Spearing (Pics)

[terrible_fisherman]

I used to spear quite a bit about a decade ago (I was about 14-16 at the time) and was given a 4x8 dark house that a friend of mine and I built when I was just a kid (like 12) and it is still very functional. I put it out around Xmas of this year and have been out pretty much every Saturday and Sunday on the lake that I live on.

I just had a few questions for those of you that may have more experience in the sport ( I really dont remember all the tricks and what not).

I set my house up so I could see the bottom of the lake. My hole is about 24 inches by 72 inches and one side of the hole is in roughly 5.5ft of water with a weedbed on it (was a solid weed bed but is dying off now and mostly brown). The weedbed side is on the low edge of a drop off from 3ft to 5.5ft. The other side of my hole is in about 8 ft right before a large shelf that drops down to about 14 feet. I can see the bottom very clearly and have no trouble seeing pike move in. Over the last couple weeks the pike action has slowed considerably though. I am wondering if it may be that I need to move my house.

Are pike territorial? I am wondering if I speared 10-12 in that area that not many more will move in for a while.

Also, I have a muskrat problem recently. He likes my spear hole. Will this scare off fish?

Are you typically spearing where you can see the bottom or are you in deeper water and just running your decoy where you can see it?

Thanks for information that you may have.

[Pikeslayer]

My house is five by six. the hole is fourtyfive by twentyfour inchs.

[Pikeslayer]

TERIBLE FISHERMEN It sounds like you have your house in a good spot, I have sat for a week with no action and then you cant keep them away from your decoy,pike move around alot!RATS!!They STINK!!If you have a cover over your hole thats a start,try hanging a few mothballs in a small finch seed bag on a nail under the cover when you leave!! good luck!!

[Pikeslayer]

Oh yea I forgot, I knew a old timer that used a decoy shaped like a rat, tail and all! so no I dont beleave a rat is spooking your pike!

[bassNspear]

I dont believe it is ither. By Grandpa always used to use a rat looking decoy.

[Central Bassman]

One other decoy that some of you guys might want to try is a BIG Dea Devil.. The biggest one u can find and just take the hook off!!!!

[bassNspear]

What i think your talking about is a big dear devil. Alot of guys have been using them for spearing, where they take the hooks of the dear devil and jig it in the whole. But i guess u can use the hooks now that u can jig in the whole.

[Pikeslayer]

Are you talking about a dare devil?

[Central Bassman]

Yea... The bigg bigg ones... They work some times better then a fish decoy

[Pikeslayer]

Sometimes when the fish are not moveing and Im done cooking vennie and tatertots on the woodstove,Ill play with diferant decoys. Try a sucker minnow on a harness with a spinner blade pinned to its tail! It puts a little more color in the hole!sometimes it works!!

[silverhair]

hey Stiff;

Nice spear, what did that cost you and where do you find a second hand store that has such things?

The barbs look similar to the one my dad and I made a long time ago. We sharpened the end of the tines first, then heated them up with a torch and bent them around to become the barb. Then we heated and hammered the bend into a new point and polished the whole thing up with a grinder and then a file. Very durable.

Bob

[Early Riser]

Stiff that spear is a good find indeed. The style of line tie identifies this as a "Brainerd Spear." It was likely made back in the 40s or 50s by Louis Gustas for the Foley Hardware store. A gentleman names Clarence Thomas made the spears after Mr. Gustus passed on. Nice Spear!

[Stiff]

I found it at an antique shop just east of Superior Wisconsin. They actually had quite a few, but almost all of them were pretty poor quality. I paid about $60 for it, which I thought was pretty fair. I was trying to figure out how they made the points / barbs on it. after close inspection....... I'm still not sure.

With a little luck I hope to give it a try Saturday morning.

[bassNspear]

You can spear no fish LOL

[Stiff]

Early Riser,

That's pretty cool - Thanks for the information. How do you learn the details of past decoys / spears etc. and their makers??

BNS,

What do you mean? or are you just teasing? I'm trying to learn some new spots. Hopefully I'll get a few more fish in the viewing window Saturday morning than I've seen so far.

[bassNspear]

Im just giving ya a hard time. Gota have some fun around here.

Did you see my new post for my spears?

[Early Riser]

Tony, The information on your spear is from a book by M. Salive (1993) "Ice Fishing Spears." It is a very good book with a lot of information and pictures. Dr. Salive is a metalurgist/engineer, and as you can imagine he goes into great detail about his topic.

[Stiff]

Ok Early Riser,

Take a look at this one. I don't know where it came from but it has been in my family a long time. As a kid I found it in a shed on the farm. I was told that it was either my Grandfather's or my uncle's. I never got to know my Grandfather very well and only have vague memories of him as he died when I was 5 years old. Anyhoo, I'm sure that this is the spear that sparked my interest years ago.

The handle tapers to a wooden insert which makes it look like it was a commercially made spear, which seems odd to me because my grandfather was a metal worker and it seems like he never bought anything he could make and he could make darn near anything.

Have you guys seen anything like this one before?

~T

PS - BnS, since people generally only tease people they like, I'll take it as a compliment.

[Central Bassman]

LOL know thats old school!!!

[Capt'nMorgan]

In page one of this thread there are pictures of decoys, and as one mentioned the Bruell decoys are longer made, I have 6 of them and are awesome. Do ant of you have the red/white 12" that is my #1 decoy many teener sized pike have came into this one.

[pokegpike]

I have that exact shape on the end of my custom spear. Square, then 6 tines. Then the bottom is fused to one piece of hardened steel shaft(some special type of steel I'm told from Chicago). An old guy from the Rapids area built it. I was told mine was one of the last me made. Very nice.

Looking for an ice saw? I got mine here www.doublediamondspears.com. They are the BEST! His spears are a work of art as well. Gorgeous actualy. My saw was $150 (pictured below on top of the spears), nice PVC case, complete with handle, included.

His hand made spears (as of 3 yrs ago) were $250, and when I picked one up while getting my saw, I was speachless. Perfection is all I can say, and probably worth every penny. They have a wooden handle at the top. VERY pretty weapons! I have yet to hold a nicer, more perfectly balanced spear in my hand. He uses some sort of steel and gets it to look like platinum. Have a look for yourself on that site. Very nice guy too. He lives on site and hand makes these items in his large shop on site outside of Plato MN on a farm. If you buy one of these from him, he'll log your name w/ the product you buy. Free ice saw sharpening for life he says. I just cut my hole open this afternoon w. my saw - still razor sharp! - 12" of ice(2'x5' hole) like budda!

[Early Riser]

Those are some great looking spears. I am sure they do the trick on the pike. I have one of his saws and they really seem to stay sharp for a long time.

Stiff have your tried out that old spear? I was wondering if the wide metal boss that holds the tines causes the spear to plane out at all. I know the double diamond spears are highly esteemed. Pokedpike do they throw real straight when shooting off to the side a little?

[Stiff]

I'll second that one - all of that equipment looks VERY sweet. Definately something to keep in mind.

Early Riser, I have used that spear, but not very much. It seems to throw pretty straight, but like I say I haven't used it very many times and when I did the shots were pretty much right in front of me.

[night bite]

14.5-37 in

[image][/image]

[shamalex72]

A few pics from today.