Where Everyone going Opening Day Spearing?

[Early Riser]

Think about all the anglers that lay fields of tip ups for a day of fishing. The hooking mortality of indiscriminately caught fish of all sizes and species is much higher than those killed by spearing. I've seen a lot of people doing this. They keep some fish and spend a lot of time catching and releasing others if they hit the right day. A certain percentage of those fish are ending up as turtle food even if they are good at handling fish. From what I have seen, most people keep them out of the water too long and are too rough on them. If you release a fish that is bleeding, it is most likely going to die within a day or so. How many pictures of fish do you see that say "catch and release" where there is a light stream of blood running from the gill plate and down the body?

Why in this day and age do some people need to go out and catch any fish just for the sake of photography and releasing it when a certain percentage are going to waste anyways from hooking mortality? Personally if it's legal and people want to catch and release fish I don't have a problem with it. If people want to go out spearing and learn to enjoy watching fish, hunt for that legal trophy, or enjoy harvesting a legal limit of fish for eating, then the activity is a moral and ethical equivalent to C&R angling.

Think about the fact that when spearing you can watch the fish and not even throw the spear. I know there are "yahoos" out there that are unethical - both spearfishers and anglers. The best we can do is to educate, and report any violations that you witness or hear about. Bring kids out spearing every chance you get and teach them to enjoy watching the fish and not to spear every fish they legally can.

In this era of more and more technology for fishing - I really appreciate a sport like spearing that has remained essentially unchanged for generations. To me it is the perfect combination of fishing and hunting.

One thing that can really get addicting is collecting and carving decoys. There are several local decoy shows that are really fantastic for viewing custom spears, folk art fish decoys and working fish decoys. There are some very respected, talented and dedicated people out there promoting spearing and it's long tradition in Minnesota.

[Early Riser]

I forgot to add that the Minnesota Darkhouse and Angling Association (MDAA) has given a lot back to our resources.

For example the Southern Lakes chapter has given away $2,000 in scholarships for college students in natural resources, $2,500 to the DNR towards the purchase of 63 acres of wildlife habitat on the Cannon River near Waterville, $2,000 to the Schildsville Sportsmans Club to repair the public access on Mazaska Lake, $1,000 for the Lura Lake aeration system, and $400 to after-prom parties for high school students so they have somewhere safe to go.

Recently the MDAA donated $1,000 to the University of Minnesota's Joseph Alexander Scholarship and Outreach Fund for students entering fisheries and wildlife study.

Decoy mastercraftsman and MDAA member Bob Johnson of Baxter Minnesota has been recognized nationally for teaching a high school elective class, "Darkhouse Spearing: A Minnesota Tradition." The class, started over four years ago is very popular at Brainerd High School and is introducing a whole new generation to decoy carving and darkhouse spearing. I know Bob and his ethics are outstanding in the field so I know he passing that on to his students.

These are only a few examples of the MDAA and it's members giving back. The MDAA also promotes selective harvest, getting kids involved in outdoor activities and resource conservation. A yearly membership is only $10. A lifetime membership is $400. The bi-monthly newpaper is worth the yearly membership price, not to mention the good causes your membership supports.

[muskiemachinery]

Why can't you evolve to quick strike rigging like I suggested in a previous post? What exactly would be lost? Angling mortality is indeed a fact of life although obviously inflated in your post to make your 'sport' seem less destructive. Poor comparision when compared to the certainty of death when struck by a 5 or 6 tine spear.

Interesting that you actually have a class in a high school. Do you bother to offer any insight to the students regarding the opposition to spearing?

[bassNspear]

Does it really Matter? I understand where your coming from about the DNR, but dont you think that they are working on it to make it better setting laws where you can only take one fish over 30 inches?

[muskiemachinery]

Yes, it really does matter. It matters a lot in fact.

I feel that we as 'Sportmen' have a responsibility not just to live within the regulations imposed on us but to assist in maintaining a quality angling experience for all who wish to enjoy our favored sport. We cannot just sit back and hope that regulations will protect our fisheries. We need to be constantly evolving and coming up with new stragtegies that enhance our preferred sport while at the same time protecting it for the future.It's called being proactive.

Nature designed Muskies and Pike to be low-density top of the line predators. Unlike deer, trophy Muskie and Pike (48"+ & 45"+ respectively)can take up to 15 years in the best of situations and up to 25 years the farther north you go to grow into that status. Keep in mind that to even have a chance at achieving trophy status all must be in a fairly balanced system for that entire timeframe. Even if your not a gambling person I think it is obvious the odds are not in favor of the trophy status occuring. Besides not fishing at all, how can we as sportman enhance the odds of our preferred species attaining all that it can be?

To answer that question I think the Muskie fishing community itself is a good example. When I first started Muskie fishing in the mid-seventies, it was not unusual for a Muskie angler to mount his or her first Muskie, then their first 40 inch Muskie, then their first 45 inch fish, and of course a 50 incher had to go 'on the wall' After 50 inches was achieved it was not unusual for anglers to mount bigger fish sometimes even only an inch larger. It became obvious that the fishery could not maintain these practices, and C&R was introduced. Quickly Muskie anglers embraced C&R but resisted releasing 'big' fish. Trophy class Muskie became the target. When it was realized that the targets of our sport were the females of our favored species and with our trophy hunting we were culling out the genetically superior, a movement started for trophy release. Pictures and replicas are now generally accepted by serious Muskie anglers as proof of angling prowess. (thank goodness). Next on the evolutionary ladder is a problem that 'Early Riser' brought up, angling mortality. Experts in the field estimate 10% mortality on up to 20% in the heat of summer unfortunately when most people are fishing. Many in the Muskie community are afraid that even if Muskie anglers released 100% of their Muskies, angling mortatlity will gradually deminish our Muskie fisherys anyway. So new stragtegies need to be found to make the C&R process less stessful. I have every faith that they will be discovered. That is looking ahead and envisioning problems. That is what is defined as proactive.

