Sunday Newspaper

[bassNspear]

So tell me this, if its on the wall in a bait shop, Does it Matter if it has spear marks or a hook mark in it?

[Early Riser]

Thanks John. I don't have a problem with a guy taking that big fish for a trophy. I do have a huge problem with guys that are trying to get as big a fish as they can everytime they go out spearing or angling. That is wrong no matter how you try to rationalize it. As others have stated here there are multitudes of small pike for eating.

[bassNspear]

Like i have said before, when your taking a smaller pike, your population is going to stay down and not get out of control

[10,000 Casts]

Bass N Spear,

very good points

and early riser summed it up.

[bassNspear]

IM not here to try and get people mad or start bad things. Just wanted to get a point across to make sence

[PikeKing]

"So tell me this, if its on the wall in a bait shop, Does it Matter if it has spear marks or a hook mark in it?"

Yes it does matter.....cause the photos of the guys with the hook marks in it have the option of throwing it back. Thats not to say everyone does, because there are all types of scumbag fisherman out there, but atleast they have the option of doing so. All you have to do is go look at the thread "Spearing(pics)". There are two guys holding up 37 inch pike. Also you stated that you took a 32.5 pike. For what? There is absolutely no good reason you could give me for killing a fish of that size. They dont taste good, it hurts the lake and lastly if you are thinking of putting that on the wall id feel sorry for you. I have caught countless pike in the 30 to 39 inch range over the years, not a one didnt go back in. Im not trying to crucify the sport of spearing. I could think of about a million things i would rather do but if done properly i have no problem. What makes me laugh is listening to all of you preach that true spear fisherman let the big ones go by, then read posts and see pictures that prove that to be a total farce. There is already no comparison of pike fishing from when i was a kid till now, it has progressively gotten worse. Please let the big ones swim by so my kids can enjoy a few big ones.

[Central Bassman]

LOL Most of the guys that sit here crying about spearing have never done it and dont have a clue about it!!!!

[bassNspear]

One question for ya, how does it hurt the lake in your opinion?

[MJBo]

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LOL Most of the guys that sit here crying about spearing have never done it and dont have a clue about it!!!!

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You're not building a rocket. You're stabbing a fish. I think we may be capable of grasping the general idea.

[MJBo]

This article from ron schara, I think, articulates pretty well our concerns.....

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Ron Schara: Anglers need to protect big pike

There's plenty of pike around, but they are all hammer handles -- 20 inches or less. The 40-inchers are becoming very rare and will disappear altogether if something isn't done about it to preserve them.

By Ron Schara, Star Tribune

Last update: January 14, 2007 – 4:11 PM

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Ron Schara

Ron Schara: Pheasants: threatened, protected

Ron Schara: Carrol Henderson has stuffed a lot into his years in the DNR

Ron Schara: Anglers need to protect big pike

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Ron Schara: Don't know much about oology ...

We Minnesota anglers are in the same boat on lots of things:

Stuff such as pollution controls and clean water programs, halting invasive species, maintaining fish populations (except "how" might be controversial) and so on.

But state anglers also can sit in the same boat and disagree so strongly the boat rocks but never makes headway.

Consider one of Minnesota's most pressing fishing problem: the rare status of a 10-pound-plus northern pike and the almost statewide abundance of stunted northern pike, those under 20-inches long and disparaging called hammer handles.

A roomful of Minnesota's most ardent anglers gathered at the recent DNR Fishing Roundtable to discuss, among many things, the state of the state's Esocids -- pike and muskies -- including viewpoints from "stakeholders" with differing opinions.

As the discussion ensued, we anglers rocked the boat. But it also became apparent the boat didn't budge much.

The problem of stunted pike? This much seemed clear:

Whatever has been tried by DNR -- size limits, liberal limits -- doesn't seem to be working. Or at least not yet.

On many lakes, DNR has liberalized the pike limit from the traditional three-a-day. But how many anglers want to keep a bunch of 18-inch pike? Apparently not many or certainly not enough to thin out the hammer handles.

If we knew what caused the pike stunting problem, some anglers asked, maybe we could solve it?

