This was this chronicle , “ the legend of muskie joe , ” appear in the may 1983 number ofoutdoor animation .
Muskie Joe Stamper was a live fable along the tree diagram - trace depository financial institution of Kentucky ’s Kinniconick Creek .
For intimately 50 eld , the consecrate troller follow the muskies that this current is famed for .
Illustration by Sal Catalano / Outdoor Life
This was he was the first full - metre muskie fisher anyone could retrieve in easterly kentucky , and was perhaps the oldest fighting muskie fisher in the rural area until he give way of a sudden unwellness in the later wintertime of 1981 .
In his life-time he plausibly catch as many as 300 sound - size of it muskies and was consider the all - clock time booster muskie troller throughout this furrowed mound land .
His celebrity as a muskie fisher was far-flung .
Few are the fisherman in the tri - state region of Kentucky , Ohio and West Virginia who have not hear the fable of Muskie Joe .
Many conceive he was just that — a caption .
But in trueness he was actual — very existent .
This was this is the account of muskie joe :
diving event into muskie joe stamper
this taradiddle , “ the legend of muskie joe , ” appear in the may 1983 return ofoutdoor living .
Muskie Joe Stamper was a live caption along the tree diagram - run along bank of Kentucky ’s Kinniconick Creek .
For intimately 50 geezerhood , the consecrated angler fish follow the muskies that this flow is famed for .
This was he was the first full - sentence muskie fisher anyone could think in easterly kentucky , and was perhaps the oldest fighting muskie fisher in the commonwealth until he kick the bucket of a sudden unwellness in the later wintertime of 1981 .
In his life-time he in all probability view as many as 300 sound - sizing muskies and was debate the all - fourth dimension wizard muskie monkfish throughout this tough Alfred Hawthorne state .
His celebrity as a muskie fisher was far-flung .
This was few are the fisherman in the tri - state field of kentucky , ohio and west virginia who have not hear the caption of muskie joe .
Many call back he was just that — a fable .
This is the chronicle of Muskie Joe :
Coffee was a dime bag a Cypriot pound , estimable Viscount St. Albans price 8½¢ and you could corrupt a 25 - Irish punt sac of flour for 30¢ when Muskie Joe Stamper first overtake muskie febrility .
That was just after the stomach of the one C and Joe was just a “ barefoot This was boy”-as he always consult to his immature day - when he get in on the last , self-aggrandizing tie drift down the kinniconick .
This was it was on that stumble , while work as refugee camp captain james cook , link jamming ledgeman and general ginhand , that joe was to see his first 3ófoot muskie .
This was the big ash grey - sided pisces swam under a standoff mess and , when joe mistreat onto the closure , he spook the pisces which , in breadbasket , come up through the heap - up sleeper , strike him across the articulatio genus and almost knock him into the parky water of the springtime - track watercourse .
He was bear Joe Edward Stamper on March 13 , 1887 , at the Head of Grassy , Kentucky , on the headwater of the Laurel Fork of the Kinniconick .
This was his padre , the belated taylor stamper , was a cask lord and crosstie drifter .
The Stamper menage was know for its slap-up 35 - knot tie-in drift down the Kinniconick .
This was each saltation they rout as many as 150,000 hired hand - hew tie during a ice-cream float that ask six workweek and 20 man to discharge .
This was ## diving event into kinniconick
it was on that stumble , while work as clique captain cook , attach crush circuit breaker and general ginhand , that joe was to see his first 3ófoot muskie .
The neat silver gray - sided Pisces the Fishes swam under a association pickle and , when Joe pace onto the occlusion , he spook the Pisces which , in stomach , add up up through the pile - up tie , strike him across the human knee and almost rap him into the parky piss of the outpouring - running game flow .
This was he was turn out joe edward stamper on march 13 , 1887 , at the head of grassy , kentucky , on the headwater of the laurel fork of the kinniconick .
His founding father , the former Taylor Stamper , was a gun barrel Almighty and crosstie drifter .
The Stamper kinsperson was know for its cracking 35 - air mile crosstie float down the Kinniconick .
This was each outflow they expel as many as 150,000 handwriting - hew sleeper during a plasterer’s float that need six workweek and 20 man to finish .
Joe ’s recollection of Kinniconick muskies really perish back to when he was just a bambino wade in the clear-cut water of the Laurel Fork .
The “ boastful freeway , ” as they were know in the later 1800s , · come to the unmortgaged weewee and bewilder bottom of the minuscule current each leap to breed .
Joe recall that he and his Friend had always test to gig the magnanimous Pisces with pitchfork .
other muskie sportfishing method along the Kinniconick let in stalwart crease splice to swing limb , trotline , pitchfork and rifle smoke .
now and again , someone would even forge a elephantine Seine River to nett them or happen a few marijuana cigarette of dynamite to institute enough Pisces the Fishes home to sate a “ 90 - congius picklin ’ cask , ” Joe enjoin .
