The big ones...

[EatSleepFish]

In your experience what is the best thing to do when you get a decent sized fish to come in. Alot of the time I'm frustrated by bigger fish hanging out on the edge of my hole, and not being able to throw at them. When I try to wiggle or jig the decoy, they'll usually leave...so is it better to keep the decoy still when their watching or jig them in to entice them?

[glenn57]

my experience, they will do what there gonna do. the biggins arent big for no reason. i find patience and a little luck with a still deke works best.

[Homer_P]

It all depends on who you talk to. Some say to really be playing the deke a lot, and they will have lots of luck. Some say to leave it alone and let it sit still for long periods at a time. My experience shows to let it sit still, maybe play the deke once an hour - Patients is the key!!

Best of luck.

[bassNspear]

Good Questions.

I have ran into this alot, and when i do is this. I use a live decoy under my fake, and i believe that if i can turn that live decoy towards the pike, the pike will come towards it.

They want to hit it in the head, and if you can turn that decoy towards them, they will come. Most of the time.

[AWH]

I've found that the best thing to do when I see a big one swim through the spear hole is just enjoy it and keep the spear in hand. As spearers, we need to realize how valuable these bigger fish are and let them swim. We are our own worst enemy when it comes to having bigger pike in our waters.

I've seen too many waters that used to have decent numbers of fish with plenty of big ones turned into lakes with high numbers of fish and few big ones. This can be directly correlated to taking the big fish out of the system.

Don't take this post the wrong way. I'm not against spearing. Sitting in a spear house and watching the fish swim through is a blast. But if we'd all take the smaller fish (fantastic on the table!) and let the big ones go, we'd have a lot more big fish to enjoy. The mentality of "it's just one fish" is not a good one to have when it comes to the future of big pike in our lakes. Whether angling or spearing, I think we need to have a self imposed 24" to 26" maximum size for the pike we are going to take for the table. Those 26" to 36" fish that are so common to see on the end of a spear is something I cringe at every time I see it because of the negative effects it has on our lakes. And it has more of a trickle down effect than just on pike alone.

Aaron

[bassNspear]

I agree with you. The reason that we need to take some of the smaller fish, is becuase the lakes might get over populated, and by taken smaller fish, we will elimanate that problem.

[andrew chadwick]

AWH-Id like to buy you a beer- if I was old enough. Seeing that there are spearers out there with the catch and release/ selective harvest mentality realy gives me more hope in the sport of spearing, as I to have seen what spearering can do to a popuation of large pike. I am not at all against spearing, although I think it could be a little more regulated in terms of the taking of trophy fish.

-chadwick

[tengauge]

this is a welcome sight,

i couldn't agree with you more, i spear a small lake with lots of nice fish 5-12 pounds ive been out there a number of times this year and have only taken 5 fish 4 in the 3-4 pound class and one 34 incher. it's great to see those pigs cruising through, i love it and if i could ever figure out how to get pics from my phone to this computer i could show you some. i'm heading out here in a little bit gonna bring my camera today and hopefully get a few to put in the pic thread. good luck everybody and keep up the good work

[bassNspear]

good luck to you. Hopefully you will see a few of them big dawgs in that lake.