DNR fish biologists contend the cause of stunted pike is the utter lack of larger pike, roughly 30 inches or more.

So are we back to square one? Maybe, as it was suggested, the stunted pike problem is unfixable? Considering the number of lakes thick with hammer handles, that might be the right answer.

Now -- what to do about another pike problem:

How to restore trophy pike fishing in Minnesota or keep what we have, protecting pike, say 36 inches or more, where they exist now?

Most anglers attending the Roundtable agreed that trophy northern pike deserve the same safeguards as muskies. The boat rocks with such a suggestion but it doesn't go far.

Time after time, the DNR has been stopped from imposing special trophy pike regulations. It's the old "not on my lake" syndrome.

Fans of darkhouse pike spearing also object to some special pike regulations, such as size limits. Estimating the size of a pike through a hole in the ice isn't easy and spearers want to be legal, the argument goes.

Spear fishermen also object to spearing bans on lakes. The DNR bans spearing on 27 lakes to protect trophy muskies. Spear anglers said they'd prefer that no lakes be off-limits to darkhouse spearing.

Last summer, the DNR reopened the state's share of Upper Red Lake to walleye fishing under a strict two-fish limit with size restrictions. At the same time, the DNR restricted pike anglers on Red Lake by allowing only one pike of 40 inches or more to be kept. Under that rule, the DNR said its surveys showed that roughly 50 pike of 40 inches or more were kept and killed.

In other words, Minnesota's trophy pike simply became more scarce under that regulation.

Isn't it time to move the pike boat forward?

We may not be able to eliminate hammer handles but we can have more lakes with 40-inch pike. We anglers need to sit in the boat together; we need compromise. Nobody wants to ban pike spearing but we can't have accidental spearing of big pike in designated no-kill trophy lakes. Yes, we know some anglers would like to keep a big pike but we simply can't keep killing these rare fish. What part of no kill don't we understand?

Let's identify 10 or 20 lakes with a history of big pike and the potential habitat, forage, etc., and target them to have them again. On those lakes, large pike would receive every protection afforded big muskies, including no-kill and no spearing rules.

We have to understand that big pike are like a rare fish. There's not one trophy pike lake in Canada that I know of that allows the killing of any 40-plus inch fish. If we keep taking dozens of 40-inchers out of Red Lake, Mille Lacs and other known big pike lakes, they'll soon become rarer still or simply gone.

We have a choice. We can take a few bold steps in the name of restoring pike trophy fishing.

Or, we can keep rocking the pike boat and going nowhere.

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[Stiff]

I'm curious what people think is an appropriate size range for the harvest of pike? What size should a guy harvest if he is going to take a fish home?

[Central Bassman]

The way it sounds there isnt!!!!!

[PikeKing]

That was pretty quick boys.

Central bassman.....Your right i have never done it. And there is a reason for that, i have absolutely no interest in it. As for knowing nothing about it, i have relatives that do it so i do have a clue about it. And besides after the 5000 or so posts about it this winter i feel as if im an expert. So thank you for your latest useless post in a line of so many.

Bass n spear..... Somehow when i wrote my post i knew exactly what your response was going to be and i was right. I knew you would have no response to the useless killing of big pike. But thats ok. As for how its hurts the lake? Well that was covered at nauseum in your original post about spearing that sabotoged the board and is still doing so today. So to save my fingers i will refer to that. In closing i would just like to say if you respond to this i will not see it for a few days or so because i cant spend every waking moment in front of the computer. I see you may have that luxury by your 785 posts since august. I wonder how you have the time to spearfish. Good luck.

Tom

[B420]

As a spearer and angler I personally won't throw at anything between 26-40". If I do see one over 40" he is going on the wall. I spear strictly for a trophy or for a jar of picklers. The mid size fish are too important to the system period. I tried to help some fellow spearers by posting on this thread http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB30&Number=957174&page=5&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1 and you can see some of the attitudes of the spearers. Not good. I feel that spearers should shoulder some of the blame for taking big pike and affecting size structure in lakes. I fish a small lake in mn with 40" minimum. The size is crazy. If we don't have multiple fish in the 34" range it is a bad day. Needless to say,there is no spearin on the lake. In my opinion it is way easier to spear a pike than catch one on hook and line. I have tons of video from aqau-view with big pike sizing up baits. About 80% of the pike I see on the camera don't bite, but I could spear everyone one of them.

