Articles

Author: Steve McNemar

Location: No specified region.

March 2, 20091969-12-31 18:33:29

As an outdoor writer, I debated with myself for weeks about using the term “Legend” to describe Herman “Dutch” Prager, Jr. I believe all too often these days we assign the term “legend” to people who are not quite deserving of the status and it has cheapened the meaning. Bob Marshall faced the same dilemma when he wrote about Dutch almost 20 years ago, so things haven’t changed that much in two decades.
However, after meeting Dutch and reviewing his accomplishments, it is evident that there are two titles he should proudly possess - “Legend” and “Father of Louisiana Big Game Fishing.” Perhaps today that title should be Grandfather of Louisiana Big Game Fishing. I almost shudder when remembering how I almost passed on the opportunity to meet Dutch in person.
Captain Mike Gallo called me in usual fashion - a day or two in advance - and asked me if I wanted to go fishing with him and Dutch. I knew of Dutch. Captain Gallo had mentioned him on a number of occasions while we fished the Biloxi Marsh, but I did not “know” Dutch. Jammed at the office and really needing to get in there on that Saturday, I almost passed on the trip. However, I could tell it was important to Mike that I meet Dutch, and he thought it was an opportunity I should not pass up. So, early on a Saturday last November, I headed the truck to Slidell to meet Mike and Dutch for a day of speck and red fishing.
As I drove I listened to the Don Dubuc Show. I heard Don and Captain Gallo compliment Dutch on his achievements. It was apparent that Dutch was someone whom Don Dubuc obviously admired considerably.
I wondered what it would be like to fish with someone in their 80’s. I knew Dutch was supposed to be 83. Having visions of my fastly deteriorating body unable to stand up on a boat by 65 years of age, I wondered what it would be like to fish with an octogenarian.
To my complete surprise, a bear of man greeted me. His handshake was like a vise, his eyes sharp and penetrating, and his greeting boomed like the submarine deck guns I soon learned he once manned. I remember thinking, “Man, if this is what a lifetime on the water can do for you, I will never quit fishing.”
Dressed in a heavy winter coat and Outback style hat, I could tell Dutch was eager to get out on the water, catch a few fish, and brave the elements. Don had mentioned the wind was already howling 25K to 30K out of the north so we knew it would be a brisk day to say the least. Due to the weather forecast, Captain Gallo decided we should just have a leisurely day of drowning live shrimp in some of his honey holes in the Lake Catherine area. A decision that was fine with Dutch and me. Soon we were anchored and live shrimp big enough to barbeque were sent careening to their deaths impaled on drop shot rigs.
Dutch regaled me with stories of his fishing exploits as we reeled in a multitude of tasty treats. It was obvious when Dutch boated the first fish he still had the touch. What also became obvious to me was the fact that I was in the presence of, and actually fishing with, Louisiana fishing royalty. As I listened to Dutch’s fishing past - the names, the places, the events - my mouth must have gaped open like a young man who has spied the female anatomy for the first time.
I knew I had been fortunate, as had thousands of other anglers, to have fished with Captain Charlie Hardison. I consider the late Captain Charlie to be the person who pioneered Louisiana rig fishing or, at least, who was really responsible for putting it on the map.
Never did I think that I would meet, much less fish with, the father of Louisiana Big Game Fishing. The man who pioneered the sport of fishing blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, wahoo and tuna off our coast. That’s exactly who Dutch Prager is. No fishing article will ever aptly tell the Dutch Prager story. However, having met Dutch I feel compelled to at least introduce a new generation of anglers to the man.
Those of us who enjoy pursuing, if only occasionally, thrilling pelagic species off our coast owe Dutch a debt of gratitude. His efforts and those after him have made the trips we now productively take with ease possible.
Dutch was born in New Orleans in January 1925. By the age of eight, he had already developed a love of fishing because that was a passion shared with his father. The two of them spent a lot of time fishing the Biloxi Marsh and it was from these early pursuits of redfish and speckled trout that a legend would spring forth.