I have a number of friends in the UK. Their evolution into C&R fishing mirrors our Muskie evolution. Of course they are about 10 years ahead of us. We can learn a great deal from them. And by the way, they don't have Muskies, only Pike and from some of the pictures I have seen BIG ones.

As a leading organization in the Pike fishing community, what proactive measures to their resouce is the Dark House and Angling Assoc. willing to embrace? The ball is in your court.

[MJBo]

I don't understand the "fish is bleeding=fish is dead" school of thought. Its clearly talk. Sure if you rip a fish's gills out with a treble it probably will die but a musky is not made of lace. I've seen fish which appear have been darn near cut in half by a prop which have by all appearances healed up fine. People who assume a fish will die because of the tiniest cut are flat wrong and the idea of justifying indriscriminately stabbing fish with a spear by pointing out a couple of bleeding fish pictures is absurd.

No offense. Just my humble opinion.

[bassNspear]

I agree with you. Its all going to depend on where it was hooked and how bad.

[Central Bassman]

Yea i hate how all these guys say well that fish is going to die because u hocked it wrong or speared it. How do you really know YOU DONT, unless you tag that fish and you track it, and i know you dotn do that. Quit ASSUMING becaue u dont really know!!!!

[mplspug]

Yeah man, haven't you ever filleted a live fish? Those heads keep on breathing. Eyes keep quivering. I usually release them so they can grow a body back and be caught another day.

[bassNspear]

Center Is right. You have to look at it a all angles. A person will never know if that fish will stay alive. All depends on what happenes and what the angler did. Just never know.

[muskiemachinery]

Wow even meant as a joke that's a tacky post there Mplspug.I had a guy actually do that once, never fished with him again. Do you really think it's a good idea to give the animal rights wackos more ammo? Where's a moderator when you really need one?

[Pikeslayer]

Spearing is alot like deer hunting!shoot em in the foot or stick em in the tail,chances are your gonna lose em!you gotta wait for the right shot!!

[bassNspear]

Not right man. Its not right

[RK]

Hiya -

OK folks...

Time to tone down the rhetoric on this one or it's going to get dusted. Discuss the issues, and feel free to disagree, but lay off the sarcasm and bickering, or this thread goes bye-bye...

Rob Kimm

[bassNspear]

So, Like i started it, Where is everyone going to be going out on the ice for spearing?

[Cowgirladdict]

Just dust it anyway, ridiculous post

[bassNspear]

It just got out of hand. Everyone is over with it, and now its over. Where is everyone going out?

[Pikeslayer]

I was going up to red lake until I found out about the slot limit!now Ill"have to go back to the same old lake and fight off the muskrats all winter from biulding a nest under my house man do they stink!

[Central Bassman]

I think i will be going yup bye Alex, i hopes of getting that big one again like last year. they have some nice bodys of water up there

[bassNspear]

Alex is a great place to find some pike. Nice part is the water is so clear.

[mille lacs muskie bum]

I plan on making my opening day excursion out to a mid sized north metro lake (Coon Lake). I like just outside the channel anyone else?

[bassNspear]

I will be heading towards the Litchfiled area. Going to hit up Greenleaf or Diamond. Have not been to Greenleaf for few years.

[buzbunni]

Being an ice-angler only (up until this point), I wasn't planning on heading anywhere for spearing opener. Having read the entire thread on this subject (thank you to all for your passionate and well thought out responses), I have concluded that I do in fact want to spearfish. I like the tradition and the sport.

Next step: join the MN Darkhouse Assoc. Then, necessarily, gotta build a darkhouse. Maybe I could hang in one of youse guyses houses for a time or two...or three, first?

My spot? Probably a local lake here in the metro.

Oh yeah, gotta find a good spear too.

[bassNspear]

I am a member of the Darkhouse Assoc. Its something that helps out the sport. Make sure if you are looking to get a spear that it has more then 5 tins on it. I have 3 of them, and they all have 9. Just a suggestion.

[HunterLee]

What do you guys prefer for trapping deer, i got a couple that i just havent got yet. But all joking aside. I spear and I always will, but probly will be muzzleloading on the opener. I have seen our favortie lake get wrecked from over fishing and taking all the big ones. It was alot of spearing and in general alot of people fishing out there. The spearer's got a lot of the bigones, because they just wouldnt bite on hooks, i watched them just sit and watch a nice minnow swim infront of there noses. Well we all know that if they do that to a spear fisherman they get wacked behind the head. There were alot of oldtimers out that would be there everyday, they would more then likely get one bigger one more days then none. I recall a few that were 42-45in long. It was a sad deal, and now there is nothing but 16inchers nd smaller. But there is another lake that we fish alot now and they have speared t hat one forever and have taken alot of fish out of there, but it gives up a 20+ few times a year. Why i dont know, but to spear is great, but to much of a good thing is bad.