Author fishes his way to Montana

Fishing and family go hand in hand for Charles Zucker.

Originally from the Midwest, Zucker grew up fishing in Wisconsin and Minnesota with his brother. They would retreat from the south side of Chicago, home for much of his childhood, and look for walleyes in Minnesota.

Zucker, now 88, is a published author. His book, “A Fisherman’s Journey: A Lifetime of Angling Adventures from Northern Wisconsin to Northwest Montana,” is a memoir about how community and fishing have always been connected throughout Zucker’s life.

From his grandpa to his brother to his wife’s extended family, fishing is a priority in the Zucker household.

“It was almost genetic,” Zucker said.

A University of Wisconsin Madison undergraduate, Zucker got his doctorate in American history at Northwestern University where he graduated in 1972. A midwesterner at his core, Zucker has explored rivers and streams from the highest point in Minnesota to the muddied waters of the Mississippi.

While in graduate school, Zucker would visit his older brother in Minnesota every summer to fish. Between walleyes and brook trout, the pair traditionally fished and found a lot of passion in it.

Fishing was never a career for Zucker, although it always remained a constant. He taught at Carroll College from 1974 to 1980 before segwaying into professional association work. In 1988, he moved to Austin, Texas, to work as the director of the Texas Faculty Association.

“When we moved to Austin, my focus with fishing kind of shifted,” he said.

In Austin, Zucker discovered fly fishing, which quickly became the forerunner tactic in his sport.

After seeing fly fishers in the Guadalupe River, Zucker took a lesson and started going more and more, falling in love with it.

Texas has beautiful rivers, Zucker said, sort of like the ones here in Montana — yet Montana is unique and beautiful in a way he had never seen. He first saw Big Sky Country in 1970 on a road trip out West, where his cat camped with him the whole time — a topic for an upcoming book Zucker is interested in pursuing.

After retiring in 2007, Zucker and his wife, Shaya, bought a retro camper and traveled the West for five years, fishing along the way, including expeditions into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The trip ultimately inspired the couple to find a home in Montana, where they now reside for half of the year in Columbia Falls.

From Red Meadow Lake to Moose Lake, the Zuckers have fly fished at every available opportunity.

“I wouldn’t have caught as many fish every year without people helping me and telling me where to go,” Zucker said. Now he is hoping he can do the same for others.

After getting into family genealogy during the Covid-19 pandemic, Zucker felt he wasn’t learning much about his family’s history — it was too technical and lacked personal stories.

“So I thought I would write about a family history I did know about,” Zucker said. “Fishing.”

His book, soft launched in the fall of 2022, is simply a collection of stories regarding how fishing intertwines with Zucker’s life. The message, he said, is the importance of community.

Reflecting on 70 years of fishing and a lifetime of experiences, Zucker encourages everyone to embrace their own history — create personal accounts of what happened in your family for generations to come; find community and embrace it.

“A Fisherman’s Journey” is available in softcover at various local retailers as well as at farcountrypress.com.

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.