Biography:Joe Stamper

Biographical notes
 From Rootsweb:

Joe Samper died at age 93 (in Shirley, Indiana), and was buried in Morgan Cemetery, Lewis Co, KY.  General Notes: AKA 'Muskie Joe' Stamper, bacause of all the Muskies he caught out of Kinny Creek. Tombstone Joe served as a private in the US Army during World War I. 1910 Taney CO MO Census/Beaver Twshp Fam 101-101 (Enoch Combs)[James.FTW] A/k/a 'Joe' or 'Fiddling Joe.' Later in his life, he and his brother Commy played music at dances in nearby towns. Maybe that's why he was referred to as Fiddling Joe. '1958, I think this was the last time I saw my Great Uncle Joe, and of course I requested that he play me a tune on his fiddle.' Per James E. Stamper, Jr., Great Grand Nephew. Joseph married Carmen Arilla Hobbs about 1907. Carmen was born 5 Aug 1896 in Winchester, Kentucky, died 15 Oct 1948 in Mercy Hos, Portsmouth, Scioto Co, Ohio at age 52, and was buried in Morgan Cemetery, Lewis Co, KY. They had three children: Betty, Helen, and Ruth. From the Portsmouth Daily Times site, posted on June 12, 2015 by G. Sam Piatt: ''Soc Clay sends the following story, part of which he wrote long years ago for Fishing Facts magazine. It gives us some early history about Muskie Joe Stamper, who Soc described as “a saw miller, a fiddler, a moonshiner and a fisherman.”'' “I’ve caught a muskie on every holiday of the year and had to make up a hundred or so of my own,” the late Joe Stamper told me one cold, winter ''day back in the early eighties. Joe, whom muskie hunters throughout the country knew as “Muskie Joe,” chased the big fish nearly every day of the year during the more than'' ''60 years he pursued Esox in the streams and rivers of Kentucky. Until his death in 1983, thirteen days before his 94th birthday, the late'' ''season held a special place in his heart. Joe said it got mighty lonely along the Kinniconick in Lewis County'' ''during winter after all the fishermen and camp owners went home. To entertain himself, he spent most of the holidays fishing. He recalled'' that the best winter trip he ever made was in early January when he had to break ice from around his old wooden boat before he could push it out into the stream.'' “It had gotten down into the 20s during the night, but the sun had come out and I could feel its warmth on my back as I rowed the big boat into  ''the mouth of the Punchin Eddy. I had raised a big fish in a log jam a week before, but I couldn’t get it to hit. I figured with a little sun'' ''on the water the muskie might decide to feed. I bet I cast that double plug rig of mine a dozen times before I felt'' ''a jolt that nearly jerked the rod out of my hands. Sure enough, I had a-hold of the big fish and he showed on the surface just long enough to let me'' ''know I had a battle on my hands. Must have battled him for at least 20 minutes and I managed to work the fish out of the log jam twice before I could bring'' ''it close enough to gaff, “ Joe recalled. Later, Joe hung the fish on an old hanging scales that showed it weighed'' ''a hair less than 34 pounds. As it turned out, it was the biggest stream muskie he ever caught. It also established the record for muskie taken'' ''from Kentucky’s Kinniconick Creek that has yet to be bested. The double plug rig of Joe’s consisted of a small, two-hook crankbait'' tied to the main line with an 18-inch trailer line attached to the rear hook eyelet to which a large Jointed Pikie Minnow was tied at the end. The idea of the double plug, Joe said, was to cash in on the muskie’s opportunistic feeding nature by displaying a rig that made it appear a ''larger fish was trying to gobble up a smaller one. “I didn’t keep many secrets from the boys on the Kinny all the years I’ve fished except for'' ''the double plug. That rig was too doggone good and I figured the boys would clean out the creek if they knew about it.''