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Wisconsin Spearing Regulations

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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iv never went after dinner i can honestly say:head(not a bad thought though will b sure to try), most of mine is mid day when sun is hi cause of bad vis when u can see best... i usually go catch lepord frogs an go catfishin cause no divein after sundown... gona give it a shot now cause 2 days ago i just bought a good dive lite.... and if any thing goes wrong short of goin over 500ft deep they replace it free
 
I know this may sound weird, but I think we can do this. Seriously, I have gotten a ton of people into it, who have started to buy their own gear now. I haven't gotten anyone onto here though, which is my next hurdle. Eventually if we draw enough attention, we will get more rights. I have talked personally with the governor on several occasions, and a representative in the wisconsin congress or w/e is friend with my brother and sister. So, Ill drop them some lines. Heres a picture of me with the governor to prove it, and yes, I have dreads.
 

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Just to clarify, I NO LONGER HAVE MY LOCKS! They lasted for about 4 months. I ended up cutting them because they got long, big, and fat, and simply refused to fit inside of my XL sized helmet. When I cut back to my usual hair length, I fit loosely in a L. So thats a lot of hair you see folks.
 
Those dreads are sweet. Should have kept them. I'm definitely in favor of game fish tags, even if it's only a few per year that we get. How would one go about getting this to happen? Do we need a petition? I've got a few friends that I've introduced to spearfishing that would join us.
 
Just thought I'd update the post... as it was from '06.
Here's the WI Spearing regs update June '08 pdf format

a stupid question... about crayfish

it talks a lot about crayfish and you can trap them, but basically, you can't fish with them... so... what good is catching them?
I guess only reason would be for making gumbo?

I was thinking they'd be great for angling for bass, (3 bass we caught one time all had crayfish in their stomachs) but apparently fishing with crayfish for bass is illegal... bummer.
 
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No way I can remember this.....It is so complicated

EDIT....Dont look for logics ...it is a government......In Denver, Colorado, it is illegal to let your neighbor borrow your vacuum cleaner ...it is a sex offence
 
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having never speared in WI, only in the Adriatic, I probably do not have right nor wisdom to comment on the freedom or lack-there-of to hunt dinner... but I do wonder why spearfishermen can't spear their own dinner... (besides the bluegills/sunfish variety) From my (confused) reading of the regs it appears you get to kill rough fish, and just hone your skills for the big blue... which I can dig.

I for one would love to hunt some pike, or bass, or walleye... don't really 'get' why we can't. Of course, I'm probably not 'good enough' to get a pike anyway - unless they are insanely curious, I imagine they are very quick. :D

I mean, it actually seems more 'fair' to me to be spearfishing... I would treat it like bow-hunting and give spearfishermen MORE freedom than anglers... from a logical point of view. At least the fish see you coming and have a fighting chance, right?

Until there are enough of us to constitute a legitimate 'special interest group' to 'lobby' for the rights, I guess we will be relegated to cleaning out the carp...
 
You can't fish with crayfsih due to the huge rusty crayfish infestation problem we have. It seems that some flatlanders brough them up from Illinois back in the 70's and used them as bait. A bunch of them got away and destroyed local habitat- you should see Trout LAke in Vilas county.:head

They are good to eat and we used to catch them by the bag full for crayfish boils. Lannon Quarry used to have so many of them that one diver would hsng by drop-off with a goody bag while the other diver swam toward him. All of the little guys would jump off the cliff and land right in the bag. You couldn't catch, and eat, enough of the things to rid the lake of them.

It would be nice to be abl to shoot other types of fish, but the hook and line crowd in Wisconsin has SO much pull that it will never happen.

Jon
 
There was just a HUGE discussion on another forum about a freshwater tourney in Utah and it made it onto a hook and line forum. The hook and line guys were freaking out about spearo's hitting game fish even though everything was totally legal.

Fishing Forum : Utah Fishing Forum: Utah Fishing General: SLAUGHTER FEST @ FISH LAKE!!

