Artist: Jim Cooper, catfish hoop netmaker

Apprentice, 2002: Dan Cain

Jim Cooper constructs the front throat of a catfish hoop net. Photo by Rich Remsberg.

Enjoy our feature slideshow about Jim Cooper.

Then, listen as Jim Cooper talks about thinking like a fish in our special slide presentation.

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Jim Cooper, Evansville, Indiana
"My father was a fisherman and farmer."

My grandfather came to America from Dutch Holland in 1868. They were fishermen. My father, born in 1909, was a fisherman and farmer; born and raised around Maunie, Illinois along the Wabash River.

Jim Cooper making a catfish hoop net.

I was born in 1937 and I too was taught fishing. My mother's brother, John Shaw, made his living at it; his friend Bud Bowman also lived by fishing, and Roland Causey lived from the river. And since they had no boy children I became their Boy. As they say now, I had it 7-24; they always took me with them no matter what they did. Roland Causey was the best net river fisherman east of the Mississippi River, they say.

Jim writes about Dan, Jim's apprentice:
I met Danny Cain in the late '60s at his father's river camp. He wanted to learn netting and the river system. Later we both worked at G.A.F. Corporation in Mt. Vernon and became friends. Danny loves the river and all that it stands for and is. He wants to teach his grandkids about it and how to love it. He also understands that to be a complete fisherman you need to know how to make your own nets - good ones.

Jim Cooper with his apprentice, Dan Cain. Photo by Rich Remsberg.

Dan Cain, New Harmony, Indiana
"I found that the job of netmaking was more than just tying up a bunch of knots."
I grew up camping and fishing along the Ohio and Wabash rivers with my father; that's where I met Mr. Cooper, the net fisherman. He not only fished the nets, he also made them. Mr. Cooper made me some nets and as we became life long friends, I decided I would like to learn to make them also. I had learned the customs and cultural ways of the river people and loved it. I found that the job of netmaking was more than just tying up a bunch of knots; it was an art, and a dying one at that; so this is a great chance of a lifetime for me. Mr. Cooper has a knowledge of netmaking like no one else I've ever met.