NEBRASKA CITY – Allen Paap, a Nebraska fishing legend with state and world records for largest catch, was busy with lifelong customers and family Saturday upon announcing his retirement after 70 years at a Nebraska City shop.

Paap and his dad started Southeast Fur Buyers in the early ‘60s to prevent wanton waste of coyote pelts, but his daughter Nancy knows his love was always fishing.

Nancy Paap: “He worked with the furs, tanned their hides and did all that, but he was a fisherman. Everyday, when he closed up he’d say he would be out fishing.”

 

Paap provided fishing tips to countless anglers at his position near the Missouri River, but he was most fond of climbing into a float tube and trying his luck on local farm ponds. It was there he caught his state-record black crappie that earned worldwide acclaim because of verification by Game Warden Russ Mort, certified scale by Mike Swoyer, an examination by a biologist.

John Paap: “There were lines of people wanting to see this fish, because we had it alive in the minnow tank for two days.”

There were newspaper articles, national award presentations and plenty to talk about at the shop, but the family knew it was not enough, as Allen Paap still covets today the state record for largest bass.

Dylan Paap: “Fishing with grandpa isn’t necessarily fishing right next to him, holding his hand, taking fish off with him. He’s pretty ready to go fishing. He gets out there, he’s going for a big bass.”

John, the youngest of five sisters and one brother, said freshly caught fish was usually one of the weekly meals around the Paap household growing up.

 

John Paap: “He wanted to outsmart them. He was ‘I know there is a fish right here.’  To watch him work it, knowing I’m going to catch this fish.”

Dylan said his grandpa was an excellent teacher about using a float tube, feeling the things beneath the surface and finding areas that are warmer or cooler.

Dylan: “He knows how to do it better than anyone else.”

Dylan summed up what he learned from his grandpa’s lifetime of selling bait and tackle and lifestyles and stories.

Dylan: “Just getting out with friends and family is one of the biggest, most enjoyable things. Getting that time I spent with him, getting excited about whatever you catch. Pulling in a fish is a successful day.”

A sign above the counter at Paap’s store perhaps sets the stage for tall tale of a Nebraska legend. "Fish tremble when they hear my name.” -- Paap.