Jeff Sundin September 24, 2023 "Minnesota Fishing Museum and Hall of Fame Events"

The Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame held its 2023 induction ceremony at the Rice Creek Hunting and Event Center on September 22, 2023. The crowd was amazing, in fact the tickets were sold out!

I was honored to be among the class of 2023 inductees, and I’ll share the video of my acceptance a bit further down the page. First though, I want to put that speech into context by taking the opportunity to say a few words about the Minnesota Fishing Museum and MN Fishing Hall of Fame and why you should join me in supporting both.

From the museum website, “The idea of a fishing museum began in 1990. Al Baert, of Sartell, MN, was researching one of his "old lures," a 1912 Surf Oreno, manufactured by the South Bend Bait Company. Looking at the 4" wooden lure in his hand, he realized it was not the value or dollar amount that was so meaningful, but rather the wonderful stories and memories it represented — a piece from a past era.”

In 2023, the Minnesota legislature passed a resolution making the Minnesota Fishing Museum in Little Falls “The Official” state designated historical fishing organization.  The idea of looking back, sharing information about fishing lures, products and the development of technology is important because it allows us not only to learn the history, but also about how folks adapted to the changing state of fishing.

Looking forward is even more important to Chip Leer. Leer, inducted to the 2020 class of Fishing Hall of Fame, gave his acceptance speech this year, at the 2023 event. In it, Leer brought up an important point, knowing how advances in fishing technology impacted anglers, the fishing industry and fishing regulators in the past, opens a window now that allows a peek at how we’ll adapt to the changing state of fishing in the future. His speech, likely the best I’ve ever heard, was powerful and highlighted my belief that knowing the history of fishing is more than just fun, it’s the glue that bonds us together as fellow anglers. A bond that that we’ll need as we grapple with new advances in technology, regulations, and angler participation in the future.

Recently, there was a merger between the museum and the Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame, an organization established under the leadership of Jeff Arnold, Walker Minnesota. Now that the two organizations operate together, they have a unique opportunity to teach anglers not just the history of fishing stuff, but about fishing people too. But to make that happen, they need our support.

Like most charitable organizations, the struggle to keep the doors open can at times overshadow its mission. Dan Ross, the incoming president of the fishing museum reported that to date, every penny that’s ever been raised for the museum and hall of fame has been from private sources. Memberships, sponsorships, and donations fund everything and today, I’m asking you to be one of them. It’s easy to do, just follow this link to >> MN Fishing Museum DONATE pick a level that suits you and click the button!

Now, a few words about the event.  

When I learned about my own induction into the hall of fame, I didn’t think a lot about it. Not that I wasn’t honored, I was, but daily life kept me busy enough to not spend time thinking about it. But at the event, I didn’t have much choice except to think about it. People were asking me all the usual questions, are you excited, nervous, what will you say in your acceptance? My plan was to “wing it”, which I did, striving to keep my comments short, but important. The short part was accomplished, the whole speech is less than 5 minutes. Whether or not I accomplished the important part is up to you, that is if you want to find out.

If you decide to view the video of my talk, you’ll hear the reference to Chip Leer’s acceptance speech. Inducted in 2020, a year when thgere was no public event, Leer's speech would have happened last year at the 2022 induction ceremony. Because of a family health issue, Leer was unable to attend the induction ceremony in 2022.

So, my comment about him having a year to prepare for this ceremony helps explain my reference to him, and his speech at the beginning of my comments. If I can find one, and if he agrees, I’ll try to provide a video link to his speech because it really was, in my opinion, the best I’ve seen.

Transcript Sundin, “Thanks a lot everybody for making this really hard. I don’t want to make it sound like I’ve never heard a good speech before, but Chip, that was the best acceptance talk I’ve ever heard in my life. If that’s what you can do with a year, then I want another year. (Applause)

Alright, I honestly will make this really short, but I first want to say that on one hand, I’m totally honored to be here because I know the people who are already here, and it’s like, I’m still the new guy. I don’t even feel like I’m really here yet because in my heart and in my mind, I just started doing this yesterday. Well, and it’s kind of like, where did all that time go?

It’s a little bit more overwhelming than I expected it to be, but I’m sure …, I really am proud to be here and I’m happy to be here. And my whole family is here and I thank you all for putting up with everything you’ve been through. For my kids, they got to live with me for half a year when I wasn’t too busy, and then the other half year when I was super busy. So, sometimes there was great opportunity to spend time with dad and sometimes there wasn’t that much. Somehow, we managed to pull it all off and got through it to this point.

I wanted to say something, I was going to start off on a whole different track and I’m going to get back to it. You see I grew up when my mom was an astrologer, a full-time, professional mater astrologer. And if your mom is an astrologer, she’s going to tell you how thinks are going to go. Yes, you’re going to hear a lot of stuff about how things are going to go and someplace along the line, whenever she was sitting me down for one of our little talks, she was looking through the charts, pointing out this is Jupiter, and this is that and so on. Before you know it, she’s telling me, I see you …, you’re going to be a servant, you’re going to serve people.

Then, I’m looking at all of the other inductees, and I’m listening to all of their stories going around and I realize that none of us guys could ever really be famous for fishing. Especially in Minnesota, you can’t be famous for taking a fishing rod, and going out and catching a fish because everybody can do that. And most of those people can do that better than I can do it, way better than I can do it; I’ve learned a lot from other people, believe me.

What everybody has in common, I don’t want to put words in the mouths of Russ, or Jeff, or really anybody in this room but I think they’ll all relate to what I’m saying. What we all deserve to be here for isn’t because of what we did, it’s because of what we didn’t do. We didn’t shy away from long days, and we didn’t shay away from hard work, and we didn’t shy away from putting our customers first. We spent our time looking after what they needed and this whole thing comes together when our customers, the ones who read what we write, or go fishing with us or whatever, when they go home happy, then we did it. And then, I guess, for five minutes out of every one lifetime, a guy can stand up here and say, wow, cool, I guess I’m famous now.

So anyway, you know what? I just want to say thank, it’s an honor and I’m truly blessed and I’m so thankful that I’ve been able to make a living doing this because there’s one other thing that I didn’t do, and that was to have a game plan. (Applause)

I felt like if we just move up there, stop in at a Rays, get a boat and you know, go fishing and do the best you can do, and that’s the way it worked out. Thanks again everybody, I really appreciate it, and that’s all I got. (Applause) END Transcript.

Well folks, that's behind us now and looking back, I can hosestly say that the highlight of the event was having our whole family there, well almost all of them anyway. These days, it's not easy geting this many together at the same time and I'm thrilled that it happened!

And if you didn't already do it, please do click on the link to donate and become a member of the Fishing Museum in Little Falls. Preserving the history of fishing in Minnesota is no small task, and it doesn't happen for free! See you on the water. — Jeff Sundin 218-245-9858 or EMAIL