After 50 years, Sarasota's Fish Whisperer Jonnie Walker hanging up his rod

After 50 years, Sarasota's Fish Whisperer Jonnie Walker hanging up his rod

Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune

12/7/2021

Credit: Mike Lang

He never caught A Fish Called Wanda, nor did he ever reel in The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.

For Capt. Jonnie Walker, they might have been the only two.

Back in 1974, the man whom his daughter calls The Fish Whisperer worked for General Telephone (GTE). Walker’s parents were avid fishermen, and the couple’s only child first had a pole in his hands at age 5. But at the time, the Sarasota resident since 1957 didn’t have his own boat.

But a Longboat Key customer did. One day, the guy asked Walker to use it to take his wife fishing. He started doing it with groups of people, using boats he rented, but Walker did it for free. He did so until the woman he took out said he needed to charge for his services.

“She told her friends and so forth,” said Kellie, one of Walker’s two children. “That’s how it started,” Jonnie said.

It proved the birth of a Sarasota fishing legend

Continue...

News Id		Source	Stamp	country
3626	Norwegian fish farms fight sea lice with 'Star Wars'	dw	2016-02-05	NO
3627	Oregon biologists won't condone end to catch-and-release fishing for sturgeon in lower Columbia River	oregonlive	2016-01-09	US
3628	Britain's finest chefs hunt for Norway's most prized fish in icy Arctic waters	independent	2016-01-31	UK
3629	Print an Army of Giant, Articulated Fish From This 3-D Database	wired	2016-01-28	US
3630	The Parrot: What other celebrity fish are in the giant carp's league?	independent	2016-01-27	UK
3631	Tui chub alert: Why one single fish has wildlife experts in Oregon scrambling	csmonitor	2016-01-27	US
3632	This enormous catch broke an ice fishing record in Lapland	thelocal	2016-01-25	SE
3633	Для чего в России создают робота-тунца?	aif	2021-07-06	RU
3634	Emperor Emeritus Akihito discovers 2 new types of goby fish	asahi	2021-06-25	JP
3635	Lice, infectious disease and taking reef fish: The impact of salmon farms on marine biodiversity	thejournal	2021-06-26	UK
3636	Girl, 15, lands big Chinook: ‘If you are a fish, you should definitely fear her.’	chicago.suntimes	2021-06-22	US
3637	To Save Its Salmon, California Calls In the Fish Matchmaker	The New York Times	2016-01-15	US
3638	Scientists sound alarm over hydropower’s impacts on tropical fish biodiversity	mongabay	2016-01-12	CA
3639	Strange 6ft deep-sea fish washes up in Alaska	Earth Touch News	2016-01-11	US
3640	Asian carp could become most common fish in Lake Erie, study finds	kitchener.ctvnews	2016-01-04	CA
3641	How satellite technology is helping to fight illegal fishing	theguardian	2016-01-04	UK
3642	Family says parasites were in fish bought at California Costco	fox5sandiego	2015-12-31	US
3643	Farage fury at EU ban on anglers keeping fish	express	2015-12-29	UK
3644	Fish rage: Locals block wharf after fishermen filmed with 'thousands' of pink maomao in bins in Tairua	nzherald	2021-06-25	NZ
3645	Spanish mackerel stocks under threat from overfishing, government says	ABC Rural	2021-06-13	SP
3646	NSW man gets $11k penalty for making more than $200k selling protected fish	ABC Broken Hill	2021-06-16	AU
3647	New fish scale determines weight based on tail size	dailyamerican	2015-12-29	US
3648	These Fish Went From Saltwater To Freshwater In Just Fifty Years	gizmodo	2015-12-18	US
3649	Record fish haul confirms recovery of North Sea stocks, say industry figures	heraldscotland	2015-12-18	UK
3650	Salmon lovers rejoice, you may be allowed to ‘suspiciously handle’ the fish soon	metro	2015-12-15	UK

145 of [218 - pages.]