Harley Ragen

Harley Ragen — Iron River, MI

Harley has probably one of the most sparkling resumes in all of decoy carving. With multiple Best of Show winners at the Gathering in Perham Mn as well as Monroe Michigan at the Great Lakes Fish Decoy carving World Championships. But when i asked him what he considered his greatest accomplishment, he said, his biggest accomplishment is all the friends he has made throughout the decoy carving community. Harley's work has been recognized nationwide from film features to magazine articles. Harley is a great ambassador for our carving community Harley attended his first decoy shows in the late 80's. He credits his early influences to carvers Chuck Vogl, Marcel Meloche and Gary Hull. He even makes a yearly trip up to "The Big Pond" (Lake of the Woods) to fish walleyes and spear the rainy river with Gary. Harley's favorite fish to carve is a realistic Brook trout. He likes the vibrant colors and he catches them is a stream right behind his house. Harley has also really been getting into making wiggler decoys lately.

Mike Russell

Jacob Sazama

Jacob Sazama — Perham, MN

Brian Shallbetter

Brian Shallbetter — New Prague, Minnesota

Brian Shallbetter of New Prague, Minnesota. Brian began spearing in 2008 and later started carving fish decoys when he turned 50 years old in 2010. Brian was inspired to carve fish decoys to gain the satisfaction of spearing fish over his own decoys. Later he was convinced to begin competing in decoy competitions by the famed carver Jay McEvers. Brian made his first appearance at the Gathering in 2011. Brain has won first place ribbons in Monroe Michigan in the Sunfish category as well as winning first place in the Ohio Decoy Collectors and Carver Association show! Brian is still chasing his first win at the Gathering decoy competitions but has placed second in multiple categories over the years. We have a feeling it wont be long until he claims his first win in the NFDA. Brian's work has been sold across the nation from Pennsylvania to Montana and everywhere in between. He is most well known for carving sunfish and ciscos. Brian is another carver who only uses carving knives and also has always only hand painted his decoys!
See more of his work on his Facebook page, Shallbetter Decoys.

Paul Sparks

Paul Sparks — Wadena, MN

Paul works as a Radiological Technologist at Tri-County Hospital in his hometown of Wadena, MN. Paul started his passion for carving fish fresh out of high school. Originally Paul just wanted to make a few decoys to spear over. At his best guess, he figures he only carved 6 fish per year prior to 2006. In 2007, Paul got in contact with "The Don of Decoys" Larry Lange, and Larry encouraged him to enter some fish into competition. So in 2008, Paul entered 3 fish into the Gathering's Annual Fish Decoy Competition. To his delight, he placed with all 3 fish!! That started a fire in Paul and he now carves nearly 200 fish a year. Some of Paul's notable awards include several Best of Show awards including the 2017 Service Working Best of Show! Paul was also featured in a video for Fox Sports North titled "Art of the Decoy" which can be found on Youtube!

Jared Sypnieski

Jared Sypnieski, lives in Clearwater MN. Not only does he make one of if not thee best crappie decoys out there, he makes a fantastic working decoy. Jared has a style all his own that he has fine tuned over years that makes his decoys attractive to fish and to decoy collectors all over. Stay tuned for more examples of his unique style. Check out his Facebook page Thin Ice Spearing Decoys.

Tyler Templer

Tyler Templer — Wilmar, MN

Tyler hails from Wilmar, MN with his wife and 3 kids. Tyler is an engineer for a local Orthotics and Prosthetics company in Wilmar. He was born and raised on Norway Lake near New London, MN where his grandparents had a fishing resort. His earliest memories in life revolved around fishing, swimming or being on/in the water in some way. For the most part he has been spearing fish with his father since he was about 5 years old. All of this experience in the outdoors, coupled with his education in Engineering & Graphic Design has lead to his dream of making spearing decoys. He currently makes 7 different fish and animal species for spearing. All of his decoys are designed from real fish using the most high end 3d scanners. From there he sculpts the fish with 3d design software and engineer them for swim functionality in other design software. Then they are printed and manufactured. After the decoy bodies are manufactured, he then installs the necessary hardware such as fins, eyelets, etc. Next he paints and seals them. Finally, he injects them with a scented gel to help increase attractiveness for the fish before packaging them.

Eric Wallace

Eric Wallace — Maple Grove, MN

Eric began his career in carving after going through a decoy carving course at Maple Grove High School under his teacher Matt Warren. Eric also continued his education by earning an Arts degree in college. After discovering the National fish decoy association Eric made friends with the likes of Harley Ragan, Andrew Gardner and Jared Sypnieski, who he credits as some of his early influences. Eric also does some great looking fish replicas as well! Some of Eric's notable achievements include winning "The Showdown" at the Gathering in Perham with a beautiful Coho Salmon. He was also able to claim a National points championship in 2016!

Find more of his work on his Facebook page, Wallace Decoys.

Rick Whittier

Rick Whittier — Lidgerwood, ND

Rick Whittier carves and paints nearly 400 species and sub-species of fish decoys. These are all swim tested, fully functional pieces of art. He prides himself in selling fine quality, collectible art at affordable prices for the spearer to use. Rick has been carving fish decoys full time since late fall of 2004. His decoys and workshop have been featured on a number of tv shows and periodicals. You can see more of his work on his website whittierdecoys.com

Rick Wirth

Rick Wirth — Frazee, MN

Rick hails from the shores of Sauers Lake in Frazee, Minnesota. Rick has been carving decoys for 50 years! He carved his first decoy under the watchful eyes of his father Elmer Wirth, when he was just 9 years old. Amazingly Rick still has that very decoy! Rick retired last year on July 1st from a long career as a contract mail carrier. Rick is probably most well known for his trademark "Quilted" patterned decoys. Rick made the quilted fish as a tribute to his mother, who loved to quilt. Not surprisingly Ricks favorite decoys to carve are quilted sunfish and northern pike!