www.wooden-fish.com       

1992 GLFDCCA World Champion 

Channel Catfish 

by Blaine Kimmel

1997 GLFDCCA World Champion 

Snapping Turtle 

by Craig Kimmel

Blaine Kimmel began carving duck decoys in 1982, but his love of fishing led him to carving fish spearing decoys in 1991.  His vocation as an automotive plastics designer working  on a 3D computer system has enabled him to better visualize and produce accurate and realistic decoys.  Interestingly, Blaine graduated from high school in Garrett, Indiana home of the famous Creek Chub Bait Company.  He even held a job at a young age in the historic lure making factory. He was awarded the GLFDA world championship in 1992.  Currently, he is the show chairman for the GLFDA.

Craig Kimmel is 24 years old, a graduate of Purdue University with a B.S. in Biology and a double minor, in History and Art and Design.  Always interested in art, he began drawing at a young age, which later evolved into painting and other motifs.  An avid fisherman since the age of three he has been carving since 1992.  He first began carving following the instruction of his father, Blaine, and subsequently has grown in skill to become competitive at the professional level.    He was awarded the Great Lakes Fish Decoy Carver's and Collector's Association (GLFDA) world championship in 1997.  He is now attending Indiana University School of Dentistry in Indianapolis, Indiana.  He is pursuing a doctorate of dental surgery (DDS). 

"I consider my influences to be my father, Marcelle Meloche, and Sonny Bashore.  Marcelle and Sonny were both very willing to help a beginning decoy carver and I tried to achieve the excellence in my decoys that I saw in their works.    I prefer not to use an airbrush for my painting.  I feel, when trying to achieve realism and still describe your work as hand made, the bristled brush is the most precise method for color application.   I feel that an airbrushed fish has a "sterile" and factory like appearance.  I use an x-acto knife and sand paper for almost all of my carving." 

   Craig