He began developing a love for bigger boats than those needed for marsh fishing when his father commissioned the building of a 38’ cypress boat built by Fetterly’s Shipyard. She was named the Plauen, after his grandfather’s birthplace in Germany. Powered by a single 55 HP engine she made 9 knots. She was beautiful and slept six below.
In 1943 Dutch joined the Navy’s Submarine Service. He served as a deck gunner aboard the USS Kingfish-SS234. As he told me of the five ships sunk during their four patrols and the two pickets sent to the depths of the sea on their last patrol August 5th, 1945, I realized how few of the men who had been coined to have “the right stuff” I had actually met in my lifetime. I was thrilled to actually be fishing with one.
Occasionally we would take a break between stories just to enjoy the day. The three of us ragged on each other good-naturedly like most anglers who are at home on the water do. From time to time, Dutch would sing to the fish in a wonderful voice that reminded me of old time crooners of days past. During moments of silence, the wind sang its own song as it played a tune to us using our fishing lines for an instrument.
As we watched ducks flying overhead, Dutch told us of duck hunting at the Jump in Venice back in the 40’s. “There wasn’t much down there then. It was pretty remote. Just a lot of orange trees and a whole lot of mud.” Heck, a lot of us still refer to it that way.
While talking about ducks, he mentioned that he had the pleasure of having one of his duck recipes included in a John Folse cookbook. I asked, “Is that the one with the alligator on the cover?” Sure enough, it was. I was lucky enough to have received a copy for my birthday courtesy of my friend and office manager, Caroline.
Dutch and his beloved wife, Jane, were invited to meet Chef Folse at Bittersweet Plantation where they prepared and enjoyed together the recipe he submitted - Dutch Treat A La Pat. The recipe is on page 470. If you hunt or you are like me - you beg or trade fish for wild game - you need to own a copy of John Folse’s cookbook, After the Hunt. So there was Dutch on a hot July day in 1958 at the weigh-in of the Grand Isle Tarpon Rodeo. Coming to the dock was angler, Dr. Jim Meriwether, aboard his vessel the Melou II. Strapped to the transom “was the largest fish I had ever seen,” said Dutch. “It was a 463 pound blue marlin. I had no idea there was anything that big in the Gulf of Mexico. I did not know it was only the second one ever caught here. All I knew is I wanted to catch one - bad.”
So Dutch headed to Bimini in pursuit of marlin. Why not? No one really believed you could catch fish like that in the Gulf with any consistency. He fished Bimini often yet never caught a marlin. He did catch some impressive tuna including some nice bluefin, but his marlin eluded him. However, he saw marlin caught and landed which only made his desire to catch one increase.
At the same time that he was wrangling invitations to fish the Bimini Club, he heard about a charter captain by the name of Bob Mitcheltree who was beginning to have some big game success a lot closer to home. Mitcheltree was a charter captain for Grand Isle. He too had seen the beast brought to the dock by Dr. Meriwether and had caught the same marlin bug as Dutch. Mitcheltree knew that Dr. Meriwether’s fish had been caught out of South Pass, probably by accident, so he and his wife rented out their Grand Isle camp and rented a cottage at Port Eades.
Dutch began fishing with Captain Mitcheltree, and he soon realized the potential of game fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. He said that Mitcheltree was one of the best marlin anglers of his time. Unlike other anglers who would spend hours or days heading for blue water, Mitcheltree believed that marlin would come as close to the river as possible. He usually fished green water as soon as he found bait.
Obviously fishing from a port 12 miles down river from Venice required a huge amount of effort 50 years ago. It’s no picnic today. Fuel had to be hauled in 50 gallon drums and hand pumped into vessels at the end of a day’s fishing. Water and ice also provided challenges. It is amazing the sport grew from that locale. If you have ever been there, you understand.
Dutch apparently has always possessed organizational skills. The heir to a thriving machine shop business in New Orleans, I believe he must have inherited some impressive managerial genes also. It became his desire to start a club, an organization of recreational anglers that would actively pursue big game species out of South Pass. He was convinced that was the way to unlock the Gulf’s true potential. So that’s what he did.
