While fishing is a hobby or a sport for many Americans, it is a full-time job for fisherman Tony Esker of Prairie du Rocher.

Every three days, he wakes up long before the sun rises to head out to the Mississippi River and see what the waters will yield for the day.

Fishing runs in Tony’s family. His father started fishing the Mississippi in 1986, and Tony took over the business five years ago.

“Since then, it’s grown quite a bit,” Esker said.

Esker said he was about 12 years old when he started fishing and has been doing it ever since.

“I should know what I’m doing by now, but I don’t,” he said with a laugh.

His job is an unpredictable one, influenced by weather, temperature and other river conditions.

“Even on a ‘typical’ day, there’s nothing typical about it,” he said. “There’s no book you can read to know what it’s going to be like.”

On days when they go out on the river, they leave about 4:30 a.m.

“On a typical summer day, the water temperature means the most with these fish,” Esker said.

This summer has been unseasonably cool for the most part, which is better for the fish after Esker has caught them.

He keeps the live fish in metal storage tanks with water filtered in from Trappers Falls lakes, right by where he lives.

“When it gets about 90 degrees, it’s almost like taking any kind of a meat product and leaving it out in 90-degree weather,” he said. “You have to get them cleaned immediately.”

Esker, his father, and fellow worker John get the boat ready the day before they go out so they can go straight out to the river and check their nets for catfish, buffalo and spoonbill.

He uses an electronic depth-finder to monitor what kind of fish are below the boat judging by what level of the water they’re swimming in.

They have 39 nets out in a three-mile span of the river.

“I know those three miles like the back of my hand. Every rock, every tree, everything,” he said.

They’re usually out on the river for around four or five hours, depending on whether or not they have to move nets.

Esker said a lot of people consider the river to be dirty, but he claims otherwise.

“A lot of fish come from a pond where water sits stagnant and doesn’t circulate, and it’s full of fish. They’re bathing in their own filth, basically,” he said. “Out on the river, millions

of gallons of water go through every single day. That’s a lot of clean water going through.”

Because of this, he said his fish are much cleaner than those sitting on fish farms.

He said the biggest catfish he’s ever caught weighed 90 pounds, but he knows there’s a lot bigger fish out there.

“A good day out on the river is 1,000 pounds of fish,” he said.

While 1,000 pounds of fish might sound like a lot of money, the expenses that go into the job tally up quickly.

Right now, he only has John employed and his father drives the boat.

“Normally, I’d have to have three people on board with me,” he said.

Fuel for the boat costs between $100 and $125 every time they go out, along with the price of licenses and equipment.

“A lot of people will go out there and see how ‘easy’ it is,” he said. “No part of this is easy.”

He credits the success of his business to word of mouth and selling a good product.

Esker sells to many local businesses including VFWs, church fish fries and other distributors.

Walsh’s Inn in Burksville has been serving their fish since 1992 when Tony’s father was in charge of the operation.

The Burksville tavern typically purchases about 40 pounds of various types of fish each week.

“We’ve been pretty happy with them for years,” Luann Walsh said.

Without his customers, Esker said he doesn’t have a business, so providing the absolute best fish he can is key.

“You can’t get discouraged and have to try different things,” he said.

The business changes every day, every month and every year.

“This year, it’s lack of water and water temperature,” he said. “Last winter, I couldn’t go on the river for a month and a half because it was frozen.”

Esker said although that was hard on him, he had his freezers stocked up in preparation, so none of his customers went without fish.

“I sell an awful lot of fish, and if you don’t have it, they’re going to go somewhere else,” he said.

Though his job is constantly unpredictable, Tony said he can’t picture doing anything else.

“Nothing’s ever the same, and I like that,” he said. “Knowing that people are enjoying my product puts a smile on my face.”