Rest in peace, old fishing buddy

[Don Wittenberger]

Tony Welch was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1935 and grew up in musky country. In his later years he lived in Portland, Oregon. I don't recall how I met up with him, but he and Mike Nielsen and I fished Merwin together many times. Tony's best Merwin fish was a 26 lb. tiger caught down by the dam on an ugly green crankbait he bought for $2.00 from the bargain bin of a Portland sporting goods store. He caught it about 10 minutes after I lectured him that tiger muskies are color-finicky and he'd never catch one on that thing. Since then, I've revised my assumptions about tiger musky color preferences. He retired from fishing a few years ago, and I last talked to him about a year ago, at which time he had advanced dementia and barely remembered me. Tony died July 8, 2022; his life story is here:

https://obits.oregonlive.com/us/obituar ... d=36210670.

I'm now 76, and slowing down, but still have my boat and the musky itch. I'm not used to fishing alone; I did last September because Mike wasn't available, and found I could barely manage single-handedly fighting and netting a 22-lb. fish. So I guess I'd better not catch any big ones. Right now I'm painting a large deck, but hope to get down to Merwin this month, maybe in a week or so.

[The Quadfather]

I’m sorry for your loss, Don. Thank you for sharing Tony’s story, and your story of your time with him.