This is my tribute to a fishing friend and mentor. Captain Walter Kopczynski
For all of those who knew him, some liked him, some did not.. Walt introduced me to the great lakes in the 1980′s. I came in on the tail end of paper graphs, radios that folks actually talked on and the most incredible home made wine I have ever tasted.
I fished with Walt for only a couple of years steady, and then again after he sold the King Fisher and bought his small Boat.. I built his garage on Sample street and helped him build his transom on his new boat.
Walt was too intelligent for his own good is what many of his friends say.
This page is a tribute to a good fisherman and friend whom in spite of his shortfalls, I learned to respect and love as the one who taught me the big lake.
Walt was my friend and I will never deny that..
RIP Captain Walter Kopchinski… Thanks for your time here on earth… My promise to you is to pass it on.
Which brings me to this. Fishermen are fishermen first and fishermen friends. We don’t know classes of people or income levels, we fish and we enjoy each others company because that is just what we do.
If you are a lawyer, a doctor a businessman or carpenter, on my boat you are just a friend and a fisherman.
And when your boat has a hole in it and its sitting at Steve and Andy’s, just call, I will always have room for a friend on the Grand Tyee as she is called, Kingfish King Fisher is her mentor.