[Central Bassman]

(Note from Admin, Please read forum policy before posting again, Thank you)

[MJBo]

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As a spearer and angler I personally won't throw at anything between 26-40". If I do see one over 40" he is going on the wall. I spear strictly for a trophy or for a jar of picklers. The mid size fish are too important to the system period. I tried to help some fellow spearers by posting on this thread

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB30&Number=957174&page=5&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

and you can see some of the attitudes of the spearers. Not good. I feel that spearers should shoulder some of the blame for taking big pike and affecting size structure in lakes. I fish a small lake in mn with 40" minimum. The size is crazy. If we don't have multiple fish in the 34" range it is a bad day. Needless to say,there is no spearin on the lake. In my opinion it is way easier to spear a pike than catch one on hook and line. I have tons of video from aqau-view with big pike sizing up baits. About 80% of the pike I see on the camera don't bite, but I could spear everyone one of them.

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Thats the right attitude for sure. Maybe it would be a good management strategy to mandate having two fish beneath 22 inches in possesion before taking a larger fish too. I don't know.... Its a problem though.

Central bassman- Not sure that last post (or any of your posts really) made alot of sense. Not really sure anyone is crying about anything.

[Cowgirladdict]

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One question for ya, how does it hurt the lake in your opinion?

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your funny Bass n Spear, you sit there and say i only take ones that are 30 inches and smaller, then post that you took a 34, then in another post you ask how the pike get that big in Holland?.......you have no solid point in anything, i dont mind spearing at all, but dont ask silly questions like how do they get that big right after you spear a 34 incher.......Let em go, Let em Grow !!

[bassNspear]

I understand where your coming from. Not like im out there day ina dn day out taking them out of the lake everyday. Just the joy of being there.

[MJBo]

Don't take it personal man. We all just wanna protect the resource. Rumor has musky guys can be a little opinionated.

[bassNspear]

Im not mad at all. Everyone is entitled to there opinion. And i understand about the muskie guys.

[Pikeslayer]

Hey Bass n Spear It sounds to me like alot of peaple on this site just dont know how to cook! When I have a fish fry them thirty in. pike taste just just as good as twenty four in.pike!

[bassNspear]

they are good. But i don understand where there coming from as well.

[10,000 Casts]

This site should have a seperate spearing forum so that you guys can talk about it with out having others chime in.

If there are 2 things that Muskie fisherman hate, it's Spearers and Bass Fisherman

no hard feelings for the sport here, I just tryed to answer the question, why has spearing decreased?

John

[bassNspear]

I would love a Spearing Forum

[Central Bassman]

LOL....

[Cowgirladdict]

i have a question for you Bass n Spear,

when you go Bass fishing how many bass do you keep in a day or a week for that matter?

now be honest, i have more to come after your answer

[bassNspear]

It all depends on how many people are going to be at my house for supper that night.

Who eats bass? Not this Cat Fish Hunter

[Cowgirladdict]

a lot of people eat bass, there pretty tasty when cooked right, and they dont have those big ugly bones in them, very easy to catch also, but what i am getting at is because you bass fishermen practice catch and release with bass MN is starting to get a nice population of really nice bass, and some super bass lakes to fish on, last year muskie fishing i caught several pushing the 6 lb mark..

we can have 40 inch plus pike in MN, thats just up to you and the others that spear

[bassNspear]

I get your point buddy.

[glenn57]

bassnspear, looks to me like your post about these newspaper articles wrinkled a few feathers. you will never please everyone, especially people that dont like spearers. as far as eating bigger pike i have and they taste pretty good. i take the y-bones out pickle them and fry the rest.having a smoked pike is really tasty also. another optoin for pike is poor mans lobster. happy harpooning.