Legislative session

[foulpole18]

Is it just me or did they get a bill going to remove slots for pike on MN lakes? I hope I misunderstood what I heard.

[RK]

Yes, they did.

HF0107, authored by Rukavina, Hackbarth, Anzelc and Fabian.

Here we go again.

[Shawn Kellett]

Yep and it's just getting going. I don't know why but Rep Hackbarth seems to be on a mission to turn this states fish and game laws to more closely resemble Kentucky. I know, we can rename our state to "Minntucky"! It'll be like down south only up nort doncha know.

[Jameson]

I wish any attempted law change that failed would have to wait a year to try again. It didn't pass last year. Wonder what will happen this year.

[guideman]

Unfortunately, as long as we allow our fisheries to be managed by polititions who only have their own ajenda on their minds. We will see these ridiculous attempts to undermine solid scentific management of our fisheries. None of these individuals have any background in fisheries management yet they seem to think they know whats best for the rest of us that use this fragile resource. My own Rep is one of these legislators that have backed this bill. I have writen him, e-mailed him and talked to him on the phone, all to no avail. He says HE knows whats best for our fisheries and this bill won't have any negative impact on Minnesot's trophy Pike fishery. He will never get my vote again...

"Ace"

[brad coin]

OR,,,we just decide to declare war and go for a spearing ban,,even if it dosent fly it gives the spearers the burden to have to defend against it and devote their energy to the defensive instead of the offensive and keep pushing for their selfish pursuit,,what do you think happens when most of the trophy gene pool is removed from pike??? not now not in 5 years but you can BET they will want muskies opened up too,,look at their recent actions their the energizer bunny they just keep going and going and going, french lake,cass lake,ALL protected lakes,no slot limits

spearing-'so easy a cave man can do it' and just has outdated

[gotum]

Or we could lobby some reps to make a bill so we can spear walleye with no slots and see how that plays out for everyone and maybe get their attention.

[kustmoboy]

Please contact your representatives and let them know about this foolishness. I spoke with mine today.

[mainbutter]

Or we could lobby some reps to make a bill so we can spear walleye with no slots and see how that plays out for everyone and maybe get their attention.

This.

[foulpole18]

OR,,,we just decide to declare war and go for a spearing ban,,

Maybe thats the way to go. Make them spend their resources on the defensive for once. Don't like to go to such extremes but sometimes you have to go down to their level. There are plenty of lakes for them to spear, they just want the ones that have a slot so they can spear some bigger ones. Like they haven't done that to enough lakes already. Spear all the hammerhandles you want, but out of respect for the lakes biology try leaving the big ones in the lake instead of on the end of a spear.

[harvey lee]

Please contact your representatives and let them know about this foolishness. I spoke with mine today.

I did exactly that today.

This bill is just nuts. I would easily vote to ban spearing if they want to open it up to all pike.

[gotum]

I would as well and I enjoy spearing.

[Muskiefool]

Funny thing is the latest research done by the MN DNR shows that the majority of spearers and pike anglers are happy with the regulations as they stand, a prominent spearer stated they were happy to see that the average age of spearers was lower than some have speculated. Now I'm guessing that will be the only part of the study used by them as truth.

Its 1% or less of the spearers (approx 5-6 people) that are getting this done through a powerful lobbying effort; very impressive indeed.