My best year so far

[Higgins]

I must say out of my 6 years of spearing this is my best year so far and I'm sharing the wealth as well because one of my cousins who lives about 100 miles away has taken 4 this year 30", 26", 26", and 25" , he keeps telling me that he can only make it up for 1 week end and he came the last 2 week ends and he is coming again this week end   (I told him he would get addicted and I can honestly say that I get more exited watching the newbies throw the spear than when I do)

I have 2 spearing shanty's one for me and one for my dad and here is the count so far (might not be impressive to some of you out there but this is the best my shanty's can mustar so far)
5 missed
9 Hit
Me    Me     Me    Dad   Cuz    Me    Cuz    Cuz    Cuz
41",   35",   34",   31",    30",   28",   26",    26",    25"

Yes I know I'm bragging but this is the only place I can talk to a bunch of seasoned vets in the sport of spearing and I enjoy telling about my storeys and success.

But on another note I have learned allot this year from watching all the pike and I have noticed that in each shanty they seem to only come in through a few diffrent places, and WOW only 20 yards can mean the world when it comes to seeing 2 or 3 pike or seeing 10 to 15, I found that out cause I have had to move my shanty's a few times this year. And I think I have noticed first hand that small decoys bring in smaller pike but the only proof that I have is that my cuz has been using his plastic decoys (they are about 8" long) this week end and he hit 3 between 25 and 26 inches out of the same spearing shanty and then I get in the same shanty and use my wooden decoys that are around 12 to 13 inches and I see 2 big ones around 35" and no small ones. I'm thinking that the small ones come in but they stay a distance away and I can't see them and they look at the decoy to see wether or not they should move in and then they make up there mind. I'm definitely not sure about my observations though because I have had a few small ones come into my big wooden decoys as well and I always hear guys say that pike don't know how big they are  

[newfish]

congratulations on your success !   Regarding decoy size... I have about a dozen hand carved between 6 and 10 inches in size. I  have one carved sucker that is 14 inches, that I don't use too much, but sound like I should. I will give the 14 a try tomorrow at 9am , looks like we are going to have a change in weather here in Newaygo MI......Any thoughts on time of day that you see the bigger ones ?

[Higgins]

congratulations on your success !   Regarding decoy size... I have about a dozen hand carved between 6 and 10 inches in size. I  have one carved sucker that is 14 inches, that I don't use too much, but sound like I should. I will give the 14 a try tomorrow at 9am , looks like we are going to have a change in weather here in Newaygo MI......Any thoughts on time of day that you see the bigger ones ?

Yeah give that bigger one a try, it sure can't hurt (well it can't HURT you any ways  ) as for the time of day it seems like between 9:30 and 10:30 is the best for seeing almost all of the pike in my area and I don't think the bigger ones move at any set time but all sizes move.......you know I think that diffrent times of the day might be better on certain spots of a lake, not sure but just a thought 

[53andout]

Higgins,
A guy that I used to work with used to spear where you have your shantys. He poked a hog that was  mid 20 pounds, that was back about 40 years ago. I remember him saying the sucker decoy was big enough to eat. That lake has some BIG pike, you need to get yourself a BIG decoy to pull out one of those hogs.

http://www.darkhousespearingsupply.com/index.php

http://www.darkhousespearingsupply.com/index.php?cPath=53

[Higgins]

Higgins,
A guy that I used to work with used to spear where you have your shantys. He poked a hog that was  mid 20 pounds, that was back about 40 years ago. I remember him saying the sucker decoy was big enough to eat. That lake has some BIG pike, you need to get yourself a BIG decoy to pull out one of those hogs.

Yeah thats a big pig, my big one that I got this year only weighed 17lbs and he was a hand full. In those sites that you posted I could only find 12" decoys  I have 4 that I made and my smallest is 11 1/4 inches and my biggest is right at 13" so my next ones that I make are going to be smaller at around 9 or 10 inches and I might make one huge one thats 15 or 16 inches for that 25 pounder 

[Higgins]

what has been the best color?  I know the big girl came on the gold.  What about the rest.  Do you ever use a live deke or always just the fakes?

Here are what decoys brought them in:
41"-Red and Grey
36"-Gold Sucker
35"-Orange Diamond
34"-Gold Sucker
31"-Red and Grey
30"-Red and Grey
28"-Gold Sucker
26"-8" Plastic Perch (I think the perch was a green and yellow)
26"-9" Plastic Pike  (I think the pike was a fire tiger)
25"-8" Plastic Perch

Yes I used a real decoy for the first 4 years and then last year I started to use a fake one and I did just as good as years past so I stopped using real all together and like I said this is my best year so far plus I stopped using live suckers for these reasons- I had to cut out my hole every 2 or 3 days so the ice didn't freeze him plus it was hard to find the big ones and some suckers didn't swim much even when I would tug on them plus some of the wanted to stay in the top of the hole, also they cost I think $8 and some of them don't last long. There are many reasons that I stopped using live decoys but that doesn't mean that I think they don't work cause I know they do, I just prefer my fake ones now and I can't find a good reason to use live unless my fakes stop working.

