Landlocked Spearfishing

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buckmt

buckmt

New member
I'm looking to do some diving for pike to brush up on spearfishing skills. We have some reservoirs in the area where we frequently get decent (for the circumstances) visibility around the 10-12 ft mark. Water temps are pretty cool, hovering between 59-61 today.

Does anybody else have much experience here? From what I've read, 65-90cm guns have been recommended for visibility and tight quarters, and a 4-5mm suit for the temperatures. Any insights, useful tips, or gear suggestions are appreciated!
 
I have never really done any fresh water spearfishing in reservoir’s, but I would suggest going with a 80-90cm gun.

With those water temps you will definitely want to be running a 5mm.
 
If you have not, check the fishing regs in your state, MN DNR has a dim view of diving and using a spear gun on game fish last time I checked, no walleye hunting.
 
I've done a lot of cold water diving, primarily in Puget Sound. Depending on the time of year I'd wear a semi dry or a full dry suit. Given that most fish are going to be in the shallow you can end up with a lot of bottom time and get quite cold in those water temps. Spearfishing here in Tennessee is limited to non-game species like catfish carp Etc. If I were going to do it I'd use a simple pole spear rather than drag around a gun, given that what you're after isn't really that large. Exception being some really large catfish but generally the smaller ones taste better.
 
buckmt said:
I'm looking to do some diving for pike to brush up on spearfishing skills. We have some reservoirs in the area where we frequently get decent (for the circumstances) visibility around the 10-12 ft mark. Water temps are pretty cool, hovering between 59-61 today.

Does anybody else have much experience here? From what I've read, 65-90cm guns have been recommended for visibility and tight quarters, and a 4-5mm suit for the temperatures. Any insights, useful tips, or gear suggestions are appreciated!
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7mm suit to stay comfortable. Lots of lead to get down and stay down with ease. And yes on the 70-90 mm gun. Keep it simple with a single band or roller set up.
 
buckmt said:
I'm looking to do some diving for pike to brush up on spearfishing skills. We have some reservoirs in the area where we frequently get decent (for the circumstances) visibility around the 10-12 ft mark. Water temps are pretty cool, hovering between 59-61 today.

Does anybody else have much experience here? From what I've read, 65-90cm guns have been recommended for visibility and tight quarters, and a 4-5mm suit for the temperatures. Any insights, useful tips, or gear suggestions are appreciated!
Click to expand...
I've done a fair bit of freshwater spearfishing in Nebraska, mostly carp and panfish. We used Hawaiian slings and smaller spear guns, 75cm if memory serves, but ended up having the best luck with home brew variants of Hawaiian slings. We used a 20"-ish section of fiberglass fishing arrow shaft & point glued into a ferrule on a 3' long 1/2" diameter fiberglass rod. They handled great in the shallows, and did a lot better hanging on to big carp than the 3 prong Hawaiian slings.
 
Steve Johnson said:
I've done a fair bit of freshwater spearfishing in Nebraska, mostly carp and panfish. We used Hawaiian slings and smaller spear guns, 75cm if memory serves, but ended up having the best luck with home brew variants of Hawaiian slings. We used a 20"-ish section of fiberglass fishing arrow shaft & point glued into a ferrule on a 3' long 1/2" diameter fiberglass rod. They handled great in the shallows, and did a lot better hanging on to big carp than the 3 prong Hawaiian slings.
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Awesome, thanks for the info. I get out to NE 4 or 5 times a year for work, so I might have to give it a go there as well.
 
buckmt said:
Awesome, thanks for the info. I get out to NE 4 or 5 times a year for work, so I might have to give it a go there as well.
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You bet. Feel free to hit me up if you do; I'd be happy to help you find your way around. Spearfishing regs here are pretty chill, standard fishing rules & regs apply July 1st - Dec 31st. Outside that, it's non-game species only...carp are the most fun anyway, IMO.
 
safetekk said:
I've done a lot of cold water diving, primarily in Puget Sound. Depending on the time of year I'd wear a semi dry or a full dry suit. Given that most fish are going to be in the shallow you can end up with a lot of bottom time and get quite cold in those water temps. Spearfishing here in Tennessee is limited to non-game species like catfish carp Etc. If I were going to do it I'd use a simple pole spear rather than drag around a gun, given that what you're after isn't really that large. Exception being some really large catfish but generally the smaller ones taste better.
Click to expand...
Puget Sound offers some epic spear fishing, but it's not reservoir fishing... When I think "Landlocked Spearfishing" I think headlamps and frog giggin!
 
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