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**freedivernd** · 08-13-2002, 11:41 AM,

I went spearfishing for the 1st time this spring for suckers in the Ottertail river and then went sprearfishing in June for carp in Big Cormorant. It's nothing at all like fishing with line and hook. Of course, it's only rough fish so you either have to smoke them or you're just doing the fishermen (and game fish) a favor by removing them. Spearing northerns or bass would be a whole lot easier then either carp or suckers, as you would know from scuba diving with those tame fish... although because there were so many suckers that wasn't too difficult. Mind you.. I feel it a bit more sporting spearfishing while freediving then using the tanks... but that's me and my opinion. Recently I purchased a book called Bluewater Hunting and Freediving by Terry Maas and my WIFE couldn't put it down. It's quite the read with fantastic pictures. The deep bluewater hunters have to deal with huge fish and huge sharks and all kinda other dangers. Crazy. I'm looking forward to doing more in the future. Fred http://www.fredjohnson.50megs.com/carpio.jpg

dyvrz · 08-13-2002, 04:06 PM,

Hi Fred, I admire your naturale sportsmanship; I use to free dive Little Long Lake, Mound MN when I worked at Camp Kingswood as a teen-lifeguard (12+ years ago) That training let me hold the underwater swim record at my HS pool (Watertown-Mayer) for some time. I take it you're spearing here in MN? Cause in SD, you can spear all the game fish you want as long as you're in the designated areas of the Missouri River. You can even apply for a Paddlefish tag! I hear they taste like lobster and get up to six feet long. (Hush, Hush) I know a gentlemen who has the sole access to a private stock pond in SD, who once invited me down for a Northern shoot-out to allow the walleye pop. to grow. that was a blast! BUt, ended up shooting mostly carp (Buffalo, 10-18lbs avg.) Are you using a sling spear, trigger band-gun or pnuematic (probablly a dumb ?) If you're looking for large suckers, I usually have good luck in the quarries. I'd be game to hook-up sometime for a little lung-stretching practice. Ray

**freedivernd** · 08-13-2002, 04:50 PM,

Ray, Yes, I'm talking Minnesota, I understand you used to have to be a resident to spear in Minnesota but that has recently changed. Quarries?? South Dakota? Since I didn't know if I was going to get hooked on this sport or not I purchased about the cheapest single band (trigger) gun I could. Now I'm sure I'll be doing more of this and would like to get a gun with a better trigger, get a different style of spear tip, maybe get a pnuematic gun - although I don't know much about them I see that has them fairly reasonable. For now, I've become very familiar with my gun so I know what it takes to take a fish.. but also know that it's quite limited. It'll be awhile before I do much upgrading as there are a few (lots of) things on the list ahead of a new speargun. Get those lungs stretched! Ever thought about getting more serious about freediving? Big Grin

If we happen to be at the same lake sometime, I always have the spear gun in the truck with the rest of the gear. Fred Johnson

Chris · 08-14-2002, 08:35 AM,

I may be wrong, but I believe spearguns are illegal in this state. I know they can't sell them here anyway.

LKunze · 08-14-2002, 09:12 AM,

That was my understanding too. I looked on the DNR website and couldn't find anything about spear guns though, just spear fishing and bow fishing. ???

**freedivernd** · 08-14-2002, 10:57 AM,

Chris and GP, they do sell spearguns in Minnesota, there are several dive shops in my area that carry them. I have bought parts for mine in Moorhead. I mentioned on May 1st (opening day of spearfising) in a dive shop that I was going and was told because I wasn't a resident of Minnesota I couldn't spearfish. I had read the whole rule book on fishing regs and figured I was right so we called the Minnesota game and fish department.. AND I was right, the dive shop owner was glad to know too because he had been telling out-of-staters they couldn't spearfish and so was losing gun sales. It is now legal for an out of stater to spear fish in Minnesota as long as you hold a non-resident fishing license. Still, there are strict rules about dark house spearfishing.. but all our discussions were about underwater spearfishing. It's strictly rough fish in Minnesota.. carp, bullheads, suckers, and a few other types. Fred Johnson

LKunze · 08-14-2002, 11:22 AM,

Thanks for the info Fred that's interesting. I haven't actually seen any spear guns for sale in any of the dive shops in the twin cities. I wonder why that is? I did see some for sale at one of the dive shops in Okoboji, Iowa though.

dyvrz · 08-16-2002, 07:44 AM,

Yes, Thanx for the info, I sold my JBL 20 band gun back to a co-worker before we moved back here to MN. I might get a new gun if I found some one who could use the fish I shoot, I didn't really enjoy the carp and don't know how to clean a bullhead. Fred, Yep, SD. My wife and I just moved out of Watertown, SD this past April after living there for the past nine years. I probably dove the Hunter Quarry in Milbank, 30 times and never got bored with it. Plenty of suckers and rainbow trout. You mentioned Moorehead, do you know Mike Norr from Mick's Scuba? That's where I took most of my certs. He's a great guy, with a nice shop and staff.

***jasondbaker*** · 08-16-2002, 02:09 PM,

This is an interesting discussion. Question. Can you spearfish while scuba diving or do you have to be freediving? When is the beginning/end of the spear fishing season? I have never seen a diver at a MN lake with a speargun. Is the sport unpopular or is it because the spear fisherman is limited to unpopular rough fish? I would absolutely love to try this out sometime.

**freedivernd** · 08-16-2002, 09:08 PM,

Hey Jason, I'm sure you can use tanks...in fact.. to spearfish in North Dakota you have to be certified OW (in north dakota you can spear northerns and walleye, not sure about other game fish, to bad there's no vis over here) The carp and suckers were wary when I was freediving, so not sure how that might work with the tanks. Maybe not much difference. Minnesota spearfishing opens May 1st - Feb. 16th, sunrise to sunset. I think spearfishing in our area is not to popular mainly because of the rough fish. If you could take walleye I'd be eating walleye all the time. I'm sure it's also a bit unpopular with some of the diving community because, as you know, it is neat to see those fish under the water (as far as carp go it's a not only fun to see them, it's a lotta fun to spear 'um). We're never going to put a dent in the sucker or carp populations maybe if we could it would help with the game fish populations. Could you imagine what would happen if you could spear northerns or walleye in Minnesota? Spearfishing would be popular then... and there wouldn't be any northerns or walleye left. Just as deer hunting or gopher hunting isn't popular with everyone, I'm sure spearfishing is the same. It is a lot of fun! BTW - I was in Mick's Scuba today in Moorhead and they must of had 15 or more spearguns on the wall for sale. Maybe it is getting more popular. Fred