[darkhousefisher]

Good to see it all coming together for you Higgins!!! 

[53andout]

Try a couple small shiners on a perch spreader. Just drop them down in the corner where you can see them. Use the decoy as you do now. The little shiners will go nuts when something is in eyesight and give you heads up on what's about to happen.

Here are what decoys brought them in:
41"-Red and Grey
35"-Orange Diamond
34"-Gold Sucker
31"-Red and Grey
30"-Red and Grey
28"-Gold Sucker
26"-8" Plastic Perch (I think the perch was a green and yellow)
26"-9" Plastic Pike  (I think the pike was a fire tiger)
25"-8" Plastic Perch

Yes I used a real decoy for the first 4 years and then last year I started to use a fake one and I did just as good as years past so I stopped using real all together and like I said this is my best year so far plus I stopped using live suckers for these reasons- I had to cut out my hole every 2 or 3 days so the ice didn't freeze him plus it was hard to find the big ones and some suckers didn't swim much even when I would tug on them plus some of the wanted to stay in the top of the hole, also they cost I think $8 and some of them don't last long. There are many reasons that I stopped using live decoys but that doesn't mean that I think they don't work cause I know they do, I just prefer my fake ones now and I can't find a good reason to use live unless my fakes stop working.

[Higgins]

Congrats Higgins!
I've still got severe skunk issues going on this year.

Thanks Gamedog (haven't seen you on here lately), but I don't feel pity for you cause I have seen some of your posts on the pike section and you have bagged some monsters 

No I'm just messin with ya, I hope your luck turns around and I know that you know where to find those big ones so its just a matter of time............Good Luck 

[redruff]

NOt sure what it is but I'm having the best year I've had in a long time as well.

[BuschWhacker]

Congrats Higgins!
I've still got severe skunk issues going on this year.

What He said!!!  I did break the skunk, finally, but nothing over 24"...still working on it though!

[Higgins]

Me and my cousin where out spearing on Sunday and we where entered in a contest and he had hit a nice 34" and I knew that might place well in the contest so we stayed a little while longer and I let a 30" swim by  and then about a half hour later I gave my Golden Sucker a trip around the hole and just as quick as lightning a big girl came in and stopped about a foot away from Goldie (I think that's a good name for my gold sucker  ) and I think that if I would have giving her a few more seconds she would have hit Goldie but I threw the spear and made a A1 shot about a inch behind the gills and the next thing I knew I was in the running for the contest with a 36"er. So we went to the contest about a half hour before it ended and I thought we might get laughed out of there but it was the total opposite as we walked out with 1st and 2nd in the Pike division 

[53andout]

I almost came out and beat on your door about 5:30, but I didn't want to interupt a prime time for you.

Me and my cousin where out spearing on Sunday and we where entered in a contest and he had hit a nice 34" and I knew that might place well in the contest so we stayed a little while longer and I let a 30" swim by  and then about a half hour later I gave my Golden Sucker a trip around the hole and just as quick as lightning a big girl came in and stopped about a foot away from Goldie (I think that's a good name for my gold sucker  ) and I think that if I would have giving her a few more seconds she would have hit Goldie but I threw the spear and made a A1 shot about a inch behind the gills and the next thing I knew I was in the running for the contest with a 36"er. So we went to the contest about a half hour before it ended and I thought we might get laughed out of there but it was the total opposite as we walked out with 1st and 2nd in the Pike division 

[PikeSticker]

Me and my cousin were out spearing on Sunday and we were entered in a contest.......So we went to the contest about a half hour before it ended and I thought we might get laughed out of there but it was the total opposite as we walked out with 1st and 2nd in the Pike division.

[Higgins]

Ha Ha........very cool PikeSticker 

[Higgins]

That's awesome.  I am looking for gold also in a Pike tourny tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

Good Luck Brant, and don't make the pole and line guys too jealous 

[PikeSticker]

That's awesome.  I am looking for gold also in a Pike tourny tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

Be sure to report the results - good, bad, or ugly. 

[Higgins]

Hey guys,  I ended up with a 3rd place out of 16 contestants.  Very happy with that.  I speared a 28" male with my wife with me.  It was the first one she had seen speared, so that was icing on the cake.  I will get some pics up when I get em from my buddy.  winning pike was a 33" female that went @10 lbs. and 2nd was a 30".  Excellent day on the ice!

Congratulations Brant  Did she get upset seeing the spear in the pike , most women don't like seeing that kinda stuff.

I got a nice 31" yesterday and the cool thing was that I got her recorded on my camcorder, "53andout" came out to take a look but we had to leave because I needed to use the porcelain thrown 

[PikeSticker]

Hey guys,  I ended up with a 3rd place out of 16 contestants.  Very happy with that.  I speared a 28" male with my wife with me.  It was the first one she had seen speared, so that was icing on the cake.  I will get some pics up when I get em from my buddy.  winning pike was a 33" female that went @10 lbs. and 2nd was a 30".  Excellent day on the ice!