Maple Grove man crafts fish decoys скачать в хорошем качестве

Maple Grove man crafts fish decoys

At 22 years old, while other young adults are still navigating their careers, Eric Wallace is well on his way to success. "It's for darkhouse spearing which is a growing sport here in Minnesota," he said. Wallace carves wooden fish decoys that he paints to attract fish for spearing. "You cut a big hole in the ice in shallow water, put a dark house over it and then put a decoy down and when the northern pike comes into the decoy you can harvest it with the spear," said Wallace. So how did he discover this love? He was in the right class, at the right time. It was an assignment in high school. "Teacher loved it. I wasn't too happy with how mine turned out, so I went home and did another one and another one and another one," said Wallace. Now more than 500 decoys later, a class project has turned into a profession. "I just enjoyed it that much. I felt like this is meant for me." From business to awards Wallace makes anywhere from $30 to $800 for each decoy. It varies based on the work involved. "Thirty dollars is about two hours, where as $800 was all week so maybe 40 to 50 hours," said Wallace. "I like making the competition decoys because nothing holds me back from detail and putting everything I have into it." Besides making them look like real fish, he needs to make them swim like the real thing, which is an art in itself. His very first one couldn't swim at all. "I go to my lead melter and make it swim, float tank to make sure it's balanced from head to tail and then my bigger stock tank to see how it swims in the water to get it nice and slow." Wallace has always been an avid fisherman, but he especially likes spearing because he thinks its a more ethical way to fish. "You can catch and release with the hook but you don't know if that fish is going to live. So spearing, if you let the fish go without spearing it, if you don't touch it, you don't harm it, it lives." By finding a way to profit from one of his favorite activities, he's putting a twist on the old saying "A bad day of fishing, is better than a good day of work." Wallace has received a whopping 50 awards for his decoys in the past two years. He says the most meaningful award was the Most Improved Carver of the Year, because he's always striving to improve. You can find his decoys on eBay, Etsy, and his website www.wallacedecoys.com. Emily Raguse, reporting http://www.ccxmedia.org   / ccxmedia.org     / ccxsports     / ccxnews   Learn about our mobile app - http://bit.ly/CH12app Channel 12 is on Comcast cable in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis and includes the cities Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.