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igotoofar · 04-23-2004, 10:11 AM,

I see where it lists lakes that you can not spear Northerns from, which implies that spearing northerns is legal. But I am unable to find anything that states spearing Northerns is legal. I am sure I just missed it. Can you point me to a page?

igotoofar · 04-23-2004, 10:14 AM,

Never mind, I just found it after I re-read your post Mark.

Under the Ice section. Northern, Catfish and Whitefish may be tanind only by dark house spearing through the ice. Sad

scubadog76 · 04-23-2004, 10:50 AM,

A buddy and I were looking into this and found a shop in one of the Dakotas (North or South I don't remember, They are all the same anyways) They do the underwater hunter certification.

Go to check the cal. under July and you'll see it towards the end of the month. They can go after walleyes there too ;D

**freedivernd** · 04-23-2004, 02:51 PM,

I must be an IDIOT...it is fun to spear a carp... especially a huge one! I do hear they taste fantastic when smoked. 'course.. I'm also of the belief.. save a tree - shoot a beaver. Pesky rodents!
Fred

Freedive WI · 04-23-2004, 03:34 PM,

I do know of one limnologist who shoots carp just because of the damage that they wreck upon the local habitiat making it much more difficult for local species to thrive. Since they are an invasive species, brought here about 100 years ago and let go into the wild, they have outcompeted many local fish and their foraging through the bottom uproots good plants which other fish need for their habitat.

While not normally a hunter, I do enjoy spearfishing, while freediving, for the challenge- and the food! ;D

Here's a buffalo, cousin to the carp and a rough fish, who didn't get away.

Freedive WI · 04-23-2004, 03:36 PM,

Here's another one my buddy got on that same day.

Jon

Freedive WI · 04-23-2004, 03:42 PM,

This is more typical of what we go for.

Jon

**freedivernd** · 04-23-2004, 11:42 PM,

good pics jon, that's a big buffalo.
I hear today that the ice is finally off the lakes in our area! Some of the shallower ones have been open for a week and a half. I've got things going on but am hoping to go diving sunday barring misearable wind and/or lack of sunshine.
burrrrr.... to bad. We've been miserable cold! in fact it's supposed to be down to near 20 tonight.. the lakes will freeze over again. Has only been hitting near 50 during the days.
Fred

shamre · 04-26-2004, 04:26 AM,

What type of speargun do you guys use? Smile

Freedive WI · 04-26-2004, 08:58 AM,

When the vis is good, over 8', I'll use my Rob Allen Railgun. It's about 75cm long and is made in South Africa.

For everything else I have a custom made mid-handle wood gun- with all RIFFE parts. I would have just gotten a Riffe, but they didn't make a wooden gun short enough for our vis- just a metal one called the M-tech 0.

I wish I would have brought my camera with me this last weekend though, still working out a couple of bugs with my speargun/camera mount.

I jumped in a local lake at the last minute to do a little spearfishing, when I ran into an amazing array of fish. I am used to seeing 4'+ long musky, perch, walleye, carp, fat bass, and all of the others, but on Saturady I also ran into at least 6 different gar fish in a varitey of different sizes. I was thinking that was pretty cool until I saw 4 different sturgeon. These things were all over 4' long and I even got to grab onto one of them. He just looked at me and slowly swam away as I let go- not bothered in the least.

I guess that just goes to show you that you should never leave your camera at home! :'(

Here's a shot of my buddy, Ted, with his wooden gun- we both have the same kind as he was the one who found the guy to custom make our guns for us. They can easily carry up to three slings, but for smaller panfish one 1 sing is enough. If your going for a big carp you'll need all three to get through their skull plates, or for longer distance shots.

For panfish spearing, which really is the main reason to spearfish around here, a small "Euro" gun, less than 75cm in length, work really well. They are easy to swing through the water and you only need a single rubber sling to get mose fish. Some people will start out with a genaric gun, like a JBL, and then move into a nicer gun if they find out that they really like to spearfish. I've had a chance to use them and still prefer a small Euro gun over them.

Jon