Some of the Utah Lin guys sound kinda... There are good points on each side, the hook and line guys are just a poor representation of their side. In this case if the fish are moving in a large group to a certain destination I can see the point. BTW, the "Slaughter" was 20 something of a certain fish in the day or two of the tourney.
 
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i really dont see why if we had to buy a permit to do so and only be allowed 1 maybe 2 a year i mean 2 per person per year
 
There are certain fish that are too easy to shoot. Maybe it's the time of year. But at Lake Geneva last year we could have taken some big small mouth like a shooting gallery. That could be because we were not shooting them and just swimming with them though. When you dive repeatedly in one spot and use patience, the fish start to get comfortable again. The number of fish taken by spearo's to the number taken by hook and line does not compare, there are far less of us. But just like the line guys, we have good and bad days.

"They" just see the trophy photos and don't get the full picture of how spearing works. Staying within the same rules as hook and line guys, we (more like you guys) would not take as many fish as they do throughout the year. But I don't know how the game fish behavior might change once the commotion starts.

Sorry, I'm rambling, but I'm not sure how I feel about it.
 
Well me myself think that we all pay taxes just like everyone eles does that part of that money goes to restock lakes and fix roads and so on and us as spearfishers would be willing to pay an extra fee to be able to shoot a few game fish a year i think that should be worth it and only certian times in the year would we be able too but thats just my thought
 
I would like to hear unirdna's take on it. I'd respect his viewpoint as he works in the field.
 
yes i would too i mean its just the very few of us that would be spearing i really dont see the effect to the fish
 
I get your point. But I have not done the research to get all the facts, so I personally can't say how I feel.
 
well i just got off the phone with the state senator of wisconsin and he is very interested in this and does think that it will be possible if we would be willing to pay a fee just like if you wanted to get a bear tag but he would like us to write up are story and what we would like so we need to get together on this and see how we want to approch this cause from what he said it is very possible
 
wow... awesome, dotey and crew... we should DEFINITELY put a letter/proposal together.

I think if we are allowed a fishing stamp, just like for trout, or whatever, and just like Musky fisherman, have tight limits, I think I see no reason for us not to have the right to go get dinner just like anyone else.

I know some crazy fishermen that go fish for a week, get their limits for sunnys every day (25 per person, 2 guys fishing for a week), come home with more fish than they know how to eat (50x5days=250 fish)... makes no sense to me... there's, what, maybe 25 spearfishermen in the entire state if WI?!

I would actually like more rights given to spearfishermen... they are actually IN the environment, see what kind of situation the fish are in, and can make a wiser decision what to shoot, what to leave, than just an angler on top of the water.

(I caught a 14" bass tonight on a lure and released it, so I'm a big fishing fan either way.. I'm just saying...)
 
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I know it doesn't happen often, but here are my two cents. If we want to make this legitimate, which I believe we all do in one way or another, we need to formally speak with people like Urdina or possibly some professors of fishery management at our local Universities. Consult the DNR for their perspective to make them involved in the process. Organize or thoughts, and then proceed as a professional, sporting, law abiding group.

I also agree with ILDIVER about how "game" fish react to us in their environment. From my experience, the more predatory the fish the less they fear us. This leads me to side more with a sort of tag system where you may be allowed to take maybe one of each species per calendar year. You would have to tag the fish before it leaves the water and it would be your trophy for the year.

Also be prepared for a long, dirty fight, with many debates. Just my feelings on the matter.
 
I believe if your going to go through the effort of getting rules changed, you need to ask for more. Like dealing for a car. Ask for the moon to come back down to a reasonable level. If you ask for a single tag per year limit, you just might get it. If you ask for equal rights, but have a backup plan for 1/2 or even 1/3 of the line guys limits. Present 3 options and hope for the best but accept the worst.

Just some more thoughts.
 
that is what i am getting at i have been talking to the DNR a couple of times so right now it is going really good i would like to talk to ted if there is a way
 
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