How deep

[MikeinMinn]

Have atempted spearing two seasons now, and haven't bagged one yet.  How deep of water do you set up in.  I have tried as little as 3 ft and as deep as 20.  Had one encouter at about 6 ft, saw me move took off.  Second how deep do you set your decoy.  Had my decoy down about 6 ft in a lake this year, lake is real merky for some reason, and saw the decoy move to the side after something had hit it, never did get a look at the fish.  I think I would have had to have the decoy less than 3 feet deep to see that one.  At that deeph will they sill come in.  Puzzled at whole thing.

[MikeinMinn]

Does it matter if you can see the bottom.  I spoke to a guy on the lake where I'm at and he said that normally it is clear down to 20 ft, but this year it is hard to see 5ft.  It only seems logical that fish will not come in from as far if they cant see the decoy.  I tried another lake that was clear, but I sat for 4 days and saw nothing but pearch, bass, and sunfish.  Oh yea and I was bombarded by muskrats at one spot.  Set the house up and in one night they made 3 nest under the house.  Hard to spear when you got rats coming in and out of your hole.

Where I am set up now it is about 10 ft deep and hard to see the bottom.  Im going to try it with the decoy at 3 ft.

[53andout]

There is a lot of truth to this, but mostly so in shallow water. I would set tip ups and look for action around an area I would expect the fish to be. I had 1 area where a 10' move put me over a prime area. I was set up in an backwater off the river and they would let water thru the dam at night and the water level would go up over the night. When I went out in the morning there was 3' of water, and they had stopped the discharge and by 10AM there would be 18". The Pike didn't seem to mind.
Another lake I speared there was a guy who set up in 25' of water, and set the decoy 8-10' under the ice. I had to give that a try. We saw bigger fish, but they were hard to hit. Looking back I think bringing the decoy to 5 or 6' under the ice would have still pulled them in.

 

It really doesn't matter that you can see the bottom, but it does matter that you are set up in travel routes.  I am always over good weed beds that provide cover.  Last weekend I speared 2 in 8' of water with the weed tops 2' below the ice.  I had a live sucker and was swimming a small fake.  the first burst in and grabbed the sucker and the secound cruised in to the fake. both were less than a foot down.  I was out the last 3 days and never saw a northern this weekend.  just how it goes with this sport.  I fish the same water all summer and learn the contours to help me on the ice.  just a matter of time till you get one.

[MikeinMinn]

Thanks for the replies, day off tomarrow think I spend it in the dark house.  Ill let you know if something happens.

[MikeinMinn]

Spent the last two days in the dark house with nothing to show for it.  You would have thought one would have accidently swam under the hole.  I am going to do some scouting with tipups tomarrow to try and find a better spot.

[PikeSticker]

Spent the last two days in the dark house with nothing to show for it. ----- I am going to do some scouting with tipups tomarrow to try and find a better spot.

Definitely take advantage of scouting various depths and areas with the max. number of tip ups your regs allow every day you are on the ice. Cover as much water as you can even on your spearing days. Personally I never cut a hole unless I've had some tip up action first. Too much work when the ice gets past 24 inches.

You would have thought one would have accidently swam under the hole.

The fish don't happen to be in an area by chance. They are either using it as an established corridor for traveling in search of food or shelter or its their "home waters" where they have everything they need with little movement. Fish, especially pike, are energy conservationists, and don't wander aimlessly around a lake. Every flick of the fin has an intended purpose, most often with the objective being to flee a larger predator or catch food.   If you don't see anything down the hole and no flags  after two separate days of fishing, it might be time to move. I've got a friend who has on more occasions than I can count, chainsawed his hole, set up, worked the decoy for a few hours and just from one or two fish coming in has got out the chainsaw and cut a new hole maybe 10-20 feet away and relocated. Sometimes you can get clues as to better house locations by watching which way fish are approaching your decoys. If they come from all directions, STAY PUT, you are in the sweet spot. If they are coming only from one particular direction then go out and drill a few test holes and check the depth, weeds/structure, etc. over in the area they are originating from.   Flashers, cameras, and pocket sized depth finders are great tools for fine tuning your location once you are on the fish or getting close.

Lastly, keep your tines sharp enough to scratch your finger nail. With the "slow season" you are having so far, you don't want to miss one due to a dull spear.    Good luck. Post a pic of your success! There's nothing like that first fish on the spear.

EDIT: P.S. Another thing to keep in mind. Even though a lake is murky or cloudy it doesn't mean the entire lake has the same conditions. Many lakes may be cloudy or stained in one area but the opposite end (or even just moving a few hundred yards) will have better (or worse) conditions. That's one of the benefits of using an underwater camera. You can auger test holes all over the lake and using the camera view, determine those areas that have better visibility. Sometimes the egg shells, beans or other organics dropped down the hole will, over time, create a cloudy effect. And BTW, conditions in lakes, at least here in Alaska, can change during the season. A clear area during early ice may turn to crap by mid winter and vice versa. Take clues from the "experts" since its pretty hard to camo your darkhouse where no one else can see where you are. 

[MikeinMinn]

Thanks for all the help.  Scouting today.

[Higgins]

Flashers, cameras, and pocket sized depth finders are great tools for fine tuning your location once you are on the fish or getting close.


EDIT: P.S. Another thing to keep in mind. Even though a lake is murky or cloudy it doesn't mean the entire lake has the same conditions. Many lakes may be cloudy or stained in one area but the opposite end (or even just moving a few hundred yards) will have better (or worse) conditions. That's one of the benefits of using an underwater camera. You can auger test holes all over the lake and using the camera view, determine those areas that have better visibility. Sometimes the egg shells, beans or other organics dropped down the hole will, over time, create a cloudy effect. And BTW, conditions in lakes, at least here in Alaska, can change during the season. A clear area during early ice may turn to crap by mid winter and vice versa. Take clues from the "experts" since its pretty hard to camo your darkhouse where no one else can see where you are. 

Very good advise, ever since I got my camera I started using it for scouting out spearing areas before I start cutting and I also use a hand held depth finder and I just keep hopping from hole to hole looking for the best place.

[stephensonswille]

I'm spearing in 11FOW and with the decoy 4 feet down was just thinking about moving to a different area that was suggested was packing things up then this one decided to move into the hole might stay put for awhile now

[Higgins]

Nice job stephensonswille 


How big was she 

[stephensonswille]

thanks its one of the biggest i've speared so far she 36" wen i pulled her out i was taking a good look at her and saw a line sticking out of her mouth a along with a sinker  the line went down into her stomach somebody was jigging in some pike water lol