Spear Chuckers Opinion

[smeese]

Alright, lets keep this tactful, but I want to know, is it common for Darkhouse spearchuckers to want to spear Muskie too? I was out fishing on Tetonka and this guy I went to school with years ago showed me a 38" fish he speared and it was not a Northern.....I was so bummed to see this especially after all the work we tried to do to get them stocked in this lake with no luck. I would really like to see the hobbies blend together better and hope to spear myself sometime too. Just curious if this is common practice even though it is against the law....seems spiteful and dissappointing....I have nothing against Pike fishermen and spear fisherman, but often seems that is a one way street. Thanks for any input....

[MJ1657]

I can honestly say that I do not know anyone that has speared a Muskie or anyone that would. I have alot of friends that spear.

Did you report this to the DNR? What he did was illegal no different then if he would have showed you that he kept 10 fish over his limit etc..

Did he really think it was a pike? I do not understand how someone could mistake a muskie for a pike.

I hate to hear about this because one [PoorWordUsage] will give the rest of us a black eye.

[Gordie]

This is far from a one way street because all spearfishermen are not like that.

I would stongly urge that guy to contact the DNR and report himself its the responsible thing to do and if he dont that the next most responsible thing to do is for you to report it to a CO. If you do not report it you speared just as much as he did in the laws eyes.

It is to bad if this happened as MJ said it gives the people that are responsible spear fishermen a bad name.

[harvey lee]

I have never speared but I am going to try it this year.

I can say for me, there is no way I would spear any other gamefish or for that matter, a large pike. My reason for going is to see what this is all about as my father speared and enjoyed it.

If I spear a northern, it will be a smaller eater type fish. This is the choice I have made but I would not tell another what to spear as long as what they are doing is legal.

As with any other sport, there are always those who will bend or break the rules but one cannot blame the whole group for the actions of one. Same with any other hobby or life itself.

Do us all a favor and if you do know him, call the tip line. That's what I would do as he is doing none any good.

To be honest, he is stealing from us all and he makes honest people enjoying the sport of spearing look to bad apples also.

I hope to read about him in the Outdoor news after the CO has got him and the illegal fish.

[Laska]

especially on clear water tetonka. I will be taking a trip to Michigan to spear sometime in the near future so I can spear a muskie- because there it is legal and or North Dakota. As far as what he supposedly did he should have been reported regardless of my personal views on muskies, its wrong and unethical and doesnt make the spear guys look to good. I dont practice it, niether do any of my friends, or any of us on here. I think this is a stupid beeping thread that should be deleted. We take enough [PoorWordUsage] for spearing- on this forum we dont need anyone coming in here with such a topic on a "So Called" instence. If you would know the history on here you know what Im saying.

Fine for a taking a muskie is what $3000? No thank you, Id rather take the $3000 and go spearing for muskies elsewhere where its legal. Id hope one day we could be like Michigan or ND but it aint never gonna happen.

[hawkeye43]

All you need to do is turn him in to the DNR. Anyone that spears should know the differents between the two. If you don't, then you don't throw your spear. I was on Cass lake in Dec. had a 20" to 22" muskie come in and knew right away thats what it was. The red fins and light green color can't be missed. Or maybe the guy just doesn't care. Just turn him in and let the DNR take care of it. If he has a brain at all, he won't do it again.

[Dave S]

smeese,

I can put you into contact with atleast 4 COs in the Mankato area. Which one do you want to talk to?

[Jameson]

Alright, lets keep this tactful, but I want to know, is it common for Darkhouse spearchuckers to want to spear Muskie too?...

Tough question for me to answer.

First, no way in he!! I'm spearing a muskie in this state on purpose if it is illegal to do so.

I do want to be allowed to. I wish spearfisherman and anglers had the same limits. So, if anglers are allowed to harvest one, than I want to be able to spear one. It'll never happen, so no point in arguing over it.

Not sure even if I was allowed to that I would at this point. A few years ago I likely would have speared ONE trophy muskie for the wall. Now....I've aged....don't think I would even if I was allowed to.

[spearingboy]

I'm surprised it lasted until mid January this winter before the first trolling thread regarding muskies came along...

Smeese contact your local CO or use the TIP line like has already been suggested. To answer your question I can honestly say myself that I don't know anyone who has speared a muskie before. What was the objective of your post? Did you expect spear fisherman to come on here and say..."yep it's common practice for us to spear muskies"?

On a separate note, you can't spear muskies in ND.

[Archerysniper]

I'm surprised it lasted until mid January this winter before the first trolling thread regarding muskies came along...

[BOUNCED]

Gordie why don't we get this lock before it becomes trouble.

Any other forum this is baiting