organization to help Northern Pike fishery

[merkman]

and i'm a stuborn german.

ja voll,

ich auch.

[merkman]

Ultimately the problem is that there are too many people who still think that any fish you catch (or see if spearing) needs to be taken home.

+1

[jeffreyd]

My classes such as my chemistry classes are closed book and done at home. does the test taker have the chance to cheat, yes but who are they cheating? the final is done in the presence of a proctor. If you (general term) require proctored testing as they do here in az for the hunters ed test, then your cost are going to rise. while hunting and angling are different arenas when it comes to licensing, the one approach would be to involve more kids in the science part of school. One thing I can see is that pricing for licenses to me are too low. I bought a license to fish in AZ, trout stamp, and 2 pole stamp, it was over 50 bucks. Now if i want to fish in the urban lake program that is another license and trout stamp, two pole stamp. no one wants price increases but to put on programs like a fishing ed program is going to require it.

[reinhard1]

even spelled it right-i think.lol

[bigpike00]

Esoxhunter11, even though you are struggling to catch big pike, I think you should join the northern pike of minnesota org. It's a great org. and you really learn a lot!

[jeffreyd]

bigpike, can you check that address, as i tried to go to it and it did not offer anything. thanks jeff

[Gordie]

and 2 pole stamp,

I'd pay for that in a heart beat and I would even endorse the extra money to go for pike management

[reinhard1]

agree with the 2 pole stamp. i would also agree with a licence fee increase as long as 100% goes to the dnr. good luck.

[merkman]

and 2 pole stamp,

[reinhard1]

that makes sense to me. since darkhouse spearing is specificly for harvesting pike. funds from the sale of spearing licences should go to pike management. trout stamps are for trout management and walley stamps are for walley stocking efforts. there should be no controversy. good luck.

[merkman]

since darkhouse spearing is specificly for harvesting pike.

I don't fully agree with that statement but....

I do agree, that there should be no controversy with dedicating those funds.

[reinhard1]

ok merk. how about i ammend it to 'darkhouse spearing is specificaly for harvesting and look and realease pike'. good luck.

[Shawn Kellett]

Reinhard, you can spear carp through a spear hole if I remember correctly. In fact I don't know why more people DON'T do that. I think picking off 20# railroad ties all day would be pretty cool and beneficial to the lake to boot.

[merkman]

Reinhard, you can spear carp through a spear hole if I remember correctly. In fact I don't know why more people DON'T do that.

[Shawn Kellett]

Not anti-harvest at all. In fact I just picked up my WI license for a week of salmon fishing in Lake Michigan.

[jeffreyd]

So if i remember correctly, does the Dnr not offer a Stamp for a fee that the funds raised go into that program? The problem i see is that the Dnr is part of the general budget in MN. Here in AZ, the game and fish dept is their own entity, therefore they draw no money from the taxpayers, making their only source of operation capital from hunt/fish license and registration from boats and ohv stickers. So why can't sportsman/women say that they want xxx to go directly to dnr and not to the general fund for the state?

[reinhard1]

what percentage of dark houses are used for spearing carp? lets get real. again-i do not spear. people who do have a right to do so. i would love it if people speard,bow hunted, and other leagal ways to harvest carp or any other rough fish. i have cought carp and smoked them. so again, i am for all funds that are obtained from people who buy a darkhouse licence go to northern pike specificly-it just makes sense. good luck.

[john skarie]

So Merk I'm curious on your thoughts on snagging fish, which is now illegal but wasn't in the past.

If snagging were legal would you support the "rights" of snaggers to do so?

Obviously it provides an easy means killing fish, hence the reason it is illegal. Fish populations are to succeptable to over harvest when you can kill them without actually having to make them eat.

So do you support anything that is legal, even though it's impact on the fishery can be so severe?

Just where to you draw the line on what is acceptable and isn't for the protection of our resources?

Furthermore, how do you draw any comparisons between fishing and deer hunting? Those two pursuits are as different as they can be in regards to how they are regulated and why.

FYI lots of people kill carp to eat, not just 'cause they feel like killing. Funny how you can look down on carp and crow "killers" and out of the other side of your mouth complain about "sportsmen" banning others and not accepting their practices as being ethical.

JS

[reinhard1]

as far as i know there is no northern pike stamp. we have trout and walley that goes specificaly towards them. as far as the dnr, i would like to see the dnr chief be elected not appointed. whoever the gov. is its always a friend and not usualy the best candidate. many times people appointed to dnr commisioner dont last a full term and so there is no stability. i like that concept you have in arizona. good luck.

[merkman]

So do you support anything that is legal, even though it's impact on the fishery can be so severe?

IF the impact of 14 Thousand darkhouse spearers darkhouse spearing the daylight hours of the 3 shortest daylight hour months has more impact on the fishery than 1.4 MILLION anglers fishing 24-7 most of the year then you would have a point.

The numbers point this out very well.

Darkhouse spearing season: Nov 15, 2010 to Feb 27, 2011 OR 104 Days

Hook and Line season: May 25, 2010,Feb 27, 2011 OR 278 Days

Posession Limits are equal for both methods

Just counting northern pike over 30" here is what each method is allowed to take per year.

104 Northern Pike over 30" per sportsman via darkhouse spear per year.

278 Northern Pike over 30" per sportsman via hook and line per year.

Multiply those numbers by the 14 THOUSAND vs the 1.4 MILLION and you get.

1.5 Million Northern Pike over 30" allowed via darkhouse spearing per year

389 Million Northern Pike over 30" allowed via hook and line per year

A 30" northern pike = 7.7 lbs

That translates to

11.5 Million pounds of Nothern Pike over 30" allowed via darkhouse spearing per year.

3 Billion pounds of Northern Pike over 30" allowed via hook and line per year.

Actual take of northern pike per year by ALL methods in Minnesota.

3.2 Million Pounds of Northern Pike per year

That is 2.28 lbs of nothern pike per angler per year.

To put that into perspective:

Minnesota Walleye harvest: 24 lbs per angler per year.

Minnesota Panfish harvest: 47.7 lbs per angler per year.

If you can make the case to ban darkhouse spearing, the case to ban hook and line fishing certainly can be made.

I prefer to keep both.

As to the rest of your questions I respectfully ask you to reread my post.

[john skarie]

Your inability to answer simple, direct question speaks volumes about you.

Good day.

JS

[foulpole18]

Don't hold your breath if your looking for answers John. He'll just barf out the same stats he always uses (see his last post for an example). He asks question but never answers any.

[jeffreyd]

Merk, what would YOU do if they decided to close darkhouse? No statistics, just an answer on how you or what YOU would do? Would you be willing to push for a northern pike stamp, not just for darkhouse folks but for the fishery as a whole?

[reinhard1]

jeffreyd, you are one of the most reasonable guys that post on this subject and on others. while i might disagree with merc on some of the spearing issues a northern pike stamp should go only for pike. trout stamps go to trout and walley stamps go to only walleys, so there should be no difference. a northern pike stamp would benefite both the angler and a person who chooses to spear them. if all current laws[including slots] are applied it would benefit the entire fisherie. good luck.

[merkman]

I am sure glad you are listening...

Merk, what would YOU do if they decided to close darkhouse? No statistics, just an answer on how you or what YOU would do?