Possible new World Record Walleye (spearfishing)

[zwiggles]

You’re not the only one who has heard this.

I never saw it, but have family in Idaho, and they hated walleye. Same for Montana is my understanding. The state pretty much approaches them as an invasive species on most areas for fear of their impact on the trout.

For whatever reason a lot of game and fish/ state agencies across the country seem to undertake some incredibly frivolous attempts to get rid of what most consider to be a “trophy” game fish.

I remember a guy on the shanty who had superimposed a background over an unreal, massive lake trout. He insinuated the state would surely “attack” the trophy lake trout fishery in this lake to “save” the Kokanee salmon they stocked in the lake if they knew where he caught it.

Nobody likes invasives, but in my opinion it is foolish for us to step in at this point in time, and try to play “god” with what fish species thrive in the lake.

To me a lot of it plays like a money grab. Pick problems you probably can’t fix anyways and throw a ton of dollars at it to keep the budget up, kind of thing.

Certainly don’t encourage more invasives, and do what you can (and spend the money on) preventing new ones coming in. Very rarely are we able to eliminate invasive species.

[taxid]

One thing I've learned with raising fish in four ponds is once a species gets into one of my ponds that I don't want, or an all male or all female population gets a member of the other sex you pretty much have to start all over again and the bigger the body of water the harder it is to do so. At least with my small ponds it's just a matter of draining them and liming or rotenoning the puddles left over.

All the large bodies of water I know of that have been rotenoned it's never 100 percent effective. Once the barn door is open going back to square one is pretty much futile.

I laugh at guys that think they can put a dent in coyote populations that are "killing all my deer." Or people that think they can control bluegills in a small pond that spawn four times a year.

I have four bluegills in my trout pond that swam up a 6 inch pipe over 300 feet from a larger warmer pond. All it took was one day not putting screen over the out take. Fortunately it's not a problem although the bluegills are probably terrified by 2 to 3 pound trout frothing the water at feeding time.

I once had male only yellow perch in a floating cage. The rest of the pond was female only yellow perch. I walked out on the pier one day and was flabbergasted to see a 2 foot ribbon of perch eggs just barely hanging off a zip tie on the bottom outside corner of the cage. I know darn well every perch in that cage probably blew milt over those eggs. I ran back to the house to get a net and of course the ribbon had fallen off the cage. Next year I have little perch swimming around in that pond! 

[SHaRPS]

Hey Sharps,

I hunt far more than I fish. I enjoy everything about the outdoors and would probably love spear fishing. I just feel like it takes such skill to catch a walleye that big, especially one in Wyoming. We don't have an endless supply of Walleye here, or an endless supply of really any fish except rainbow trout. I can't say that if I caught a fish like that I wouldnt also be killing it to get it weighed and see if it was a record, but I also know that I always release the biggest of any species I catch for the next person, and because they're not good table fare anyways. I've been hearing stories for a couple years now of spear fisherman taking many walleye over 10 lbs. A very small percentage of Wyoming's already small walleye population. I assume this is growing in popularity because it's more like a trophy hunt than fishing.

Obviously there's no rule against it, and ethics is purely on an indivdual basis, but I would not be killing big walleye because I have a spear in my hand over a fishing pole....that's all. I think it's time game and fish looks at the lack of regulations it has in place for spear "fishing".

Understood and to be honest, I agree with how you feel about the situation in those perameters so appreciate the response. I actually no longer spearfish for striped bass, would like to see that population much greater than it is before i target them again.

However, i can only ask that you do not compare spear fishing to fishing or hunting because its a whole different game especially with scuba gear. The reality is that humans are not designed to breath under water so its like stepping into another universe. For me the high is exploring areas that average humans dont as well as the knowledge on how to survive and keep calm in multiple situations. The speargun in my hand  is my credit card and the fish i harvest is my meal from the supermarket 60 feet deep. Spearfishing really is much harder than it looks or sounds.

[fishinjohn]

The speargun in my hand  is my credit card and the fish i harvest is my meal from the supermarket 60 feet deep.

LOVE THE ANALOGY!!!!!!

[POk3s]

Understood and to be honest, I agree with how you feel about the situation in those perameters so appreciate the response. I actually no longer spearfish for striped bass, would like to see that population much greater than it is before i target them again.

However, i can only ask that you do not compare spear fishing to fishing or hunting because its a whole different game especially with scuba gear. The reality is that humans are not designed to breath under water so its like stepping into another universe. For me the high is exploring areas that average humans dont as well as the knowledge on how to survive and keep calm in multiple situations. The speargun in my hand  is my credit card and the fish i harvest is my meal from the supermarket 60 feet deep. Spearfishing really is much harder than it looks or sounds.

Makes perfect sense and like I said I would probably love it. However I still feel that the same management objectives should apply even if it's completely different than fishing or hunting.

[SHaRPS]

Makes perfect sense and like I said I would probably love it. However I still feel that the same management objectives should apply even if it's completely different than fishing or hunting.

