Curious

[Scram Bulleggs]

I am not a spear fisherman although I am interested. Where I live in NY there are almost no freshwater spear gunning allowed. What is the reasoning for this? Does spearing make it to easy to thin out a game fish?



Thanks

 

[ctdiver2]

freshwater fish practicly swim up to you, no challenge to hunt, spearfishing would be too easy, especialy on bass.

 

[Richesb]

It has nothing to do with the fish populations!
This is THE BIGGEST PROBLEM with the uninformed. spearfishing is the most enviornmentally friendly way to harvest fish.
Just stop and think intelligently - as a diver/spearo you do not come in contact with the bottom (sinkers - fishing), you have no incidental bycatch mortality (you only shhot/kill the fish you eat) No foul hooked fish, catching undersized fish that die in being returned to the water. No lost fishing lines tangled on the bottom. No lost anchors & rope.
Challenge to hunt, I don't know about fresh water but it certainly is a challenge in the ocean. Fish do not "swim up to you".

 

[Rick Inman]

In our local lakes, the big bass are attracted to our bubbles, swim right up to us, and then get enamored with their reflections in our masks. There would be no sport to shooting the oldest and largest of these hogs, and in a season, the local divers could easily eliminate all the large bass.

As for the trout... these guys are cautious, quick and smart, and spearing them would be a real challenge. It seems to me that the people who make these kinds of blanket regulations really don't understand the nature and behavior of freshwater game fish in how they react to divers.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

That's intesting. The bass around here are wary and cautious. The catfish are the same and neither are hunted or legal to hunt. The sunfish are cautious in areas where they are hunted and can be absolutely aggressive where they aren't.

The greatest opponents to spearing, as Rich said, are the uninformed sportfishermen who have tremendous clout when the rules are written. They want fish protected just for them to use. Yet, what many don't understand is an important part of a good healthy population management program involves the removal of some of the stocks.

This applies to more than just fish.

TwoBit

 

[Scram Bulleggs]

Its a shame really. I live on the deleware river and would love to give spearing a try. I believe Carp are leagal to spear just not with a propelled spear. I don't eat carp so thats out. Plus they just kind of sit there would not be to challenging.

 

[mudhole]

freshwater fish practicly swim up to you, no challenge to hunt, spearfishing would be too easy, especialy on bass.

Many years ago, Arkansas studied the questions of divers taking fish. Bordered by two states with most of the national champion spearfishermen, it was thought divers would be harvesting more than a fair share of fish. Divers can not catch as many fish per day as almost any other fishermen. But we can be more selective and take bigger fish. Not based on prejudice, but research. . . Arkansas allows divers to shoot all the carp and gar and buffalo (trash fish) they can. Divers are allowed half a limit of game fish. Arkansas fisheries people are monitoring the fish levels closely, and change the regulations as needed for each lake.

When diving a lake that allows spearing for bass, new divers don't see bass. When they change lakes to one closed for bass spearing, the bass can be annoying, and will swim in your face.

At a spearfishing contest several years ago many of my friends and I saw several 10 lb + bass. We can't shoot game fish during a competition, but many of us went back later with rods and reels. Even knowing where these bass were, none of us could catch them on a rod and reel. As far as spearing a big 10 lb. bass. . . they don't taste as good as say a 30 or 50 lb. flathead catfish. And these two predator fish share the same hunting grounds, if you shoot a bass, you'll never see the larger catfish.