Decoys lure students

In this high school class, students are getting lessons

in art, history and fishing.

BY CHRIS NISKANEN

Pioneer Press (reprinted with permissions

BRAINERD, Minn.

If you love the outdoors and you're a senior at Brainerd High School, teacher Bob Johnson's art classes are the cool place to be.

When the fourth-period bell rang and 24 students — mostly boys — filed into one of Johnson's fish-decoy classes, the intensity of the work was palpable. Brandon DeCent, a senior, concentrated on dabbing the delicate blue spots on a small mahi-mahi, a variety of saltwater fish, while Peter Winch used a wood-burner to etch scales on a foot-long walleye.

It was DeCent's first art class, and the mahi-mahi was his eighth carving, three beyond the class requirement.

"My cousin took (the class) and turned me on to it,'' said DeCent, who is earning an A. "Johnson does a really great job of teaching this class. It's cool."

When Johnson, 43, created his elective art class, "Darkhouse Spearing: A Minnesota Tradition," four years ago, he set out to preserve the dying art of darkhouse spearing and decoy carving.

But he never imagined the art class would become wildly popular at Brainerd High, especially among male students, or that he would discover woodcarving prodigies in the student population.

"When I approached the principal, Steve Razidlo, about it, he said, 'OK, let's try it and see if anybody signs up,' '' said Johnson, a world-class fish-decoy carver himself. "This year, we had 50 students, and I began a second class. It's wonderful."

COLLECTIBLES

Fish-decoy carving and darkhouse spearing have a long tradition in Minnesota, going back to American Indian fishing techniques.

The practice involves using a carved fish decoy to lure a fish, such as northern pike or whitefish, into a hole cut in the ice, then spearing it with a heavy metal spear. Spearers use wood or canvas-covered fish houses that are completely dark inside, increasing the ability to see fish in the water, and jig the fish decoy on the end of the string.

While originally carved for their utilitarian use, the fish decoys have reached collectible status, especially older ones that are considered folk art.

Decoys by Minnesota carvers Leroy Howell, Henry Max or Frank Mizra can fetch prices of $500 to $1,000 or more; a new generation of carvers is producing decoys not only for collectors but also for the decorative market.

But the sport of darkhouse spearing has fallen on hard times in Minnesota. Northern pike are the only game fish that can be legally speared, and it's no longer fashionable to spear them in the era of catch-and-release fishing. Rough fish, such as whitefish and tullibees, also can be speared, but popularity in that sport also has waned.

Resident darkhouse spearing licenses hit an all-time low last year, when only 15,347 were sold, compared with 43,634 sold in 1980.

CLASSWORK

Johnson darkhouse speared as a kid, and his father carved a few decoys, but Johnson never took carving or spearing too seriously until 10 years ago. That's when he entered one of his carved decoys in a competition and won sixth place. This year, he won world-champion honors in two competitions, and the huge trophies sit atop a shelf in his classroom.

When Johnson wrote the curriculum for his high school class decoy carving, he decided to incorporate more than just woodwork.

Students have to interview other carvers or spearers in the community, research each species they carve and keep a journal. They have to create five carvings in 18 weeks, including examples of folk-art fish, a realistic fish and some other aquatic critter, such as a turtle. (Some creative approaches to "aquatic critter" have included decoy-shaped moose and mosquitoes.)

Students learn how to carve and paint their creations and to balance them with embedded lead weights so they swim properly. The swim test is conducted in the high school swimming pool.

"You can imagine 15 or 20 kids standing around the swimming pool, jigging their decoys to see if they swim,'' Johnson said, laughing. "It's a lot of fun, and there is some real critiquing going on."

The highlight of class is a field trip to the darkhouse. The Minnesota Darkhouse Association and other spearers in the community offer their houses so students can see if they can lure a northern pike into spearing range.

Some students, like Dusty Sawvel, are reluctant to see their creations hit the water. "I'm afraid it will get bit by a northern,'' he said of his prized gold-and-green perch.

One of Johnson's star pupils is Winch, whose carvings tend to draw a crowd of students during class. Winch's latest creation is a realistic northern pike whose detailed scales and colors give it the appearance of having just jumped from a lake.

"I've been working on it a little each night,'' he said of the pike. "I've got maybe 20 hours into it."

Johnson shook his head in wonderment. "Pete is real prodigy. He could take some of the fish and enter them in competitions and take fourth or third place. They're really amazing."

Jennifer Cramer, who teaches metalworking and graphic design at Brainerd High School, said Johnson is an example of teacher using a creative approach to get kids excited about school and art.

"His class draws a totally different demographic of student to art,'' she said. "They're kids who never thought of taking an art class, and now they're using a different part of their brains.

"Bob is also an example of developing that genuine relationship with students,'' she added. "He has a passion for carving. He's just like the kids."

The carving-class curriculum has been so successful it has been adopted by two other northern high schools, Johnson said.

FIELD TRIP

On a recent spearing field trip to White Sand Lake, Johnson and his students had a chance to try their luck at spearing.

While a light snow fell, Johnson peered into a bright hole, working one of his carvings in a circle, while a spear rested against his knee. When a snowmobile buzzed to a stop outside, Johnson went outside and found one of his students, Nick Whichello, hefting a 5-pound northern.

"Wow, what a nice pike,'' Johnson praised. "Way to go."

Johnson said the melding of art, darkhouse spearing and education fits perfectly in the Brainerd area, where hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities are a way of life.

He said the best part of his job is those "a-ha" moments when a student masters a carving technique or suddenly envisions a fish in a raw block of white pine. But he has another calling as well.

"Darkhouse spearing is a tradition I felt was being lost,'' he said, watching his decoy spin circles below the ice. "Hopefully, I'm passing on this sport to a future generation."

Chris Niskanen can be reached at cniskanen@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5524.