the earliest examples are Eskimo with some examples believed
to be more that a thousand years old.

Bering Straits Fish Decoy
Carved, drilled and incised Walrus ivory with inset stone eyes and traces of white pigment.
Length 3", Circa 1000AD

The ancient migration patterns of earliest North Americans suggest a southern, perhaps Great Lakes-area of origin for various details that have been borrowed and adapted from elsewhere to the North. Tribal people frequently borrowed ideas from other places and groups they contacted and may even produce innovations which are borrowed back by the very groups where the original idea originated.

Native American Fish Decoy / New York State
Carved, charred wood with attached metal fins, brass tack eyes and traces of original paint.
Length 4", Circa 1850-1890

Harry Seymour Green Sunfish Decoy / New York State
Painted wood with attached metal fins, leather tail and brass tack eyes.
Length 6.75"Circa 1890

The finely executed fish decoys we see today are often painted in a style resonant of Northern European folk techniques. Contemporary carver-fishermen utilize these stylistic variations that were learned from descendants of the settlers they originally taught to fish with decoys.

Oscar Peterson Rainbow Trout Decoy
Painted wood with attached metal fins and nailhead eyes.
Length 12" Circa 1930

"The Commandant and all the rest lived in one small house subsisting only by hunting and fishing. The woods afforded us some hares and partridges and we took large trout with the spear. In order to spear the trout under the ice, holes being first cut of two yards in circumference, cabins of about two feet in height built over them of small branches of trees and these further covered with skins so as to wholly exclude the light. The design and result of this contrivance is to render it practicable to discern objects in the water at a very considerable depth, for the reflection of the light from the water gives… (the ice) an opaque appearance and hides all objects from the eye at a small distance beneath its surface.

A spearhead of iron is fastened on a pole of about ten feet in length. This instrument is lowered into the water and the fisherman, lying upon his belly with his head under the cabin. He then lets down a figure of a fish carved in wood and filled with lead. Round the middle of the fish-effigy is tied a small packthread; when at the depth of ten fathoms, where it is intended to be employed, it is made, by drawing the string and by the simultaneous pressure of the water, to move forward after the manner of a real fish.

Trout and other large fish, deceived by its resemblance, spring forward to seize it: but by a dexterous jerking of the string, it is instantly taken from their reach. The decoy is now drawn near to the surface and the fish takes some time to renew the attack, during which time, the spear is raised and held conveniently for striking. On the return of the fish, the spear is plunged into its back and, the spear being barbed, is drawn out of the water."

With the exception of the language, this could be a description of Ice fishing Indian style, circa 2012. Although there are variations on the details, with branch enclosure being replaced by Nylon tents, the variations do not obscure the fact that the use of fish decoys represent a venerable aspect of an ancient method of fishing.

Harry Seymour Green Sunfish Decoy / New York State
Painted wood with attached metal fins, leather tail and brass tack eyes.
Length 6.75"Circa 1890

Around the Great Lakes and in upstate New York, a lively ice fishing culture was in place by the second half of the 19th century. The scene was so active and so disturbing to some parties that ice fishing was outlawed for everyone except certain Native Americans on their reservations in 1910.

The beginning of the Great Depression saw the end to this prohibition as economic conditions created a need for new ways of creating income and securing food. Ice spearfishing was resurrected into a major enterprise for both sport and sustenance, with carvers and fish decoy users active on the lakes and rivers of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota & New York.




Yock Meldrum Fish Decoy / Mt. Clemens, Michigan
Charred wood with attached metal fins
Length 5", Circa 1930


The decoys produced during the depression ranged from Native American designs in unpainted native woods to idiosyncratic Americanized forms in woods and other materials which were brightly colored and lavishly decorated.

South Bend Factory Decoy
Carved, painted wood with glass bead eyes.
Length 6", Circa 1930

As the popularity of the sport grew, the demand for ice-fishing decoys far outstripped the supply and many decoys were were manufactured by factories which sprang up to supply the angler's needs. These mass-produced decoys, many of which are spectacularly carved and painted, are now included within the collector's purview.

The finely executed fish decoys collected today are painted in a style resonant of Northern European folk techniques. Contemporary carver-fishermen utilize these stylistic variations that were learned from descendants of the settlers they originally taught to fish with decoys.

Oscar Peterson Rainbow Trout Decoy
Painted wood with attached metal fins and nailhead eyes.
Length 12" Circa 1930

Certain fish decoy makers were accepted as Master Carvers and were acknowledged as the best in the field during their own time. Their reputations brought them recognition as artists whose works were respected and eagerly sought after.

Hans Janner, Sr. Bass Decoy / Mt. Clemens, Michigan
Painted wood with attached metal fins and inset glass eyes.
Length 11"Circa 1930

Augie Janner Decoy /Mt. Clemens, Michigan
Painted wood with attached metal fins and sign reflector eyes.
Length 6.75"Circa 1940

Larry Peltier Perch Decoy / Mt. Clemens, Michigan
Painted wood with attached metal fins and painted eyes.
Length 8", Circa 1931

Yock Meldrum Moon-Eyed Shad Decoy / Mt. Clemens, Michigan
Painted wood with attached metal fins and painted eyes.
Length 12"Circa 1935

Many of these artists were sportsmen whose decoys were for personal use, but their "fish" are so beautiful, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that their creations were utilitarian in purpose. The whimsical little fish were carved to feed their families and their creations helped many a family survive the long Great Lakes winters.