Joe Bucher, New Hall of Fame Angler!!

Joe Bucher Inducted Into Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame

In the late 1960's he was known as a teenage bass whiz. At the young age of 16, Joe Bucher was already one of the best bass fishermen in southeastern Wisconsin, and perhaps even the entire Great Lakes Region. By his junior year in high school, he was already winning the majority of bass contests and tournaments being held in his local area. Before he even graduated from high school, he was known for his versatility at catching bass from the shallowest weed choked "slop" lakes to the deeper "gin bottles". Old photo archives of the Milwaukee Journal outdoor section further document the "Bucher Beginnings". In fact, by high school graduation time, Joe Bucher was already a regional authority on deep water crankin' – a technique that he'd write a book on 25 years later.

By the mid to late 1970's Joe Bucher's name became synonymous with the term "guide" as well as "outdoor writer". Soon after starting his own fishing guide service, a new Joe Bucher emerged. No longer the teenage bass whiz, nor the musky man he'd be known for much later on. Instead, he emerged as a walleye guide. Again, Bucher paved new roads and broke new ground; wrenching away from many age old traditions. One of the most noteworthy here were his break-through findings on weed walleyes, a subject that he'd later pioneer in the early pages of Fishing Facts Magazine. As the decade of the 1970's drew to a close, the young upstart guide/writer had revealed through the pages of Fishing Facts several key historic walleye concepts including weed walleyes, wood walleyes, and crankin' walleyes – another key tactic that he'd feature in a book many years later on.

As the 1980's began, the now seasoned guide, Joe Bucher, began to drastically change his primary focus from walleyes to the king of freshwater fish, the muskie. As his new muskie focus evolved, so would a brand new industry. Muskies, especially big ones, became an obsession with Bucher. He devoted the majority of his energies during this time to fishing for muskies, as well as guiding, writing, and educating others about this phenomenal fish. He also began designing many new tackle items for them. Quickly debunking old traditional techniques, he began employing bass-like strategies to the "fish of 10,000 casts". As the decade of the ‘80's moved along,Joe Bucher became one of the primary revolutionaries in this new fishing niche' writing a multitude of pioneering articles on muskie fishing tactics. He was known as one of the driving forces behind this new growing industry. This, of course, led to the rise in musky fishing popularity that we now know today. Speaking on muskies at sport shows in the Midwest eventually became a staple, and Joe Bucher was a regular on the seminar marquee.

This entire new muskie industry buzz was rising to a boil by the late 1980's, and Joe added more flame to the pot by starting the industry's first muskie magazine, Musky Hunter. Muskie anglers were no longer the Rodney Dangerfields of fishing; they were fully recognized as their own industry complete with their own magazine. The origin of Musky Hunter Magazine is of the utmost importance to the muskie industry. It organized all the writers, guides, anglers, and manufacturers of the muskie industry. The emergence of Musky Hunter provided the media and the forum to write, advertise, educate and organize the entire musky fishing fraternity. Joe Bucher founded the magazine in 1988.

The mid 1990's were also a huge turning point for Joe Bucher; marking the end of his guide career (1994), and the beginnings of his latest and most widely recognized venture – outdoor television. Fishing With Joe Bucher hit the air waves in January of 1994, airing in several regional Wisconsin TV markets, Today, Joe's program airs in 34 different TV markets across the country encompassing over 17 million households. It is a perennial award winning outdoor television production featuring many state-of-the-art video graphical techniques, as well as a showcase for Joe's angling versatility, The TV show also reveals the true Joe Bucher – not just the musky expert, as he is often mistakenly labeled – but as the totally versatile angler capable of catching bass, trout, walleyes, pike and muskies with equal flare.

The year 2002 marks the total culmination of this incredible fishing journey with his induction into the National Freshwater Fishing Hall Of Fame as a Legendary Angler. It's a journey that got its start somewhere in the 1960's on the shores of Phantom Lake as a young teenage bass whiz, gained a great deal of momentum throughout the ‘70's and ‘80's as a noted Wisconsin walleye and musky guide, and catalyzed an industry as a writer, editor, tackle manufacturer and outdoor television producer in the ‘90's. But it's a good bet that the journey's still underway. At forty-seven he is still young. Who knows what Joe Bucher will do next?