In August of 1993 I took a carving class with Lac Du Flambeau carver John V. Snow. In the class I meet a woman by the name of "June Bug" Smith. She was a native Wisconsinite and a carver of birds. She was now working on learning the art of carving fish. We both had fun in the class.
A year later I meet her again at a store. She was working for the store keeper and selling some of her work. The store was filled with fish decoys and was the place where I found the John V. Snow's Patchwork Sucker. During one of my many visits to the store I talked to the store owner about finding an Earl "Fishtrap" Cross, Sr. fish decoy. I had only been collecting Lac du Flambeau fish for a short time but I had already learned a "Fishtrap" was an important fish to a serious collector. "June Bug" over heard me and later pulled me a side and indicated that she had one and was willing so sell it to me but did not want to go through the store because the store owner would take 10% of the sale. We talked a little about price but we were unable to meet up again for me to look at the fish. I tried to find out more about the fish, How she got it and if it was a true "Fishtrap" She indicated that she had baby sat for the family and it was a gift. She also indicated that she had shown it to John V. Snow to verify it was a "FIshtrap" I was excited and also scared. This sounded too good to be true. I did give her my address.
I lost track of "June Bug" for some time until I received a letter in February of the next year. She asked if I was still interested in the fish and I indicated that I was. She offered to send it to me but I did not want the fish to get lost or damaged in shipment so I asked for pictures. The pictures she sent were not helpful. I also contacted a friend, store keeper, in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin that I had done a good deal of business with to check her sources to validate this claim. My friend asked John Snow if he had seen a "Fishtrap" recently and he indicated he did. She also contacted the Kimbals to see if they knew of anything. I did not know, personally, Art and Annie Kimbal at that time. They did not but indicated that it was possible. I decided to take a chance and purchased the fish.
The next summer I was able to arrange a meeting with Art and Annie Kimbal to check out the "Fishtrap". I was again excited and scared. I was afraid I had purchased a lemon because it was way too easy to find a "Fishtrap". This time someone was smiling in my direction. I not only found a "Fishtrap" but the smallest "Fishtrap" known to have been made. This fish is only 4 1/8" long. The main body is burned a dark brown with black painted fins. The eyes were carved out after the fish was burned. There is no paint on the body of the fish. There is a piece of fish line wrapped around the tail in some sort of pattern.
This story was published in the "American Fish Decoy Association Forum No. 52" September 2002.