Agreed but here is 1 issue with spearfishing vs actual fishing. You cannot spear a fish and then measure it and let it go alive and well if under the size limit whereas regular fishing allows you to remove a hook, measure it and let it go and the fish is fine. You can let it go but at that point its fish food to other species or mostly crabs. You have to realize that everything looks larger than it really is underwater due to a larger index of refraction (1.33 for water vs 1.00 in air) so essentially everything looks a few inches bigger. A 24" bass will look like its 30". It takes some patience and learning to be able to harvest a fish of legal size. I have seen MANY rookies just hit the water with a snorkel and fins and shoot tons of fish that are under size because they thought it was well over the minimum length and then let them just float way, its like buck fever and that finger just has to pull that trigger. In my opinion as an avid spear fisher, there should be some sort of tagging system to avoid fish waste. If you shoot a fish it is automatically part of your daily limit, fish needs to be tagged before exiting the water. Now obviously there still needs to be some sort of length limit (or keep it at what it is) but it should give some sort of leeway to avoid the above fish waste. Maybe even reduce the total fish limit for spearfishers if the latter mentioned is allowed. Clearly, the sport of spearfishing is not a C&R sort of game. You shoot it you own it for food. That's my opinion for some sort of controlled management objective.

Striped bass, Fluke, Blue fish, Sea bass and black fish are all pretty easy to shoot because the shape off the body gives you a pretty large target. I can only imagine that a 10lb walleye is MUCH easier to shoot than a 3lber. Maybe, just maybe these spear fishermen after the walleye are only targeting the larger fish to avoid only wounding the smaller ones. I think we can all agree that that it is a possibility but clearly cannot be proven.

Also note that you do not "aim" at a fish with a speargun as you would with iron sights or a scoped rifle. It is far more of a point and shoot sort of deal as with a shotgun. Oh, and unlike having the ability to use various chokes on a shotgun to adjust the pattern of 500 plus pellets spreading wider and wider over distance, you are only shooting 1 single metal rod with a spear gun.

The best way I can explain it to someone that never spearfished is to take a 30-06 bolt action rifle remove the scope and iron sights and try to shoot a deer at 50 yards with that set up with 1 hand. And do all of this with minimum visibility and adjust accordingly to a 40mph wind (ocean current) while either holding your breath or trying to stay put by holding onto anything you can grab with your free hand on the ocean floor. That is what my spearfishing is like.

[POk3s]

Agreed but here is 1 issue with spearfishing vs actual fishing. You cannot spear a fish and then measure it and let it go alive and well if under the size limit whereas regular fishing allows you to remove a hook, measure it and let it go and the fish is fine. You can let it go but at that point its fish food to other species or mostly crabs. You have to realize that everything looks larger than it really is underwater due to a larger index of refraction (1.33 for water vs 1.00 in air) so essentially everything looks a few inches bigger. A 24" bass will look like its 30". It takes some patience and learning to be able to harvest a fish of legal size. I have seen MANY rookies just hit the water with a snorkel and fins and shoot tons of fish that are under size because they thought it was well over the minimum length and then let them just float way, its like buck fever and that finger just has to pull that trigger. In my opinion as an avid spear fisher, there should be some sort of tagging system to avoid fish waste. If you shoot a fish it is automatically part of your daily limit, fish needs to be tagged before exiting the water. Now obviously there still needs to be some sort of length limit (or keep it at what it is) but it should give some sort of leeway to avoid the above fish waste. Maybe even reduce the total fish limit for spearfishers if the latter mentioned is allowed. Clearly, the sport of spearfishing is not a C&R sort of game. You shoot it you own it for food. That's my opinion for some sort of controlled management objective.

Striped bass, Fluke, Blue fish, Sea bass and black fish are all pretty easy to shoot because the shape off the body gives you a pretty large target. I can only imagine that a 10lb walleye is MUCH easier to shoot than a 3lber. Maybe, just maybe these spear fishermen after the walleye are only targeting the larger fish to avoid only wounding the smaller ones. I think we can all agree that that it is a possibility but clearly cannot be proven.

Also note that you do not "aim" at a fish with a speargun as you would with iron sights or a scoped rifle. It is far more of a point and shoot sort of deal as with a shotgun. Oh, and unlike having the ability to use various chokes on a shotgun to adjust the pattern of 500 plus pellets spreading wider and wider over distance, you are only shooting 1 single metal rod with a spear gun.

The best way I can explain it to someone that never spearfished is to take a 30-06 bolt action rifle remove the scope and iron sights and try to shoot a deer at 50 yards with that set up with 1 hand. And do all of this with minimum visibility and adjust accordingly to a 40mph wind (ocean current) while either holding your breath or trying to stay put by holding onto anything you can grab with your free hand on the ocean floor. That is what my spearfishing is like.

Sharps, I'm glad you're so passionate about ocean spearfishing. But we're talking about a small lake in Wyoming where spearfisherman are killing the oldest fish in the ecosystem for trophy purposes and not for eating. There's no current, and I can only assume these walleye aren't scurrying to get away very often...I could be wrong. Regardless, these are two totally different concepts. Shooting a small amount of fish in an ocean for food
...shooting a large amount of the mature and older sized fish to say they did.