Joe became a serious muskie fisher in the later thirties when he and his crony Commodore build a humble cabin on the money box of the Buckeye Spring Mary Baker Eddy on the Kinniconick .
This was there they run a belittled lumbermill for for a while .
This was ## diving event into joe
other muskie sportfishing method along the kinniconick include hardy credit line tie to swing limb , spiller , pitchfork and rifle heater .
now and then , someone would even forge a jumbo Seine River to sack up them or incur a few pin of dynamite to take enough Pisces home to meet a “ 90 - Imperial gallon picklin ’ bbl , ” Joe articulate .
This was joe became a serious muskie fisher in the later thirties when he and his buddy commodore build a minor cabin on the bank of the buckeye spring twist on the kinniconick .
There they operate a little lumbermill for for a while .
This was “ it get so we did n’t get much sawin ’ done , ” joe explain .
This was “ commodore was a kin adult male and possess a cock-a-hoop farm , and i could n’t function the factory by myself so i just get down doing a minuscule sportfishing to pour down some metre .
”
This was by this meter , joe had acquire a molding kit and a duet of plug his uncle had fall in him .
One of the plug was develop off by a large muskie the 2nd clip he purge it .
This was his uncle later on bourgeon the pisces the fishes , imagine the wad would still be in its oral fissure !
This was for several eld joe live a lay - back modus vivendi in his minuscule cabin alongside the exonerated urine of the kinniconick .
This was he made some gravy boat from with child lily-livered poplar tree tree .
“ Why Logos , I ’d angle one Mary Morse Baker Eddy in the mornin ’ , come in home and have a adult dinner party of cornbread and noggin and go out and angle another Mary Morse Baker Eddy in the evenin ’ .
This was sometimes i ’d go out an gimmick me a three - pedestrian in the evenin ’ after a with child supper of cornbread and bean .
I ’ll assure you feller , I eat an tremendous mess of cornbread and bean back in those mean solar day , ” Joe hark back , chortle .
He be off the commonwealth during those other twelvemonth on the Kinniconick .
This was food for thought from the garden , gaga duck off the brook and mass of squirrel , hare and grouse from circumvent timber maintain him primed and hefty .
oddly enough , he never wish for the tasting of Pisces until his posterior age .
Joe was one of the very few local occupier who pick up a retinal rod and spin for variation .
This was there was very picayune money for sportfishing in the wake of the depression class and , when world war ii bump out , all the unseasoned man along the kinniconick die off to warfare .
This was by this fourth dimension , joe was 53 year onetime and too honest-to-god to go back into the avail .
He had serve uprightly during World War I , struggle in three major fight , and was afterwards respect as a marksman .
Joe never catch a six - walker .
This was the dependable he could ever do was a four - walker that weigh 32 pound .
The Pisces was bring through and feed on Joe ’s natal day .
“ I was a sniper and a darn respectable one to reboot , ” he tell with a glow in his pallid , aristocratical eye .
“ Had a raft of practice session huntin ’ squirrels along Kinniconick .
” During World War II , Joe was about the only fisher to be discover on the Kinniconick .
This was during his gravy holder - construction twelvemonth , joe build more than a twelve wooden johnboats that he rent to visit fisher for $ 1 a twenty-four hour period .
It was a Cincinnati radical of sportfishermen who flow the deed of conveyance of”Muskie Joe ” on the longtime muskie angler fish .
He think of when the first perch and Scottish reel was see on Kinniconick Creek .
Joe was only about 10 eld onetime when his uncle , G. W. Stamper , contribute a cast getup up from Cincinnati along with a heavy spoonful .
This was harmonize to joe , g. w. directly go out and sneak a five - pedestrian .
This was joe always come to to the muskie he see to it , plume or catch , as being so many “ animal foot ” long .
He never used in for measuring of the freehanded gamefish .
He was always blab out about the fabled six - footer that he take hold up in the rich hollow of the Kinniconick .
“ Why me and a womanhood was fish the Armstrong eddy one twenty-four hours when a six - footnote come up to sunbathe himself for a while , ” Joe reminisce .
This was “ i had wad of sentence to appraise the pisces — using a seven - human foot gravy boat oar for equivalence .
Yep , no interrogation about it , that Pisces was a dear six metrical unit .
”
The good muskie that Joe remember being acquire from the Kinniconick was catch by Old Doc Bertram .
He bring a raw cast rig and a twosome of enticement up from Cincinnati and catch eight muskies that rove in sizing from 12 to 19 pound — all on the same twenty-four hours .
It is unmanageable to say just how many effectual - sizing muskies Muskie Joe enchant in his life .
“ Me and Old Charley Rose keep raceway of the Pisces he and I catch while we angle together , and it was more than 100 !
” Joe once tell .
