2009-2010 Spearing Season Wrap UP

[bassNspear]

Its so hard to say that spearing is coming to a close again for this year. Its funny how you sit back in your chair and look forward to the season coming, and now its almost over.

It was a great year again for myself this year. I was able to get a few trips in, and be able to meet alot of new people. There is something about getting out on these get to gators to meet new people.

The Get To Gators were not good for fishing at all. We seen a few fish both times that we went this year, but thats not the point of going out there. The food is always great, even when they make brownies and they dont put the nutz in them. Or bring a whole shoe box full of cookies! Its great to be able to get fish when we are there, but the best part about it, is being able to put faces to there HSO name. Its great to be able to meet new people and have a great time out on the water. Im glad that we were able to get more and more people out each time, and look forward to next year to have even more.

I learned some new things this year even thow i have been doing this since i have been a kid. There is more things into spearing then just getting out to the lake and cutting a hole, hope a fish is going to come in so you can watch him/her in the lake. To be able to hit the right spots, take the time to study the lake or gps, take the time to cut alot of holes and see whats all around you, and when you get on them spots that are priceless, your going to see alot of fish! I stuck hard core to the bear creek as you all know! Its hard to walk away from something that has worked for me so well! I have seen and learned alot of different set ups from all of you, Laska, Merkman, Elwood, SHam and more! Its crazy how we are all doing the samething and the same time, but using different set ups! They all work, just some better then others sometime!

As a wrap, it was fun to be able to get out with everyone, and to be able to spend the time on line helping you out, and learning along the way.

How about all of you?

[MJ1657]

I would like to thank everyone on ths board for all of their advice and stories.

I have averaged spearing 5 days a week this winter 5 hours each time. I have had only 5 days this year that I didn't see a pike. I only take enough pike for an ocassional meal or two. Reading what others try which I in turn have tried is part of the reason I had so much fun and went at it so hard. (The fact that I am unemployed helped to)

I got my personal best this year (37") which was really the highlight for me and I can't wait to see it on the wall.

I look forward to meeting some of you at the metro banquet.

[bassNspear]

Congrats on the 37 incher!!

[MJ1657]

Pulled my house off the lake and pushed the block in at 5:00 this afternoon.

Made me kind of sad.

[ac777]

Well I found a spot that was real good to me this year, pulled several limits out, let some swim away, and never got skunked there. My biggest this year was a 33 incher which I got yesterday. I had a blast this year as it was my first year, and didn't start till january! Looking forward to tuning up some things for next year.

[Gordie]

This was one of those years that were great but bad in the same breath I didnt get out nearly as much as I wanted to and spearing fun was taken away at first ice for me by a sick father and just coulnt get into it with that on my mind most of the time.

When I did get out to enjoy spearing I did have alot of fun even if I didnt spear a fish cause I met alot of great people along the way like laska and his wife Heidi who is as dedicated to this sport as most of the guys I met that do it. The first GTG was fun even thou there were not any fish to be speared it was fun to hang out wtih all the guys and gals of the spearing forum and even met a couple non spearing guys out there.

Spearing at spear fest was awsome and winning 4th place was just a extra plus for me and then to find out that the guy that started this tradition is part of my family(Dads first cousin)makes it a must do for the rest of my spearing days but I probally would of done that anyway family or not.This was a great time on the ice and again met a bunch of new people in the spearing world and some more from the HSO family.

I really enjoied the new guys that got into spearing this year and hearing all of there success storys and the problems that they came across along the way.

I also like the fact that there are younger guys and gals getting into this sport. I hope they pass it on to the next generation of spearing people as well.

But most of all what this season has showed me is that there are more and more people showing there passion for this sport aand that is what is so great.

Thanks for the great times on this spearing forum guys and hope to keep in touch until the next spearing season.

SEE YA

JUST REMEMBER

KNOW BEFORE YOU THROW

[waterbound]

This season wasn't great for me, but it was great to get out. I definitely didn't get to spend as much time in front of the spear hole as I wanted to and the fish never seemed to be moving for me. I think I only saw 11 fish the whole season but 6 of those were in one day. Didn't get one on the spear but there are always more seasons.

[mrklean]

I got out a little more this year then last year which i was happy about, still not as much as i would have liked, but i got to the first GTG which i was very happy about met some of the guys on here. Cant wait for next year i plan on upgrading to a better house

[Early Riser]

I just ran the stats today from my journal:

I was able to get out 35 times.

I speared 14 different lakes across 5 different Minnesota counties. I tried 6 new lakes. I contemplated a spearing trip to LOW but couldn't find the continuous time needed for trip when I wanted to go in February.