[fishinator]

Sharps, I'm glad you're so passionate about ocean spearfishing. But we're talking about a small lake in Wyoming where spearfisherman are killing the oldest fish in the ecosystem for trophy purposes and not for eating. There's no current, and I can only assume these walleye aren't scurrying to get away very often...I could be wrong. Regardless, these are two totally different concepts. Shooting a small amount of fish in an ocean for food
...shooting a large amount of the mature and older sized fish to say they did.

How do you know they aren't eating them?           
    I have always found it funny how no one complains when someone shoots a huge bucks but someone keeps a trophy fish and everyone freaks out.

[SHaRPS]

Sharps, I'm glad you're so passionate about ocean spearfishing. But we're talking about a small lake in Wyoming where spearfisherman are killing the oldest fish in the ecosystem for trophy purposes and not for eating. There's no current, and I can only assume these walleye aren't scurrying to get away very often...I could be wrong. Regardless, these are two totally different concepts. Shooting a small amount of fish in an ocean for food
...shooting a large amount of the mature and older sized fish to say they did.

Ok, so is there any difference if the oldest and largest fish in your small lake are killed by rod and reel or with a spear gun? I can promise you that those specific people that are trophy hunting with spear guns would keep and kill that fish for a trophy if caught by rod and reel as well and probably prefer it since there is no hole in the fish. You have TROPHY fisherman, you have fisherman that do it for FOOD, and you have fisherman that are strictly C&R. All 3 are fine with me and I actually fit into all 3 categories my self except my trophy's are replicas. That is the reality and I am not bashing you at all nor am I protecting people that spearfish, I am just looking at the whole picture here. I understand that YOU like to C&R the big fish so you can catch them another day but that's your choice as is the choice of others to keep the fish regardless of how they are caught as long as the current laws in your area are followed. Would you not agree? Do I think shooting and killing big fish just for a wall hanger is the right thing to do, no but that's just my opinion. I like to eat fish, I rather harvest it for food. At some point, your oldest and biggest fish are no longer producing eggs either and just taking forage from other fish and minimizing their opportunity to grow larger and faster as well. I did not write the book, its just how the world revolves.

[SHaRPS]

How do you know they aren't eating them?           
    I have always found it funny how no one complains when someone shoots a huge bucks but someone keeps a trophy fish and everyone freaks out.

Right, how do you know they are not eating them?

"Catch" a huge buck with a fishing rod and I bet someone complains.  LMAO!!!     In all seriousness your right fishinator. However I think social media has a lot to do with it which is why I do not use it other than this. People are far more cautious when it comes to posting pictures with dead animals vs posting pictures of trophy fish. More posts of trophy fish =  more complaints.  Post a picture of a dead animal and people will want to skin you alive.

[POk3s]

This is really why I didn't want to open this can. But I have so I guess we'll go round and round.

The ability to catch a big fish and release it is there. I love catching them. Which is why it sucks when they get whacked by a spear. You're right, it's legal, but I don't know many people who enjoy eating big fish. By all means Inhope they are eating them, but it can't be all that enjoyable.

I like to kill big elk and deer as much as I can. Last year my bull was 9 1/2. But still very edible!

So, in closing...I hope these guys that are spearing this big dudes are eating them, as they should be and I'm sure they are.

But I know the guys that are great at catching big walleye aren't keeping them. The guys that are great at spearing them are. I'm sure fisherman keep big ones from
time to time but not at the same rate.

If these guys were killing 5+ lb rainbows this state would be losing their minds. But since it's walleye they don't seem to care.

It's legal, yes. Keep on keepin on if that's what they so choose.

[SHaRPS]

We are on the same page POk3s. Thanks for a humane conversation. I understand how you feel and I get it. I would enjoy some elk or mule deer pics from your hunts .sounds like my wife and I may spend our 5 year anniversary in colorado so i may get some hunting and fishing time. 

[slamber]

I fish DeSmet regularly (it's 5 miles away). The only reason I'm upset that he took it out is because now I can't catch it and hang it on my wall.

Congrats to him, that's a helluva fish. I might need to get some spearfishing gear.

[POk3s]

We are on the same page POk3s. Thanks for a humane conversation. I understand how you feel and I get it. I would enjoy some elk or mule deer pics from your hunts .sounds like my wife and I may spend our 5 year anniversary in colorado so i may get some hunting and fishing time.

Hey Sharps send me an email. With not much action on this board, I don't want to spam it with hunting pics hahahaha.

[email protected]
There's also "Trent Williams Outdoors" on Facebook where you could see them all! (Shameless plug)

[SHaRPS]

Hey Sharps send me an email. With not much action on this board, I don't want to spam it with hunting pics hahahaha.

[email protected]
There's also "Trent Williams Outdoors" on Facebook where you could see them all! (Shameless plug)

email sent.

I do not have facebook so I cannot view the photos/videos that way.