Although it took quite a bit of planning and organizing, the New Orleans Big Game Fishing Club was born in 1960. Initially there were 50 members. Today there are over 150 members. The club did not have its first tournament until 1962 because of logistical problems and the hurdles previously mentioned.
It was during that first tournament that Dutch would finally realize his four-year-old dream of catching a blue marlin, almost as if fate had dictated it. It was a 362 pound beauty of a fish. He knew at that point all of his efforts had been worthwhile. He would go on to catch in excess of twenty blue marlin out of South Pass over the years.
The creation of the New Orleans Big Game Fishing Club put big game fishing out of South Pass on the world’s angling map. Our waters became known as some of the most productive in the world. This attention to the sport, the refinement of the techniques used, and the manner in which the species are regarded can be traced back in large part to Dutch Prager and his New Orleans Big Game Fishing Club. Dutch was re-elected president of the club for 30 years in a row; however, he is reluctant to take much credit. He credits numerous people for the success of the club.
He threw names at me so fast I could never keep up. Joe Yoder, weigh master and amateur biologist was responsible for examining stomach contents and harvesting other data to send to the Department of Wildlife & Fisheries; Harley Howcott, Al Childress, Leander Perez Jr., founding members important to the club’s success, famous anglers Clyde Hawk, Captain Meriwether, etc.
Dutch must have recited 40-50 names to me during our day on the water. Each of them were men he fished with often and held in high esteem. That seemed to be the theme behind the creation of big game fishing out of South Pass -great guys with a passion for building a great sport.
As he recanted the names of those he had built the club with, the men with whom he pioneered the sport, I could see a sadness in his eyes as he noted that over 95% of them have gone on to those fishing grounds where the seas are always calm and the drags are always screaming.
When asked if he had any advice for current offshore anglers he said, “Enjoy your sport. Each day on the water is a gift. If you catch a fish, that’s a plus. Be safe on the water, don’t take unnecessary chances. Do away with your tournament Calcutta’s – they cause anglers to take unnecessary chances. Conserve the resource.”
In fact, Dutch is still active in conserving our fishing resources. He was recently active in lobbying Congress to keep Marine Protective Areas open to recreational angling. As I understand it, President Bush has now made that a reality.
Dutch had Captain Mike and me laughing when he told us how he was the first one to bring plastic baits to target big game fish out of Venice. He said he got the idea from Captain Black Bart when he was fishing Kona, Hawaii; the places outside of Louisiana that Dutch fished is very impressive. He saw how effective the plastics were and shipped some home. The humorous part of the story was when he told us how one captain wouldn’t let anyone on his boat fish with a sissy pink lure. The captain told the angler, “You can bring that on board if you want, but I ain’t putting it out!” That was obviously before anglers understood that wahoo are very fond of pink lures.
“Well, guys, let me know when you are ready,” said Captain Mike. We had iced well over 25 fish, which was not bad for the conditions. However Dutch said, “Captain Mike and Steve, each of you have caught a redfish, I sure would like to catch one too.” True, Mike and I had each caught one. He caught one fishing a run out on a live shrimp, I caught mine bouncing an Old Bayside Plastic.
What happened next was magical to behold. Dutch cast his live shrimp letting it sink to the edge of a drop-off where we had been catching speckled trout. Then, just like he had called or willed it in, it happened. “There he is!” Dutch shouted in the same gleeful voice I imagine has echoed across the Biloxi Marsh for almost eight decades.
Minutes later a beautiful redfish, flashing golden bronze scales and a fluorescent blue tail, was boat side. The redfish pulled from waters where one would not have suspected him to be; and fittingly caught by a Louisiana fishing legend, Herman “Dutch” Prager, Jr.

Steve McNemar is an avid South Louisiana Fisherman who enjoys Outdoor writing. CEO of US Impact, Inc. located in Mandeville, LA he can be reached Via e-mail at steve@usimpactinc.com

Captain's Spotlight

Capt. Charlie Thomason

Member's Spotlight

Gab

My Profile Center