You’ll find more than just fishing celebrities in this list. One can make a significant impact
on the lives of many without ever being well known. It is important to honor all of
those who had a great influence on the great sport of fishing, whether famous or not.
Corporate advances tend to be much more visible to us. For it’s their products that
shape the evolution of the sport of fishing.

Nesheim Bait and Tackle was started about 1932 by Sam Nesheim. Sam worked as a “tie buckler” for the railroad, which was too hot of a job for men to do in the summer. Sam began by seining and trapping minnows in the summer to sell to the local garage on the NW corner of 6th and Oak Street in Brainerd. After a few years he realized he could be selling them himself and added on a “minnow house” to his house on the south side of Brainerd. Sam’s wife, Esther, also helped to run the shop described as “in the alley” on Quince Street. He later acquired a hatchery where he stripped, hatched and raised sucker minnows, in addition to the crappie minnows, fatheads, shiners, and chubs. Sam started pedaling to resorts and bait shops in the Brainerd Lakes area. Sam was known as a “minnow-man.” Although Sam was in very good shape for 72, in July of 1967 he died of a heart attack while dancing one dance after another with women whose husbands didn’t like to dance. The funeral director said Sam’s funeral was the biggest he had ever seen.

Esther had offers to buy the minnow business, but their youngest son Frank, a carpenter, and his wife, Lucy, decided to take over the business and move into the house on Quince Street.
Frank grew up helping his parents hatch, seine, and sell minnows.

Frank expanded the hatchery, increasing the annual output of sucker minnows they sold to area wholesale customers and other bait dealers all over the state. They also implemented a more methodical way of boxing worms and nightcrawlers and added leeches and wax worms to the product lines, along with a wider variety of tackle.
In 1975, after Frank built the bait shop onto the new house, they moved the business to south 6th Street (Highway 371), which was the highway going north-south through Brainerd at the time. It took a few years to get the new house rezoned from a residential zone to one that allowed businesses. They had to get signatures from all the homeowners on the surrounding blocks as well as the approval of the City Council.

Frank kept quite busy seining and trapping minnows. Several times a week he would load up the truck that had tanks full of minnows to be delivered. Lucy ran the retail shop when he was gone. The wholesale business provided delivery service to bait shops and resorts in Merrifield, Cross Lake, Breezy Point, Ideal Corners, Emily, Outing, Crosby, Nisswa, Baxter, Brainerd and places in-between. The retail bait shop was also grand central for the wholesale business. When they were out of bait, the shops would come pick up the crawlers, minnows and leeches transported in oxygen-packed bags.

The Nesheim residence was attached to the bait shop, so you could say the home and business were connected at the hip. It was their life. Frank and Lucy worked 15-hour days all summer and were open seven days a week most of the year. They usually closed the shop at noon on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and Easter Sunday. You’d be surprised how many people went fishing on those days.

Each season had its challenges. Winter was very busy plowing and aerating the ponds to keep the oxygen supply up for the minnows’ survival. In the spring they were constantly monitoring the hatchery, often in the middle of the night, so they would not lose eggs or fry (tiny newly hatched minnows), as that could greatly hinder the next few years of business. In the summer, they often had to monitor the holding ponds to be sure that they would not flood out or were not cleaned out by birds (pelicans and cormorants).

Also early in the spring was what is called “stripping suckers”, when mature fish are captured in nets during spring spawning runs in lakes and rivers. After the adult fish are removed from the nets, their abdomens are gently rubbed to expel eggs or milt (sperm) which are mixed together in a spawning pan. The egg-taking procedure does not harm the adult fish and they are returned to the wild. After the eggs are collected, they are placed into hatching jars where a specific water temperature is maintained to control their embryonic development. In the wild, less than 0.1% of the eggs deposited by females hatch, compared to 60 to 95% taken to a hatchery by commercial bait dealers. The eggs are hatched in glass jars into viable fry. The bait shop had a huge loyal customer base. In addition to the local fishermen and fisherwomen, there were loyal patrons from the metro area of Minnesota that would stop on weekends during the summer on their way “up north”, and customers that would come every year from all over the country when they came to vacation in the Lakes area. Frank and Lucy hired many local people to work for them that stayed for years.

Among them, Mike Matich wrote on Facebook: “This was my first job. I spent many hours in the truck with Frank and in the ponds seining minnows. I worked there for 5 years. On Thursday counting night crawlers by the flats. Wednesday night I believe Frank and Lucy went to the Casino for poker nights and I ran the shop. Sure miss this place. It is a big part of my life and Frank taught me what hard work was.” Paul Jillson wrote: “My first job, lasted until college. Best job I ever had.”

Frank and Lucy had four children who grew up counting worms, crawlers, and leeches, marking and displaying tackle, and when they became old enough, delivering live bait to the resorts and bait shops in the area. Only boys/men were invited to strip eggs, seine and trap minnows, and their only son also became quite astute at working in the bait shop at a young age.
One story that has been retold numerous times is when the oldest daughter was delivering bait on “Opening weekend”, she was pulled over for speeding, and she explained to the officer that the bait shop in Crosby was out of minnows. He stepped back and said “go, go”, motioning with his arm. We figured he must have been a fisherman.

Fishermen brought their fish into the shop to weigh and get their picture taken, and many were submitted to the Brainerd newspaper. They were usually rewarded with a free Nesheim Bait hat and a polaroid picture. Today a Facebook page called “Nesheim Bait Photos” shows over 850 photos of fish pictures people caught over the years. One fisherman’s wife was tagged by
her friend to check out her husband’s fish picture, and she replied, “And the damn thing is still on our wall.”

The Nesheims sponsored many school activities. Over the years many local kids would stop on their bikes to pick up bait to go fishing on the Mississippi River or Boom Lake. If they did not bring enough money, Frank and Lucy would still be sure they had the bait and tackle they needed.

Since the bait shop was attached to the house, the business was part of everyday life; you could not separate the two. The phone would ring at all hours, late into the night or often very early in the morning with calls from people asking if we were open. After closing customers would knock on the residence door and ask if there was a chance to get some bait yet tonight. Frank and Lucy would open the shop with a smile on their face to be sure these people had what they needed for their fishing trip. Many customers were so appreciative they would often give them fish. We always had a freezer full of fish and they wouldn’t take fish that wasn’t cleaned. Now Frank is 91 and Lucy 86, and even today they have old customers bringing them fish.

Frank and Lucy ran this business for 35 years. They closed the bait shop in 2000, but Frank continued the hatchery and wholesale business until 2002 when he retired at 70.
Although not fishing celebrities, I believe they made an excellent contribution to the sport of fishing and a significant impact on the lives of others. They were role models of hard work, helpfulness and friendliness. Many generations of anglers remember and talk about the old Nesheim Bait Shop.
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