sounds fun

[handload]

I've been reading your topics on spearing, souds like a lot of fun. Here in my state they do not allow spearing during the winter months, only in the spring when there is open water. Interestingly enough, the spearing season runs along the same time as the shooting season. It must be a rush to spear a good size gator thru the ice! Its very difficult to spear one in open water, the high power rifle gives you a desicive advantage!!

[rezeye]

ive seen videos of pike shooting in vermont from trees looked pretty crazy but fun  :obut still i like the thrill of a gator head nosin around my decoy as i silently let "Britney" slice into the water

[PikeSticker]

I've been reading your topics on spearing, souds like a lot of fun. Here in my state they do not allow spearing during the winter months, only in the spring when there is open water. Interestingly enough, the spearing season runs along the same time as the shooting season. It must be a rush to spear a good size gator thru the ice! Its very difficult to spear one in open water, the high power rifle gives you a desicive advantage!!

I too have seen some youtube videos of guys walking around in flooded timber in the spring using rifles and pistols to "shoot" pike. Geez, EVERYTHING we were taught about not shooting bullets on water or hard, flat surfaces, eh?  You guys have a strange tradition.

Even though you currently don't have through-the-ice spearing, you should give a shout to your local fish and game guys and ask what the procedure is for trying to get something changed. Even if it was only for spearing "rough" fish like carp and suckers its still just as much of a blast and rush. And that could lead to future changes for pike.  Here in Alaska we have a 3 year cycle that allows the public to submit proposals to the Board of Fisheries to consider as new changes to our regulations. I've got many regulations added on the books in Alaska for making pike fishing and harvesting much easier in the areas where they have been illegally introduced and threaten the native local species of fish populations. It can't hurt to inquire.

[handload]

Thanks for the feed back guys. I believe that VT is the only state that allows people to shoot pike with rifels. I know it sounds dangerous, just plain stupid to others and every couple of years someone tries to propose a bill to outlaw it. While their are only a hand full of people that participate in the Pike Shooting season it is deep in tradition and the very few people who do it are not willing to let it go. Interestingly enough, there has never been a shooting accident while pike shooting. The shots are straight down so the bullet does not skip. Its like finding the perfect skipping stone and than throwing it line drive straight down.....no skip.

I have speared in the open water for "rough fish" but the pike will not tolorate the movement it takes to sucessfully spear them. Without the barrier of ice and the concealment of a spear house it makes a pike fillet dinner near impossible. Enter the "06!

Have a great season!

[PikeSticker]

Definitely hang on to the tradition with all your might (or is it mite?) up there. Once lost its impossible to get something back these days. Kinda gives new meaning to a "tree stand" in flooded timber for you guys.

One thing you might try that works well for us up here in Alaska right after ice out - we are allowed open water spearing too - is team up with a friend in a rubber raft, drift boat, or even two canoes tied together with plywood decking and paddle along the shoreline.  Many pike tend to lay right up against the lake shore under the overhanging berry bushes and willow cover for a few weeks as the water warms up and gets re-oxygenated. The raft doesn't seem to spook them and we have slithered right up to some ten pounders against the bank in one foot of water. AK allows bow fishing too and a number of archers have taken up the sport during the summer as another form of hunting from a boat. A friend re-rigs his drift boat with a shooting platform in the bow while his buddy rows in the shallows. Its deadly.

[handload]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try spearing the gators from a boat as you suggested.......just can't seem to get close enough, long enough for a spear hit while walking in waders....certainly worth a try.

Have a fun, safe season.

[PikeSticker]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try spearing the gators from a boat as you suggested.......just can't seem to get close enough, long enough for a spear hit while walking in waders....certainly worth a try.

You can use a variety of materials for an open water spear shaft. I had considered using aluminum conduit or steel emt conduit but I finally settled on wood. CLOSET ROD DOWELS are perfect for open water spearing - knot-free, straight as an arrow, strong as an ox and they don't get bent. I bought a 10 footer that is 1 1/4" diameter. Very lightweight, even floats if you happen to drop it in the drink. Typically you don't throw the spear since most of the time you are in very shallow water and the spear is long enough to just slip the tines up close and jab hard and quick. You need very good barbs on open water spears because there is very little give when a fish struggles. Sticking and then holding them to the bottom until they tire is a good approach. Definitely don't use the frog gig type spearheads. The barbs on them are worthless for holding decent size fish. Try to find someone on eBay that is selling laser cut spearheads online. The guy I use had six different sizes with 5 to 8 tines depending on size.

Oh one other thing about spearing from a boat - sometimes the weeds, reeds, and shoreline brush and tree overhang can really interfere with trying to row with oars or paddle along. I have a 3 piece 12 foot snap together boat pole (Cabelas duck boat push pole) for pushing a boat in shallow water, much like you see the bonefish guides doing poling out on the saltwater flats. The nice thing about that pole is you can use it to hold the boat very steady while the spearo takes his/her shot and the disturbance in the water is behind the boat several feet which allows even more stealth than paddles and oars.  Every advantage counts.