I starting things off in the Grand Marais area the first weekend in December on 3-4" ice on lakes under 200 acres and my back and enthusiasm stayed strong all season. I speared in water ranging from 6' to over 12' and employed a wide variety of spears/decoys and setups. I carefully planed some spots by studying maps and the GPS and went totally random on other new spots.

I Saw 75 pike come in to the spear hole. I had 9 outings where I didn't see a single pike (some these outings were less than 3 hours).

One day I saw 10 pike, including two fish over 30" that were in the hole at the same time. One of them was in the mid 30" range and sizing up a red/white decoy near the bottom, while another low 30" fish was eyeing up a live 12" live sucker minnow about 3' under the ice. Both fish are still swimming - I hope. They started hitting minnows that weekend and a lot of tip-up guys were starting to fish the general area after I decided to leave it alone for the season.

I saw interesting things including a huge metro muskie that was in the 50" range.

Toward the end of the season when the ice was thick I was out in the perm. I had my live decoy swimming in the hole waiting for enough daylight to see down more than a few feet when a nice pike suddenly shot up from the depths, missed the minnow and stunned itself by hitting the wall of ice on the other side of the hole with full force. I could have grabbed or jabbed it while it layed on it's side, but instead watched it come to, slowly right itself and sink/swim out.

One day one of the pike I speared had a lively 8" perch in it's stomach and sticking out of the perch's mouth was the tail of live and kicking miniature bluegill. I guess you could say the food chain unfolded underneath me and then came to fruition on my cleaning table and kitchen!

I saw a few nice walleye and some huge bass up to 20", many of which I was able to entice to biting with my jig stick and waxies. We caught enough sunfish to keep the fry pan hopping and just enough pike were taken for some frying, grilling and pickles. I gutted and wrapped some for the smoker come April, along with some of the carp I speared. A few of the smaller bass were also kept for smoking.

The ice was good and the serenity of the spear house was great as always. We will be ready to get going again come late November or early December 2010!

[ac777]

I just ran the stats today from my journal:

I was able to get out 35 times.

I speared 14 different lakes across 5 different Minnesota counties. I tried 6 new lakes. I contemplated a spearing trip to LOW but couldn't find the continuous time needed for trip when I wanted to go in February.

I starting things off in the Grand Marais area the first weekend in December on 3-4" ice on lakes under 200 acres and my back and enthusiasm stayed strong all season. I speared in water ranging from 6' to over 12' and employed a wide variety of spears/decoys and setups. I carefully planed some spots by studying maps and the GPS and went totally random on other new spots.

I Saw 75 pike come in to the spear hole. I had 9 outings where I didn't see a single pike (some these outings were less than 3 hours).

One day I saw 10 pike, including two fish over 30" that were in the hole at the same time. One of them was in the mid 30" range and sizing up a red/white decoy near the bottom, while another low 30" fish was eyeing up a live 12" live sucker minnow about 3' under the ice. Both fish are still swimming - I hope. They started hitting minnows that weekend and a lot of tip-up guys were starting to fish the general area after I decided to leave it alone for the season.

I saw interesting things including a huge metro muskie that was in the 50" range.

Toward the end of the season when the ice was thick I was out in the perm. I had my live decoy swimming in the hole waiting for enough daylight to see down more than a few feet when a nice pike suddenly shot up from the depths, missed the minnow and stunned itself by hitting the wall of ice on the other side of the hole with full force. I could have grabbed or jabbed it while it layed on it's side, but instead watched it come to, slowly right itself and sink/swim out.

One day one of the pike I speared had a lively 8" perch in it's stomach and sticking out of the perch's mouth was the tail of live and kicking miniature bluegill. I guess you could say the food chain unfolded underneath me and then came to fruition on my cleaning table and kitchen!

I saw a few nice walleye and some huge bass up to 20", many of which I was able to entice to biting with my jig stick and waxies. We caught enough sunfish to keep the fry pan hopping and just enough pike were taken for some frying, grilling and pickles. I gutted and wrapped some for the smoker come April, along with some of the carp I speared. A few of the smaller bass were also kept for smoking.

The ice was good and the serenity of the spear house was great as always. We will be ready to get going again come late November or early December 2010!

Great over view Early Riser! good to hear the details.

[MJ1657]

I always think i'm going to keep a journal of my hunting/fishing activities but I never seem to get it started.

Nice job Early Riser.

