Opinions on Spearfishing Walleye?

Theres a certain group of Minnesotans that have no problem with this. Its their heritage!

Not a fan but I understand the allure.
Already encountered people “swimming underwater’ on local lakes. They’re around the landings too?!
Adds another whole dimension of safety for all of us and watching some people now, they are clearly struggling w just boat safety.

I don’t like how this would effect me, I’d need way heavier line on the trolling rods

If it is snorkeling only, I would be in favor of it. Why not? I doubt very many people would actually do it, and my guess is that it is not as easy as a lot of people think.

My wife’s brother’s father in law owned a resort in upper Wisconsin for decades. The indians were allowed to spear walleye supposedly for food but left them on the shore to die just to poke the resorts in the eye.

I am all for it, but only for musky cheek harvest

On the list of things that concern me when it comes to our lakes this is about the very bottom. As long as they are following the regs they have every right.

Sylvanboat wrote:

My wife’s brother’s father in law owned a resort in upper Wisconsin for decades. The indians were allowed to spear walleye supposedly for food but left them on the shore to die just to poke the resorts in the eye.

Might want to read beyond the headline.

Timmy wrote:

If it is snorkeling only, I would be in favor of it. Why not? I doubt very many people would actually do it, and my guess is that it is not as easy as a lot of people think.

Have at it.

So many waters have tough visibility, fish move and spook easily, snorkeling gear is expensive, etc.

There are certain bodies of water where the stars could align and this be something to do regularly…but for the most part the physical limitations would be tough to overcome to decimate fish populations or anything like that.

I think it’d be super fun to do. Not sure how you can tell if a fish is out of the slot while swimming though…

0 hooking mortality.

JEREMY wrote:

0 hooking mortality.

there is that!!

I think it would be neat to go down and observe them, but shoot one? Notta chance. You might as well go back to the bow slingin thread and bring this practice up for NON game fish, didn’t some of you state that over yonder??

Swimjiggin wrote:

I think it would be neat to go down and observe them, but shoot one? Notta chance. You might as well go back to the bow slingin thread and bring this practice up for NON game fish, didn’t some of you state that over yonder??

swimjissin your correct it is awesome to observe. we used to camp down near the whitewater river in SE MN and swimming in the deep holes with goggles was always fun watching the suckers and trout. Always had to try catching a few by hand but could never quite make it happen.

Swimjiggin wrote:

I think it would be neat to go down and observe them, but shoot one? Notta chance. You might as well go back to the bow slingin thread and bring this practice up for NON game fish, didn’t some of you state that over yonder??

dont you swim like a rock though???????

As long as dinkpatrol stays on shore, swimjissin as he says should float just fine..lol

I think it looks awesome. Met a couple guys in the keys that do that.
Don’t think these guys do it for crushing limits more so for the diving and the sport of it.
Like others have stated only a handful of waters you could even do it so have fun.

BigWerm wrote:

I think it’d be super fun to do. Not sure how you can tell if a fish is out of the slot while swimming though…

In this instance I don’t think it would be that hard as it just have to be over 15 inches. Just don’t bother with shooting one close.

JEREMY wrote:

0 hooking mortality.

you would be surprised how many float up on shore that have been hit by a spear and come off the spear or are miss hit after a spearing session., different way, but I would think the results could be similar.

Swimjiggin wrote:

As long as dinkpatrol stays on shore, swimjissin as he says should float just fine..lol

I watch keywestwaterman on YouTube. Have lots of respect for the sport. It’s super cool. Fresh and saltwater are very different beasts though.

Highly recommend checking out his channel. He and his wife madeleine are living the life down in the Florida keys. They both work their butts off to make it happen. He does both recreational and commercial fishing/spearing/guiding. Very interesting and entertaining learning the ins and outs. Also no annoying music…

I haven’t speared pike for a while now but back when me and my buddies were really into it we would see some monster walleyes in the dark house. I think it would definitely get more people into winter spearing. Maybe make it an aggregate limit of like 3 fish and no more than 2 can be walleyes? Just throwing ideas out there.

the natives took 140 walleyes in a couple of hours on one of our local lakes a couple of nights ago, I believe there was 15 participating in that part of the lake, not sure what the quota was set for this year, heard everything from 400 to 700 fish for that lake.

LabDaddy1 wrote:

I watch keywestwaterman on YouTube. Have lots of respect for the sport. It’s super cool. Fresh and saltwater are very different beasts though.

Highly recommend checking out his channel. He and his wife madeleine are living the life down in the Florida keys. They both work their butts off to make it happen. He does both recreational and commercial fishing/spearing/guiding. Very interesting and entertaining learning the ins and outs. Also no annoying music…

Key West Waterman is awesome, I’m a big fan of the channel.

Beast wrote:

the natives took 140 <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes in a couple of hours on one of our local lakes a couple of nights ago, I believe there was 15 participating in that part of the lake, not sure what the quota was set for this year, heard everything from 400 to 700 fish for that lake.

Where is “local” to you?

Two different scenarios I think are being talked about here. Spearing with a spear or in like a dark house is a bit different than what they are doing in the video. JMO.

Where is “local” to you?
[/quote]
NW Wisconsin