Saw my first fish!! I missed...

[Laska]

So I finaly saw my first fish today, bout a 4lber and I missed, I think it was cuz my cord caught my arm, I was wonderin if any of u guys had any tips on how to throw the spear once u have the tines under the water, and without havin the rope get in the way, like a step by step so I might now miss again, this is my first time spearing and now I saw one and Im HOOKED!! the adrenlaline rush was awsome an the fish came in fast then just a sudden stop 1 inch away form my deak, another thing is how do u move your deak for a good shot on the fish without tangling lines and scaqring the fish?

[bassNspear]

dude,

the only readon why you missed is becuase this was your first fish you have ever seen. Put the tins in the water, and throw it straight. Make sure you get good arm extention, and you will be fine.

You will get better as time goes i promise!

[Notcho]

First thing, RELAX and SLOW DOWN!

Make sure you have a good shot before you even think of letting go of that spear.

What I do is to tie the rope to my leg or the chair and put the line on my right side in a neat coil and have one spear tine resting on the front of the edge of the hole. Then I rest the spear handle on my right shoulder then wait....

When the big one comes in I let him call the shots, not moving the decoy or throwing at movement. I wait till they are sitting right in front of the decoy and won't throw at a snake darting through.

Side note...

With a good spear and patience you will never have to "throw" the spear, just drop it!

[glenn57]

what they said, have a b..r, relax. it will get better.

[Fishing Freak]

glenn57 do you fish the chain much?

[Caleb S]

What I do is to tie the rope to my leg or the chair

Be sure your legth of rope is long enough before throwing or you could have an interesting situation on your hands.

[Laska]

thx for the help guys

[merkman]

Whoo Hoo!!!!

Awesome Laska!!

Last night I was feeling bad after reading your post that you still didn't see any fish. Today I was out with my brother after an hour I knew the fish were moving today. I was hoping you were out today.

The fish were VERY skittish for us today. I had one very nice fish decoyed up but he just wouldn't settle down. Every time it looked like he was going to pause he would move again. Maybe the fish were doing the same thing where you were fishing? And yes even though this is not the first pike I have seen, my heart still was pounding though my chest waiting for him to settle down. It is that feeling that makes cutting the hole worthwhile!

I agree with Notcho

With a good spear and patience you will never have to "throw" the spear, just drop it!

Of course that is easier said than done. lol

First off, generally, don't move your decoy when the pike comes in.

Before that though, I like to place my decoy at the front (furthest away from me) of my hole. I place the decoy line over something near the front of my hole to get it to stay forward. If the pike comes at it from the front slow, there is a good chance they will slip around it a trying to line it up. If they come in slow underneath me they are already lined up.

I spear from a canvas house. I tie my spear rope to the metal corner pole. I place my spear rope between the canvas and the metal pole in a loop. I make sure when I pull on it that it will leave that point smoothly. I leave a loop going to the spear so I can move my spear where I need to. This loop along with the length of the spear is longer than my decoy is deep. This will ensure that my spear has hit the fish before releasing from the canvas/metal pinch point.

Back to the patience thing, it is ok to pass up a questionable shot, let the pike "come to you". When he is in the spot you want him drop the spear. I don't drop my spear until the pikes head is entirely underneath me. I know allot of people who will spear sideways but I am not comfortable enough to do that yet. You will know what shots you are comfortable with. Be content with only taking those shots and as for everything else, just enjoy the show (and the rush of just seeing them!!).

[terrible_fisherman]

I normally do not let the fish stop moving or get to my decoy if I have a good shot. I will never throw at one that just flashes in but if one comes through at a decent speed that feels doable I will toss at it. You get more comfortable with throws as you get used to spearing and try different things.

One thing is that I have done for people I have taken spearing with me is have them practice. If you put cut potatoes down (which is not illegal from all I have been told) you can take aim at them and practice some straight up and down as well as angled throws just to get a feel. Just make sure you do not use beer cans or any other form of litter!

[merkman]

Ya I was in 12 FOW and the pike was at about 11 FOW and moving.

I didn't feel to comfortable with that.

[merkman]

I place my spear rope between the canvas and the metal pole in a loop. I make sure when I pull on it that it will leave that point smoothly. I leave a loop going to the spear so I can move my spear where I need to. This loop along with the length of the spear is longer than my decoy is deep. This will ensure that my spear has hit the fish before releasing from the canvas/metal pinch point.

Here is what I was trying to say.

[bassNspear]

i tie my rope to my wrist. I feel like i have more control over it having it there becuase i always have it in my hand

[SM1]

I situate the rope like mercman has in his pic. Has always worked well for me. Coil it "away" from you so it doesn’t get caught and doesn’t interfere when the spear is thrown.

As mentioned above, throwing the spear is kind of an exaggeration. I like standing up and looking down the spear before I give it a slight push. (not so much a throw) Compare it to aiming a longbow if you have ever done that. Good luck!