[gardn184]

Was my first year spearing on my own, got out 15 times and only went one day without seeing a fish. Saw some really nice eyes (naturally the days I didn't bring the jig stick), managed to stick my personal best of 33 inches, and bring about 4 other guys into the sport. Carved my first couple decoys, all with household materials.....2x4 chunks, melted sinkers for weight, and cut up folded pop cans for fins. One of the 3 acutally works Speared a fat 25 incher that decided to give it a look. My personal favorite moment was when I was spearing with two of my other buddies and we had 2 large northerns come in and hit the live minnow and the decoy at the same time, both northerns escaped in the ensueing cluster and managed to tangle both lines up and steal the decoy minnow. Man was my heart racing. This is truly a great sport and I am so happy I moved to Minnesota so I can enjoy it. Hopefully Wisconsin can join in and allow my friends and relatives back there this enjoyment and rush. Thanks for the information and the good reads over the season guys!

[gardn184]

here's the one that worked

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv205/gardn184/IMG_0209.jpg

[Early Riser]

ac, MJ and others so inclined, I would recommend starting a journal of hunting and fishing as soon as possible. I have been doing this continuallly since 1989, so I am now going on my third decade. My journal also has grown to include other other entries relating to phenology and interesting news of the day or observations of interesting things that happen. It is fun for our kids now to go back and read about all the adventures they either don't remember or can vaguely recall going back to when they were in diapers! When you yourself go back to see what happened in years past you will really enjoy the memories and learn so much about patterns. Plus other people may also enjoy it - just be carefull about who you share it with so some of your hard earned knowledge and secrets stay intact!

gardn nice job with the homemade decoy and success with it.

I have enjoyed hearing of others adventures, decoy carving and success on these forums.

[BOUNCED]

I started a journal for the first time this year. I'm getting to old to rely on my memory from year to year. Once the ice is off I plan to transfer all my darkhouse chicken scratch into something I can decipher. Then I can tally number of trips, fish seen, fish taken.

My initial goal was to start compiling info on times of year and weather conditions I have the best success in. Maybe a few years from now I have enough information to start seeing some yearly patterns?

Worst case this info just keeps me busy thinking about spearing in the off season. I can't lose.

[Gordie]

I'm getting to old to rely on my memory from year to year.

at laest I'm not the only one who can admit this I will be starting one next season if I can remember too

[ac777]

ac, MJ and others so inclined, I would recommend starting a journal of hunting and fishing as soon as possible. I have been doing this continuallly since 1989, so I am now going on my third decade. My journal also has grown to include other other entries relating to phenology and interesting news of the day or observations of interesting things that happen. It is fun for our kids now to go back and read about all the adventures they either don't remember or can vaguely recall going back to when they were in diapers! When you yourself go back to see what happened in years past you will really enjoy the memories and learn so much about patterns. Plus other people may also enjoy it - just be carefull about who you share it with so some of your hard earned knowledge and secrets stay intact!

gardn nice job with the homemade decoy and success with it.

I have enjoyed hearing of others adventures, decoy carving and success on these forums.

This is my second year of keeping a log of days I fished and how many caught and where, but I dont really go into detail of the day. I think it is something I am going to try to do from now on. I currently use the HSOforum Fishswami to log my days.

[Bluegill1510]

Thats an awesome report Early Riser! Sounds like you got out alot. This was my 2nd season spearing and I got out 10 times. I mostly speared out of my portable all year & would leave it out for a week at a time, even though I built a permanent that I never got out because of snow storms and dealing with slush.

I started in mid december during early ice in the Bemidji area and then mainly speared same lake in the Mille Lacs area all winter. I got my personal best northern while spearing.. (37" 15 1/2 lbs.), last year (1st year spearing) I got a 37" as well but was only 11 lbs. Each speared on different lakes too.

I saw a total of 87 northerns this season in the 10 sittings so with the math comes out to about 8 northerns each sit. But I know the one day back in January I seen 25 or so (I stopped counting after 20), but some were the same fish but I know I saw at least 15 different northerns. Then went out there 2 days later same spot and saw 15 northerns that day. So those were my big number days, alot of small fish like 2-3 lbers but I did see a 10-12 lber come in, still swimming and had one come in last week that I couldn't tell how big she was body wise (hunging the bottom in 11 feet with murky water) but when she swam through the hole I saw her tail and it was bigger than the 15 1/2 lber I speared back in December, hopefully both are still swimming..they made it through my hole.

Probably worst day of spearing was last Friday I had a 6-7 pounder speared and while I was bringing her up I notice I didn't get her the best and I got her to the edge of the hole and she fell off and swam away! Probably the worst feeling I had all season I was really bummed, cuz I know she wasn't going to make it! But what can you do?

