Saturday, April 15, 2006

The mobster and the muskie If you've been following the investigation of Louie Spray's world-record muskie from 1949, there's another wrinkle that has not had a lot of reporting until recently. A recent column by Chicago Sun-Times outdoor writer Dale Bowman tells the story of Chicago Mafioso "Joey Doves" Aiuppa and Louie Spray's world-record muskie. I heard about the story this morning, while listening to "Cutting Edge Outdoors" on WSSP 1250 Milwaukee. In their third segment, John Laimon and Dan Busch were gabbing about Easter bunnies, then John goes off mic to take a call on his cell phone (I'm betting it was Warren Nelson, who was supposed to be a guest on today's show, which is why I was listening this morning. Warren may have been calling from a faulty phone, however. Last night, that phone sounded like it was under water...) I'll get back to Warren in a bit. Meanwhile, Dan Busch gets Spence Petros on the line and Spence sounds half asleep, while Danny is flying on caffeine, so they talk about coffee and then Spence rambles through a story about Chicago Mafia boss Joey "Joey Doves" Aiuppa and his bodyguard, James "Pepsi" Buonomo, whom he met fishing one time. Spence says, "What do you like to fish for?" Aiuppa says "Muskies. You know we could shoot 'em in the old days." Aiuppa then went on to say he caught the world-record muskie on the Winter Flowage and sold it it Louie Spray for $50. "Why didn't you say you caught it?" Petros asks. "Do you know what 'on the lam' means?" Aiuppa says. "He wasn't trying to impress me, it was a matter-of-fact kind of thing," Petros says. This guy had an aura about him, not like some punk with a few drinks under his belt you'd meet in a bar." Petros said Aiuppa's story checked out, date and all, so he reported this to John Husar, who did a newspaper column about it in the Trib, and they also talked about it on their TV show, "The Outdoor Writers." Petros then mentioned Dale Bowman's search for Buonomo and his column in the Sun Times on March 26. Apparently, a photo of Aiuppa and a big fish has recently surfaced. It's currently being analyzed by the group that was contesting Spray's record fish. That would be a fitting end to the world-record muskie controversy that's been raging during the off-season, while anglers have been waiting to get back on the water. Laimon loved the story and closed the show saying "Now that's cutting edge!" OK, back to Warren Nelson, aka "Anglin' Wayne." Warren has a 12-pack CD of fishing songs, called "Anglin' Wayne and the Trollers." I'm planning to use some of those tunes on my new radio show, "Outdoors with Dan Small and Judy Nugent." The show will be webcast on Lake Link and eventually broadcast on radio stations throughout Wisconsin. We've got the deal done with Lake Link and are working on the broadcast deals now. When Lake Link launches its upgraded site (which was demo-ed at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports Show last month) in the next week or so, we'll be on it. Look for a link to "Outdoors Radio" and you'll be able to listen to a streaming webcast or download it to your iPod or MP3 player and take us along with you. More on that news when there is more to report. Meanwhile, for a taste of Warren's music, check out this site. I'll let you guess which tunes we'll be using on the new show. Later... 9:07:22 AM    comment []

Turkey report Wednesday's weather reminded me once again why I am not excited about Wisconsin's first turkey season. It's tough to call and hear birds on a windy day, and intermittent rain is not a lot of fun, even when it's warm. Jill and I were set up before first light where we had seen birds on both days of our Learn-to-hunt outing. I put out jake and hen decoys in a breeding pose to our west and a single hen silhouette to our east, hoping to cover our bets wherever a tom might show up. A hen came through early, heading west behind us. I got her to yelp a few times, but no toms answered.  Some time later, we heard a far-off gobble. I got him to respond, but he took his time heading our way. I hoped to seal the deal before the menacing sky to the west brought the showers that were forecast, but the rain beat the turkey, so we retreated to Jill's cabin porch until the rain let up. I opted for my Penn's Woods Waterproof Wizard box call, rather than the Rod Benson Black Barker, because the Wizard works in the rain. Most box calls, the Barker included, don't work when they get wet. I prefer the Barker's high-pitched, raspy yelps (walnut-on-walnut makes a shrill sound), but the Wizard is a close second when dry, and it's no contest in wet weather. We sneaked back to our decoys and shortly got a gobbler to respond to the Wizard. He answered yelps and cutts and worked his way toward us, but hung up across a brushy fenceline that marks Jill's property boundary. For the next hour and a half, I traded jabs with that son-of-a gun, but he wouldn't cross the line. I switched calls to a Primos Freak, retreated 50 yards and tried a fighting purr, but nothing impressed him enought to bring him over. He finally wandered off when it started to rain again, so we went to Fredonia for breakfast and gave him a rest. Two hours later, we sneaked back to our set-up, half expecting to find our decoys knocked over, but they were still standing. Apparently, the tom had not come to check them out in our absense. Two series of yelps on the Wiz got an instant response, and we were back in the yelp/gobble, your place/my place conversation. This time, he double gobbled and sounded more eager, but still wouldn't cross the brush to his doom. Had we been able to flank him, I'm pretty sure we could have had a shot, but we stayed put because we did not have permission on the neighbor's land. A half-hour into round two, it became pretty obvious Mr. Tom wouldn't budge. I tried shutting up while he gobbled several times, but he stayed on his side of the brush (even though we had seen turkeys walk through this fenceline and there are a few places where he could waltz through without disturbing a feather). I finally resorted to gobbling at him, and he gobbled right back. Twice. The third time I tried it, he shut up and that was the last we heard from him. Jill had other commitments for the rest of her season, so she ended up without a bird. She's fired up about turkey hunting, though, so I told her to apply for a fall permit and we'd take another crack at them. Ironically, Thursday and Friday the weather was perfect, and it's even nicer today. So it goes. I hope the weather cooperates for my 5th- and 6th-perioed hunts! Later... 8:40:03 AM    comment []