I know to alot of folks spearing is TABO. I'm an avid Walleye angler have probably burn't my family out on fishing. I have a 16 year old son that isn't a wild angler, but really does try to keep Dad happy but his heart doesn't have the passion that Dad has.

I remember spearing on Cross Lake. My Grandfather & Grandmother both really enjoyed it. I haven't been spearing since I was 17. I enjoyed the drama that was involved watching the fish come in.
Les Kouba painted a picture of a Spear house that "I swear was a carbon copy of my Grandfather's spear house, right down to the Prince Albert pipe tobacco can".

Is this something I need to do with my son's,to help create the fever?

We have been talking about Lake Winnebigosh, does anyone have any tips on where to go and accomodations?

I love it, so do my kids. I would take your boy out and see if he likes it, you can video it and the action shows up perfect.I go about 30 miles south of winnie so I can't say as to where to go on winnie or stay.

If you must spear, Nodak Lodge at Bena, Mn.
You know, you can angle in a dark house and it is just as interesting. The whole fun of it is seeing the fish.

good luck with your spearing adventure. this is a great sport. you are considering a great location to spear through the ice. there is always "something on the screen" when you look down that hole on winnie. lots of fish and lots of fun. spear only the "snorts" and let the muskie go by!
remember, we have alot of things which we can participate in and do for fun in this great country. every sport isn't for everyone. just be responsible and make sportsmanlike decisions prior to letting the spear drop. maybe some days you let the bigger ones go through...
Nodaks has some great locations for their spear houses on winnie.
have a great day and get out and do it!

I love to fish as well as to spear. I was brought up on the sport and enjoy it. We spear Bonnes flats (spelling}? on Winne and have good success. I hope this type of fishing can continue and it will if the fisherman uses their heads while spearing and take only what they need for supper. The veiw and the learning that can be seen down a spear hole is priceless. If you don't believe it, try it sometime, you'll be glad you did. bilt

I'm dissappointed that spearing is still considered a sport here in Minnesota. Minnesota is one of the last places to still allow the taking of pike with the use of a spear. To me it is no better than shinning deer.


By the way, he number of big pike on Winnie is way down!

To

What's the difference if you spear or angle, especially for northerns. I think you can be more selective by spearing, if you don't want to kill it just watch it swim by and there is no harm done. When you catch one on a tip up, you can do some major damage to that fish depending on how deep the fish is hooked. The problem with spearing is that there are still too many old-timers out there that spear, with the kill all the fish you can mentality.

If fisherman used their heads there wouldn't be a need for regulations. My fishing partner and I caught over 12 trophies this year and released everyone, pretty hard to do with a spear.

If fisherman used their heads there wouldn't be a need for regulations. My fishing partner and I caught over 12 trophies this year and released everyone, pretty hard to do with a spear. We enjoy catching big fish, so do my son's, but it's getting harder to find good fish.and this leads to rough fish problems too.

When I lived in Alberta, Canada during the mid-eighties, I remember seeing a picture in a local fishing magazine that just about made me puke. Laid out in a neat row were roughly a dozen trophy class northerns that had been taken by a scuba diver with a spear (this was legal back then, don't know if it still is) . To think that anyone of these fish would have been the fish of a lifetime for a youngster! While this may be somewhat different than spearing from an ice house, the point is this.......I've never heard of catch & release when a fish gets skewered. I say ban this stupid, old time method of fishing (if you can call it that). By the way, I believe you when you say that the northern population is way down on Winnie. No lake can stand up to a catch & keep metality forever. Remember the old stories & pictures from old timers about how this or that lake used to have monster northerns? Gee....wonder why we're only catching hammer handles? Is anybody else with me on this???

I see your point gofish! Banning spearing is probably not the whole answer though. A real sportsmen knows when, and when not to throw a spear. I personally feel that education from the DNR. Is what needs to happen. There are many people fishing these days that don't have a clue about the management practices on certain fisheries. These same people probably don't even know the regulations in their area. I understand that when your brought up in keep all you can to feed the family environment, it's a hard habit to break! Forced education would help tremendously. I know this won't solve everything, cause there are always gonna be meat maggots and selfish people. But I think alot of issues surrounding poor edicate and practices is the simple lack of knowledge. EE

We don't spear northerns in Wisconsin and I am only catching hammer-handles. :) Maybe it is overharvesting by all anglers or a natural change in the population.

Yes we do. We spear sturgeon on lake winnebago. It's right around the corner, and I can't wait. It's actually a completely differant issue than the pike spearing in Minn.

Just do not spear the trophy then, watch it swim by and take a smaller one for dinner.

spearing on winnie is great i have been going there for 6 years now and we always have aball i hope to take my sons along sometime so they can expeirance the same thrill i get from spearing.my grandpa got me hooked on spearing at a very young age.i still use his decoys now that he has passed away and the spear he made me.he got me hooked on all types of fishing by starting me out spearing and i still have all the great memories of fishing and learning from him.ihope to pass these same expeirances on to my sons.sure some say spearing is cheap but quit frankly ask the right people they can find something wrong with everything.as far as were to go try bowens flats or third river .if you go close to opener you will see alot of fish.hope you and your kid have a great time fishing soon.