Fresh Water Spearfishing

[freedivechicago]

Why is spearfishing in fresh water limited to "rough fish?" In the ocean you can hunt good species. Every state reg I've looked at in this area (midwest states) prohibits taking game fish by spearing. It would be great to hunt large mouth or coho, etc. Does anyone know of a state which allows spearfishermen to take game fish, or is the only option to go to the coasts?

Jim

[virgil]

Don't know about other US states but in Quebec everything is fair game except muskelunge and sturgeon. All the quotas are the same as for line fishermens.
Not sure if it's closer to you than the Atlantic/Pacific coast...
I don't spear rough fish because too abundant and not very challenging.

Happy diving / hunting.

Virgil

[freedivechicago]

Virgil,

Is the same true for Ontario? I spent a week canoeing in Quetico a few years ago and we ate fish (mostly small mouth bass) twice per day , not to mention drank water straight from the lakes. Ontario wouldn't be too far of a distance. Any idea what non-resident fishing license costs?

Jim

[andrsn]

wyoming allows the spearing of walleye and laketrout, along w/ some other game fish. state regs and bag limits apply, though.

andrsn

[freedivechicago]

Thanks Andrsn.

Here's a link to Wyoming fishing regs:

http://gf.state.wy.us/HTML/afs/pdf/Fishregs.pdf

Still hoping to hear about some state closer to home. Maybe we'll get together a state-by-state summary eventually.

Jim

[Pekka]

Freshwater hunting......................
As we went to Norway to do some diving and sperfishing in the Barents sea... (near by the area where the Russian sub KURSK..well anyhow) We decided to just slide down one of the rivers.. the river just happened to be THE fly fishing and sports fishing river and as we did "dive" through it and saw good sized Salmon ansd some other fish, the local fish-police as they called themselves shouted at us how did we dare dive in their delicate sortsfishing........river. All this was in Norvegian so we understood just the main point.. don't even dive at our river...
I did have my speargun with and actually tried to shoot one of the salmon that swimmed by, but luckily I missed..
So atleast in Norway they are REALLY srict with freshwater hunting..

[Ben Gowland]

In Scotland (and I think, the rest of Britian) Spearfishing is illegal in freshwater, in fact any form of catching fish other than Rod and Line is illegal......unless you are going for Eels, which can be hunted by any means necessary!

Not a lot of people know that.......

[IBGuy]

I live about three miles from Lake Champlain on the Vermont side where the they allow bowfishing of Carp and Gar year round with no catch limits. Vermont also has a season on Champlain that runs for about 2 months in the spring for Carp, Gar and Northern Pike that allows bow-fishing, spearing and shooting with rifle or handgun but no spearfishing Mr. Man. It's really too bad because there are some huge Carp in Champlain, I have taken some with a bow in the 30lb. range and have seen much larger ones diving. I have started to ask questions about getting the law changed but I think it would be a tough battle.

If anyone can offer some specifics on how the law is set up in their states that would be helpful. Better yet e-mail me and if anyone is willing to mail me a copy of their state rule book that would be great. I know this is off the original post subject a bit, Woops.

Guy

[drkebs]

I am from Wyoming and one can spear in only the lakes as stated in the fishing reg's. The only big exception is that only 2 walleye can be speared per day as compared to the fishing limit of 6 per day. The lakes I hunt are Glendo, and pathfinder resivor, which are around central, SE Wyoming. Glendo, for me is good at producing nice walleye, catfish, crappie, and carp if in the right spots and luck is on ones side.
As compared to Michigan (unirdna and Jon), the walleye are skiddish and require resaonably fast reactions. The viz in these two lakes is good (10-25ft) for freshwater in the late spring and early summer and as summer goes on and the 2 million jetskiers (not quite....but seems like it) start going crazy and in circles the viz will start to go down. Algae blooms also start and the lakes will turn over and viz goes to hell. If anyone has any specific Q's for Wyoming I'd be happy to help.
Have fun where your at, as 18 inches of ice covers everything wet where I am at,

Justin

[huntermartainda]

I realize that this post is a few years old...but you can shoot game fish in Arkansas...It's only about an hour from where i live to a crystal clear lake...The only limit is that you can take half of the daily rod and reel limit per day

[jimy286]

can I spear in the lakes of new jersey?

[TOOmas]

im up in the northern part of idaho and i can only spear non-game fish as well. which limits me to tench, squaw fish (northern pike minnow), suckers (small kind of carp?), and possibly some other ones that i havnt come across yet. the lake i spear in, lake pend oreille, is home to some of the world record lake trout and rainbow trout. i have yet to see a trout while diving but even if i did i wouldnt be able to shoot one... as for not hunting the rest of the game fish like bass, it seems fair... the bass are so aggressive/stupid/curious as it is that they swim right up to you and spearing them would just be unsporting. it just makes me upset because the fish i can shoot are horrible eating, it would be nice to have the option of taking at least one bass in order to eat some of my catch.

[Whopperhead]

In Wisconsin we can shoot PANFISH which include alot of different GOOD EATING fish: PERCH, Bluegills, Sunfish, Crappies, Rock bass and more. I don't think there is a better tasting fish than the Perch. And In Lake Michigan (wi waters) you can shoot 5 per day and double that for possession (June-August) and they get BIG- I've seen some Perch around the 17" range. Some counties in WI restrict spearing - but most of those are in northern WI. Lake Geneva has some excellent spearing. We are doing a outing on the 26th Of April if you want to join.

[TOOmas]

wow that is a huge perch, the largest ive seen around here might have been a little over 12"... Im pretty sure panfish are off limits for me as well, Im not sure if the fish and game would really care as the only fish in danger in our lake is the kokanee. if that wasnt the case theres this private lake i have access too that is full of crappie, bass, perch, and has been stocked w/ cutbows. i guess the only way ill get those guys is to flyfish legally...

[BatRay]

I too wish that we could shoot good eating fish in California's fresh water. Unfortunately, we are limited to carp, hardhead, a certain sucker, goldfish, lamprey, and bullfrogs. We are also only allowed to shoot fish from May through September in the Central district. Does this make sense? We pay as much for a fishing license as anyone else, and even bowfishing is allowed year-round. I don't think that the take by speargun would damage the sportfishery so much. I would be glad if spearos were allowed to take some freshwater species that are actually good to eat