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Good point Dan…it does seem anti productive to practice catch and release on everything big…then be proud of the 10+ lb pike I just shishkabobed.
The more I think about it…the stranger the mind set is. Personally I’ve release many larger fish…but when it comes to spearing…the bigger the better. Figure that one out!
As a darkhouse spearer and hook and line fisherman who releases big fish it is very sad to see you perpetuating a lie like that Briank.
There is no better way to release a fish than by look and releasing it by simply not throwing the spear while darkhouse spearing. (No delayed mortality, no frozen gills, no handling “mistakes”, heck the fish don’t even know it is being released)
I can assure you it is just as easy to release a large northern pike swimming under you while watching it though the darkhouse spearing hole as it is to release it when it is in your hands after catching it with a hook and line.
We as sportsmen all need to come together to ensure the future of our fishery. Stereotyping sportsmen who choose to use the method of darkhouse spearing for 3 months out of the year then return to a hook and line the rest of the year as fishmongers who are only interested harvesting large northern pike isn’t getting it done.
It is neither the darkhouse spear nor the hook and line that determines what fish will be harvested, it is the only the sportsman who can make that choice.
It is up to all of us sportsmen, no matter the method we choose to use, to let the big ones swim and harvest the small ones. It is also up to us as fellow sportsmen to respect each other’s rights/privileges to use and enjoy the legal method of their choice.
The argument that darkhouse spearers are only after big fish is as foolish as someone saying bow hunters are only after big deer. Northern pike fishing by either method equates to deer hunting with either method, same results different method.
A fisherman using the method of darkhouse spearing is no more “evil” than the deer hunter using the method of bow hunting.
And waste that much time to get it in. 
…….rrr
………After you skid that walleye in you have some awesome food 
chicken. 
”””..rrr