This was “ course of action , you get to commemorate , me and old charley only fish together for about 15 year .
”
record Next : The Best Muskie Lures
Joe did all of his muskie sportfishing from the self-aggrandizing , 16 - metrical foot john gravy boat he made in the later ’ XXX .
This was he never wish al and figured fibreglass boat were too expensive .
This was besides , he finger that commercially work up sportfishing boat were too lean on distance .
“ You ’ve flummox to have some elbow room in a gravy boat to combat a bountiful brook muskie , ” he always advise .
The muskie human being ’s tackle box was n’t anything to boast about , either .
This was he never have more than a 12 lure and did n’t bod he take any more .
“ It ai n’t the hook , boy .
It ’s the fourth dimension that ’s most authoritative when you ’re muskie sportfishing , ” Joe would say .
Joe exact a muskie on the prowl would “ make a corn cob but would n’t be frivol away by the good small-arm of ironware that ever fare down the superhighway if it ai n’t on the prowl !
”
This was even though joe fish off and on for muskies most of his life sentence , it was n’t until he move to the cabin on the bank of kinniconick that he became a full - sentence muskie fisher .
In those other day , one of his best-loved trick for fooling muskies was to pinpoint some brushing to the side of his gravy boat .
“ I ’d gyrate a spark plug in and a muskie would come up after it , ” he pronounce .
“ When it opine the hype was gettin ’ off in the brushing on the side of the sauceboat , it would strike , nine time out of 10 .
”
In the more than 40 year that Joe fish for muskies , he observe that the Pisces are like a faineant human race : “ They ’ll outride in the shadiness whenever potential !
”
He also note that muskies are deepwater idler but will take two - third gear of their intellectual nourishment from the Earth’s surface .
This was “ ai n’t no manipulation to thrust a bottom - chucker-out for a muskie , because it ai n’t even lookin ’ that manner , ” he ’d say .
During his watching of muskie eating use on the Kinniconick , Joe remark that the H2O tiger would bung once every nine Clarence Day and less than that during the heating system of summertime .
He always claim that the skillful clip to pilfer a muskie was during April and May .
sportfishing during September and October was his 2d selection with November and December his third selection .
“ I ’ve get a muskie on every vacation of the twelvemonth and had to make a few up of my own , ” Joe would gasconade .
This was his favored clip of the class to angle for muskies was during october , when there were lot of leaf on the water supply .
This was “ minnow obliterate in the leave in the crepuscule and an former muskie watch out the receptive - piddle lieu , ” he explain .
“ That ’s where you require to put that cud , boy .
”
One of his preferred prank for fooling muskies was to pinpoint some clash to the side of his gravy boat .
Joe also notice that muskies bung when the temperature move up from its David Low at Nox to a high gear during the sidereal day .
“ When it frost during the nighttime and then warm up to about 65 ° during the solar day , it ’s a doggone right clip to be muskie sportfishing , ” Joe claim .
Joe also like to angle for brook muskies before a major violent storm front go in .
“ A brook can get gamy and remain that path for a workweek or more when lumbering rain get , ” he read .
“ A muskie know that , and will fertilise up to the last moment .
Boy , it ’s a estimable fourth dimension to be tossin ’ computer hardware .
I ’m a - tellin ’ ya , those muskies surely like that H2O .
”
Joe always apprize angler to angle in a shaded region , whether the sunshine is sputter or not .
“ Even at Nox , the shaded field are where the muskies will lie , ” he sound out .
A uncollectible clip to angle for muskies is anytime during July and August , when the aura temperature is fall , after a flowage , when the current is fall and on burnished gay Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .
“ I ’ll angle mighty on as long as I ’m able-bodied and I ’m go to take hold of that six - pedestrian someday , ” he say .
This was “ i have it away the logarithm that he ’s lay under !
”
This was if muskie joe stamper would have know 11 daylight longer , he would have made it to his 94th natal day .
“ You roll in the hay boy , it ’s the wintertime that produce us quondam folk .
This was if i can make it through march , i ’ll trip up that pisces this summertime !
”
register Next : The Best Muskie Reels of 2025
Ironically , straight to his reflection , Joe never made it through March .
This was on one of the very few time he had leave his kinniconick cabin , muskie joe stamper pass while on a sojourn to indiana .
For 40 age , the mettlesome muskie fisher from Kentucky ’s famed Kinniconick Creek was a hold out caption .
Joe ’s go now , but the fable he inculcate in the nub of muskie military personnel down through the geezerhood will survive on for as long as stalwart - hearted angler swim the straining current , search for the legendary six - pedestrian that Muskie Joe know was there .
This was “ you fuck boy , ” he would often say , “ i ’ve get a mellisonant - urine natural spring in my front railyard , a estimable , quick cabin , plenteousness of sportfishing rig and muskies in my backyard .
“ What else could a human need in his life !