I also saw a few bass this year some nice ones, a 3 lber I coaxed in with a panfish lure, also saw quite a few bullhead, and one bowfin. Also in the last week of season the bluegills and a few crappies were active and I got to bring home a few meals of panfish while spearing, and even on Sunday, a buddy came with and angled out of his portable house & caught his limit of bluegills while I speared my limit of northern less than 15 yards apart from each other.

I also made some of my own decoys this last summer and right during season in Feb. So now my decoy total is up to 12, and only 2 I have boughten in the stores. I'll have to post the pictures of them sometime if I can remember to.

For me this year early ice horrible spearing wise I didnt see anything, unlike last year on my first year I was seeing fish all the time, and when I angle during early ice I do my best compared to mid winter. Did any of you guys have bad luck during early ice this year spearing wise?

All in all a good season, I'd like to get out more next year and use my permanent, and try a few other lakes as well. My goal is find a lake where I can spear and have a chance at a legit 20 lber northern and also have a chance at seeing & catching a pound bluegill! That would be the cats meow in my book. Also I have been keeping logs since my last year of college (spring 2005) mainly on a calendar for fishing and bow hunting. I wish I would of started earlier than that cuz going to college in Bemidji I did alot of fishing on average 3-5 times a week if not 7 days a week. So I wish I would kept logs of information of my early days at college. I know I have learned from my logs and you develop seasonal patterns on the fish and use the moon phases more than you did before.

[bassNspear]

man this is what its all about, hearing the storys and listen to what you all did.

Is this a awesome sport or what?

[shamalex72]

This year was not as good as last year number wise, but I did see a couple hawgs, hoggs, piggies, sows or whatever you want to call them. All I know is they were big. I got pics of one but not the other, both were in the twenty pound range, plus or minus.

I didn't keep notes this year, but I was out many times. Every weekend and most fridays, even a few thursdays(work was slow). I speared a total of 5 northerns and 1 whitefish.

One of the best days was when I took a couple guys that I work with up to North Long Lake. One of them spears and the other used to, but it has been quite a while since he's been out, he went just to watch. The first guy, Tom, meets me at my house, he loads his stuff into my truck and we head to Brainerd to pick up second guy, Don. We get to Dons place, Tom says, " I forgot my spear", Don says " thats like going hunting and forgetting your rifle." We all had a good laugh about that and I told Tom that he could use one of mine.

At the lake we set up two houses and Don sat with me first. I ended up getting two within the first 30 minutes. So then he went to sit with Tom. A little while befor we were going to leave, Don came over said that a nice one came in but Tom missed it. "I should have grabbed the spear from him, he couldn't hit a barn door laying on the bottom" We laughed pretty good about that too. We still give Tom a hard time about that miss, probably will for many years.

[harvey lee]

Well, as usual, I was going to go out spearing for the first time ever and seems time ran out.

maybe next season.

[bassNspear]

tom, we will have to figure out a day you can come with!

[Gordie]

Tom anytime you wanna go I'll make time to get you out as well.

[bassNspear]

have to come to gtg tom, its a good time

[Huey]

Well, as usual, I was going to go out spearing for the first time ever and seems time ran out.

maybe next season.

It's amazing how fast the winter goes by. (I can say that now that it is 40F and sunny).

My season started out well and then sort of fizzled.

My first day spearing was probably the best. It was the Sunday of the last wknd of muzzleloading in Dec. I was up north and had shot my first deer, a small doe, with a muzzleloader the day before. Not a trophy, but I was happy. I set up and saw 2 tiny pike right away, then nothing for a while, after about an hour a CO stopped and checked my license. He was a spearer himself and stayed for a little while just to watch for whatever kept spooking the live decoy. He also said guys in a neighboring spearhouse had seem a 15 lb pike. About ten minutes after the CO left, I saw a pike that I would guesstimate to be 37 - 38" and close to 15 lb.. It came in for the live decoy, which I pulled away from it. Then it came back and grabbed the fake, a red and white Bruell. I pulled that away too. Over the next 5 minutes it came back 2 more times for the Bruell. It would stop, look at the decoy, then grab one of the fins. It's definitely thrilling to see such a big fish so close. I decided to "look and release" so I just enjoyed the show. Someone walking by my house finally spooked the big fish away. I saw 2 more pike that day and speared one that went about 4 lbs.

The following wknd I got the only other fish for the year; a 7 lb'r on a lake close to home.

My notes are not nearly as complete as EarlyRisers, I speared on 6 lakes. 3 of them were new to me. I also tried some new spots on old lakes. Overall, I didn't see much, especially later in the winter, but I found 2 new spots close to home and, of course, a good early season spot up north.