My wife and I went spearing this morning. Saw 5 she missed one and I passed on a dink. 5-9 lbs

'A man after m' own heart'
Love spearing fish, any fish

Good going!

our season came to an end last Sunday

WS

Way to go.

Great eating there.
Hard to beat boneless fillets off a good size coldwater northern.

Used to love spearing pike. It was a bit different here as the season was March and April and you would spear them on their spawning run up the ditches and creeks. This area and another unit near North Bay were the last places in Ontario where non-native were allowed to spear. It was taken away from us about 15 years ago.

This! Northern is probably my favorite fish to eat.

I enjoy eating them too. I could have speared another one, but it was small. Saw a sucker, a carp and a smelt too. I thought about spearing the sucker, but passed and the biggest pike came in less than a minute later. About 30" of ice.

That bottom one is a chunk! How long were you out and how deep?

I sat about 6 hours and was on a sharp drop. I could see six foot to my left and 14 to the right. At 14 it lost angle and gradually sloped to 20. I was about 15 feet from where it was froze to the bottom. I wish I would have been out just a little more. I am not sure if I would have done better, but the fish seemed to be following the bottom edge of the slope, not the side hill. I always try to set up close to a drop off. The lake has very little weeds ever, so drop offs are your main structure. I hunted pheasants in that bay one year when it was real dry. So I have a pretty good idea what the bottom looks like. At that time there was no water in the bay at all. Not even in the creek bed.

MJM, I look forward to a spearing post from you every year! Haven't been out for a number of years, but grew up staring down a spearing hole with my grandpa day after day. My oldest will be almost 4 next winter and should be able to contain himself for a few hours here and there so I'm really looking forward to getting him out.

Someday I'm going out to ND simply to spear northerns! Fished Devil's a couple times and thoroughly enjoyed the bonus action! Happy trapping! ScottW

They will go up the creeks as soon as they can get up them. Here the ice holds them up. They spawn at 48 degree water temperature. It is amazing how far up a creek they will go. I have seen them run miles up a creek going over beaver dams, through culverts and over shallows. The creek will be warmer than a lake.

True that, the only thing better is maybe cold water boneless musky fillets.

Osky

*picturing you in your spedo and a stick*

About impossible to spear fish like that anywhere near me (and I try all winter long). I might have to drive to ND one day...but I'd likely only find carp

Always like your spearing posts. Makes me drool a little, though.

Very cool! I rarely catch anything ice fishing in SE PA with minnows and tips-ups... Keep us posted on the next outing.

The carp seem to be out deeper early in the season, so you odds will go up late. I saw a big sucker yesterday. I thought about spearing it, but passed. Less than a minute later the biggest pike I got came in. I was glad I passed.

Very nice.Way to go.

nice fish

Used to spear hundreds of big suckers here but not till spring.Pressure canned suckers was our "tuna fish" when I was a kid.