Initially founded at the Moccasin Lodge in Hayward, Wisconsin in 1953, the Piscatorial and Inside Straight Society was officially dissolved in 1999. In one of the group's many scrapbooks, Carl Zielke of the Wisconsin Press Association credits Governor Walter J. Kohler with naming the group; other charter members included future Governor Warren Knowles, John Wyngaard, and Republican lobbyist Claude Jasper. The PISSers, as they called themselves, met twice yearly, in the spring and fall, to hunt, fish, play cards, drink, and play music. The trips eventually moved south to the Dells. Peak years were the 1960s, when rosters show membership around 75, and members could be found from the Wisconsin Capitol to the White House, as member Melvin Laird served as Secretary of Defense; a program shows members sailing the Potomac on their 1969 spring trip.
