I grew up in Cheboygan, Michigan, and began making ice fishing spearing decoys at the age of 12 years old by watching my grandfather Captain Ken Elyea (a well known commercial fisherman in the Cheboygan and Mackinac area). He taught me how to carefully carve and balance the simple yet effective torpedo-shaped ice fishing decoys that worked, as I witnessed every time we went fishing! Even though I
eventually moved to the warmer climate of Texas, I continued to enjoy carving and sharing these effective ice fishing decoys. Some unique features of my decoys are that the tails can be pivoted up and down, and the fins and tails can be slightly bent in ways that cause the decoys to circle, dive, spiral, etc., mimicking the natures of the bait fish attractive to pike, walleye, muskie, and sturgeon. In addition to their flexible maneuverability, another unique feature of my Mercer IceTorpedoes is that they are shaped and weighted to be incredibly swift in the water. I have 'swim' tested each one to ensure they are balanced and fast! All my decoys are handmade with wood bodies, lead weighting, and either aluminum, tin, or galvanized metal fins. My painted decoys are one-of-a-kind, hand painted with acrylic paints and sealed with two coats of clear enamel. All Mercer IceTorpedoes, whether they are painted or unpainted decoys each have my initials (DM) monogrammed in such a way on the bottom that it resembles a small torpedo. Because I know that some of you will have preferred colors and patterns that you like, I sell unpainted versions of each size of my Mercer IceTorpedoes.
