Marcel Meloche is from Ontario, Canada. He was born in He is highly regarded as one of the best contemporary carvers and has won his 3rd World Championship at the 2005 Texas World Carving Championships.
When asked how he makes his fish decoys, he replied “It’s a long process to explain how to make a working fish decoy, so I wrote a booklet on “How to make a working fish decoy” which explains the procedure step-by-step.” (CLICK HERE to SEE Booklet) The booklet is available from Marcel for $8.00 US which includes shipping. The booklet is full of details and illustrations.
Marcel works with white cedar and western red cedar for the bodies because as he tells it ” stability and rot resistance and buoyancy. It has galvanized steel for the fins for strength and rust proof abilities.”
Marcel not only does Working, Fancy and Decorative fish decoys, but does duck decoys and some other carvings. He also does replica fish carvings.
With his 30 plus years of carvings dating back to 1977, Marcel has excelled in mastering the art/craft of fish decoy carving. He is not the first in his line to carve. Marcel’s first pike speared under the ice was at the age of six under the guidance of his father (Lloyd Meloche). He speared it with a home made spear made by his Grandfather (Eugene Meloche) and a 5″ perch made by his father. His family on his father’s side (the Meloche’s) and his mother’s sided (the Latromboise’s) had been making their own decoys and spears for generations. Marcel guessed for a couple hundred years that his family has been making fish decoys and spears. and to him it was only natural that he followed in those same footsteps with the tradition of carving.
Marcel burns his initials MEM on the belly of the wood of the decoys. He will also sign and date upon request.
Tim Spreck wrote an article on Marcel in the Hunting and Fishing Collectibles magazine.
One of the most fascinating items of interest that Marcel told me about his family is that Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa tribe may have taught his great, g,g,g,g,g,g, grandfather how to spear under the ice, because he has written proof that they were very good friends; even to the point that when Chief Pontiac was laying siege against Detroit and the rest of the forts, he (Pontiac) had used the family farm and cabin as their headquarters.
Marcel told me that in early 2008 he had completed about 3800 fish decoys and he still finds that there is always something to learn about fish decoys and he always is trying to make them better.
His mailing address is:
Box 2764, Cochrane, Ontario, P0L 1C0, Canada
2005 Texas World Champion Lake Trout with jointed lamprey.
Permission granted for reproduction of photos and info given by
Marcel Meloche6/5/06 and in 1/2008