[Gordie]

I use a perm shack and took a speed clip and welded a piece of flat stock with a hole in it and screwed it to a stud and clip the rope to it. works very well.

[Laska]

Wow, all the info helps alot n makes sense, I went out again today for 3hrs or so n only saw some big sunfish, least now Im seeing SOMETHING! Oh I forgot to mention in the beginning that I was in 20ft of water, n the northern came in at 5ft down. I like the idea of tying the rope to the shack it makes since and its outta the way, I tied it to my foot today but it was a pain to keep takin it off to check my tip up. The water where I go is pretty darn clear I can see about 12 ft down, n where Im going tomorrow Ill be in 10-12ft, I got a hand me down vexlar last night, brand new never used just 5 years old- even better it was free! Anyways thanks for all the help guys anymore would be great, hope u guys are having luck up north!

[merkman]

I like standing up and looking down the spear before I give it a slight push. (not so much a throw) Compare it to aiming a longbow if you have ever done that. Good luck!

That is a great idea!

[cherokee]

Laska, seeing anymore fish? Yesterday was a good day for movement.

You mentioned you check your tip up quite a bit. One thing I do is keep noise/walking etc. to a minimum. I usually do not tip up at all but keep a rod/reel in the house. I have speared northerns with people walking around me outside but I prefer to be out of the way and away from a lot of activity. Much better results.

Good luck.

[Laska]

yeah, speared a dogfish about 8 pounds, it tried to east my deak and wouldnt leave it alone, otherwise I wouldnt have but gave me some preactice I nailed it! And 10 min after that I had a hammer handle come in n nail my live sucker outta no where, I tried to raise it to not lose the sucker and it nailed it again and took off with it!! I tied my line to the corner of the shack and when I threw my spear aeverything worked great!

Where I go n anywhere I go, there is alot of people going for sunnies, but some do just tip ups, and it didnt seem to interupt the bite at all yesterday, hopefully I see some more fish today, excluding any dogfish.

Ill post tonight n let u guys know how I did, they were catching big northers yesterday morning where I was so Im going out early today! gonna hopefully see some big ones, but wont take it unless its 3 to 5 lbs or 20lbs or larger for the wall ya know... same kinda way I do for summer fishing.

[Laska]

So my day was eventful, saw 100+ sunifish, 4 nice size perch, 2 giant largemouth, and 7 NORTHERNS!! I threw my spear 4 times, missed twice and hit the first one n bagged it and the second one, about a 6 pounder I was bringing it up and it shook off my spear at the ices edge, which sucked cuz I think its gonna die now, and I didnt get a picture of it either.

Now the sad part, so where Im from 15+ pound northerns are scarce and counted as trophies- as do I, I saw one today, Id say between 16-20pounds, n I missed, Now just to let ya all know a fish that big would be going on my wall, I wouldnt waste it I had what I thought was a good possible shot n I took it and I jumped the gun er got anxious n over shot it, but anyways I found my spot 7ft of water on a drop off, the fish came in from all over, the shallows were in the font of my hole and deep to my back, Id have to say this was the most fun Ive ever had on the ice and hope to have some of the same luck tomorrow.

Fish were most active between 10:30am-2:30pm from what I noticed.

[spearman]

Glad to hear you found the fish, as far as missing that goes with the sport exspecally with the big ones it gets you going so fast that you forget the basics on what to do if you missed clean you might get another shot at her. good luck and now you are really hooked.

[merkman]

wOOt

Congrats on the good day!!!!

That is too bad about the 6 pounder.

Do you think it was your spear or your throw?

Hopefully you can tighten that up, it is never good to have them come off your spear.

Good to hear you are doing good!!!

I think you have it down now!!!

[Laska]

I had her square in the middle of my spear on the way up, maybe I pulled up to fast? I hit it hard, well I poushed the spear pretty hard cuz I wanted to make sure it stuck, It went through, just think the I got the fish a little to far back in the meat instead of closer to the main bone structure in the front of the fish, which Im guessing may have been the cause of it riggling loose, just hit it too far back, maybe it will live? Bout the big trophy one, it was a clear miss, so yeah maybe itll come back, and yeah im beyond hooked!

Random, Is spearing pike and hand carving decoys really going away or like a dying breed of people, I only ask cuz I was coming back to the landing today and I told this guy I speared and carved my own decoys n stuff n said I was a dying breed... Any thoughts on this one?

[Fish Toys]

Hey patience paid off for you! Congrats on the fish. Yea take things slow when they come in so you can do things right even with the heart pumping 110 miles an hr.

[buddha]

I was also out the first time this year and I got one 24". I saw about 5 in a couple of hours. My 7 year old was with me and saw a couple of them and he was manning the spear but they were coming in too fast so he never got a shot.

[bassNspear]

sounds like you are starting to see more and more fish!