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| SportsThursday, October 18, 2007 1:29 AM CDT |
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Richardson: Fishing legend Culjan recalled as one of a kind
When I heard he’d died last week, I tried to remember exactly when I first met fishing guide Big Knobs Culjan, an Illinois River legend. It was sometime soon after I started writing about the outdoors for the Pantagraph in the early 1990s. I was new to sauger fishing. I was just learning the ins and outs of how current affected fish location and how to handle a boat in fast-moving water. “Knobby” took me in hand and taught me a few of his secrets. The teacher always stayed ahead of you. He spent time every day listening to the lessons the river taught him. “Every year, we kept learning something new,” he told me during an interview about a class he was offering on river fishing with his brother and fellow guide, Darrell “Buster” Culjan. “We’re still learning. The day I die, I will stop learning.” I didn’t know his first name was really Dominic until I asked for a story I was writing. I knew the editors wouldn’t be satisfied with Big Knobs or his story about how he’d earned the nickname after a boyhood fall caused a knot on his head. Culjan, of Utica, was earthy. He was loud. He had a booming laugh. He had a way of telling you that you were too stupid to learn how to fish without making you feel all that bad about it. Still, he’d do his best to teach you a little of the encyclopedia of fishing know-how he carried around in his head. There were people as good at fishing the Illinois River as Culjan, including his brother, who owns Cajun Bait & Tackle in Utica. But no one was better. The Masters Walleye Circuit event on the Illinois River every March draws some of the best walleye anglers in the upper Midwest. Big Knobs usually placed high in the standings. He was so respected that when the river flooded just before the 1998 event, other competitors, including me and my partner, walleye pro Ted Takasaki, cheered Big Knobs and his partner, Mark O’Connell, on after the duo led going into the final day of the event. Culjan had led the event twice before going into the final day only to see victory slip away. This time, they won. Legends may not die, but the people behind them are just as fragile as the rest of us. Big Knobs, who had survived cancer a few years ago, fell Sept. 30 while putting up a tree stand the day before white-tail bow-hunting season opened. He died a few days later from complications. He was 57. Culjan and Spring Valley businessman Bill Guerrini were arguably the two people who put the Illinois River Valley on the map of top fishing destinations after the Clean Water Act caused the sauger population to rebound. “The Illinois Valley, especially those of us who enjoy the outdoors, has suffered a loss,” said Guerrini, executive director of the Spring Valley Walleye Club. “Dominic was a very unique individual. He was my friend, and he will be missed. Our prayers are with his family.” Bob Kidd, executive director of the Illinois Walleye Trail, recalled Culjan as a fishing innovator. “When we first started catching saugers on the river 25 years ago, everybody was pulling the old Wolf River Rig with a weight and floater,” Kidd said. “But we found that using jigs tipped with minnows was much better since we could slip with current and cover much more water. The thing that we didn’t realize was that we could use smaller jigs in size. That was what Knobby taught us.” He also was a one-of-a-kind character. “Years ago, we were pre-fishing for an MWC event on Saginaw Bay. Knobby and myself were staying at the same motel,” Kidd said. “One evening we came in from fishing and had been cooking a beef roast with all the trimmings in the crock pot on the picnic table. When we pulled into the parking lot, here was Knobby setting there eating our roast.” No one stayed mad at Big Knobs for long, and Culjan soon made amends. The next night, Big Knobs made walleye chowder and invited Kidd to join in the feast. “He’ll go down in history as one of the best and most versatile fisherman on the Illinois River. I’m sure he’s watching down on us now with a rod in hand,” Kidd said. Tournament notes -- Randy Carroll and Lee Scott from Oswego won the Illinois Walleye Trail event Sunday on the Illinois River with a six-fish limit of 11.69 pounds. Max Actis and Mike Stuckert from Spring Valley were second with 10.42 pounds. Doug Hoster and John Higgins from Marsallies were third with 8.49 pounds. Big fish honors went to the team of Bill Walsh and Julia Kellogg from Ottawa with a sauger weighing 2.60 pounds. The next Illinois Walleye Trail tournament will be the fall classic Nov. 4 at Henry. Entry is $200. Contact Bob Kidd at (309) 527-6328 or e-mail walleye1352@fairpoint.net. -- The Springfield Crappie Club hosts its annual Fall Open Buddy Crappie Tournament on Oct. 20 at Wilborn Creek access area at Lake Shelbyville. You don’t have to be a member of the club to take part. Entry fee is $85 per two-person team. Add another $10 to enter the optional Big Crappie contest. Entry forms are available at area bait shops or call (217) 527-1861. Forms also are available online at www.springfieldcrappieclub.com. Scott Richardson is Pantagraph outdoor editor. Phone (309) 820-3227 or e-mail srichardson@pantagraph.com. Read past outdoor and fishing columns or take part in online discussions at www.pantagraph.com/blogs. Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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