# how deep do you spear ?



## newfish (Feb 10, 2005)

how deep do you spear? in the lake I spear it is bowl shaped with lots of weeds. no real dropoffs, however lots of weeds till you get to a 11 foot depth. as a result weeds growing thich till the bottom is 11 foot, we have about 4 foot of open water above the depths less than 11 foot and then a quick dropoff in weed growth at 11 foot.So I have been setting up at 11 which makes it hard to see pike at the deepesst depths unless it is a bright day. Question should I set up where depthis only 4 foot of open water above the weed bed? seems too shallow to me. any suggestion on this or movement of shanty to different depths as winter oxygen levels change?


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## wild bill (Apr 20, 2001)

personally i set up in water that is deep enough so that i can touch bottom with my spear. that way if i have a marginal hit i can push the fish to the bottom and get them again with my second spear. i have speared pike in water as shallow as 1 foot but most of the time im in 4-5 feet of water.


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## D-Fresh (Feb 8, 2005)

Depth is not really that much of a factor becuase you can always just keep your decoys higher, the pike will come up to them. Right now I am set up in 8 ft of water right on the edge of a huge weedbed and have been doing pretty well. Keep a decoy about 3 ft down so that the pike cruizing the top of the weeds can see it because if you have them all down near the bottom, the fish will never see the decoy. I have speared in as little as 16" of water all the way to 16 feet of water, it all depends on where the fish are traveling. If I was in your spot, in 11', I would be sure to have a decoy within the top 4 ft so that you can get the attention of the aggressive fish that are up off of the bottom and feeding. Also, you mentioned about sitting on the weeds, which will sometimes work as long as you have 3-4 ft of clear water on top of the weeds. Move around and you will find "pike alley"!


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## outdoor junkie (Sep 16, 2003)

You definitly can spear in 11' of water. Although I most of the time like to be 8' or shallower. Like someone said raise your decoy up a bit, the fish will rise to it. You just won't be able to pin a fish to the bottom if you need to. Good luck.


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## Radar420 (Oct 7, 2004)

A trick my dad said that they used to use back in the day when the water was too dark was to sink some white navy beans down your hole so you could contrast the fish against something light colored instead of the dark bottom.


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## USMarine1171 (Feb 16, 2007)

Radar420 said:


> A trick my dad said that they used to use back in the day when the water was too dark was to sink some white navy beans down your hole so you could contrast the fish against something light colored instead of the dark bottom.


I've heard omething similar...crushed egg shells or white rice...as long as it's biodegradeable


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## BFTrout (Sep 27, 2002)

newfish, 
glad to hear that the shack is sitting on some ice. 
from what you've said about that lake, personally, i'd be right on the edge of the weeds/drop off. maybe about 3-4 feet away from the shallow part of the weed bed. those fish will cruise/hide right on the edge of the weed bed and wait for the pan fish to enter/exit. good spot.


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## newfish (Feb 10, 2005)

yes, i'm on the edge but in the deep part, I've seen them set on the edge looking over the weeds. They submarine up and down looking over the weeds, as if they are raising their heads out of the trench but don't want to be seen. Been seeing lots of smaller ones, and ones too close to 24 to throw at , only speared one so far this year, 27 in.


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## chuckinduck (May 28, 2003)

I like the shallower depths, less then 7 ft. The shallower water allows you to see longer, especially as darkness approaches and the fish get more aggressive, and it increases your success on marginally hit pike, because you can get the spear to the bottom and keep them there for a follow up shot with your second spear when necessary. In my opinion anything over 9ft really opens up a lot of room for error, both with the shot, and after the hit. Sure you can hit them in the deeper depths, but just to much rish for my liking. Pike can really wiggle themselves off spears, which often times results in fatally hit pike that go unrecovered. If you do go deep, I'd suggest you always have a back up spear. Remember pikes eyes are on top of there head, so always position your decoys higher, then lower. They can't see down that well. Although kidney beans, rice, and eggs all work, I've had the best luck with potatoes sliced up thin. It doesn't take much to lighten your hole up.....maybe 5-6 spuds. Good luck this winter. I'm still waiting on good ice to get my shanty on the ice, hoping to do it tomorrow.


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## Radar420 (Oct 7, 2004)

chuckinduck said:


> They can't see down that well. Although kidney beans, rice, and eggs all work, I've had the best luck with potatoes sliced up thin. It doesn't take much to lighten your hole up.....maybe 5-6 spuds.


I always thought that pike couldn't see down that well either because of their eye position but I saw something a few years ago that made me change my mind. I was jigging for pike one day with a buddy and by chance we had set our shanty up right over a plastic white spatula that someone had dropped through the ice while grilling - pure coincidence that we were set up over it. We had quite a few pike come in that day but one large pike was particularly interesting. It came in and was stalking our baits but it never bit, instead it came in right under the hole, went near vertical and "attacked" the spatula. Mind you we didn't drop the spatula and we weren't hitting it with our jigs so there was no motion imparted on it. Somehow the pike must of seen and it was intrigued.

With that being said, I always start my baits higher up in the water column.

I've heard about potatoes as well. I like using broken up egg shells for chumming panfish - you crumble them down the hole and it looks like 100s of fish scales falling often good enough to entice a school of perch.


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## jigmanII (Feb 3, 2003)

newfish said:


> yes, i'm on the edge but in the deep part, I've seen them set on the edge looking over the weeds. They submarine up and down looking over the weeds, as if they are raising their heads out of the trench but don't want to be seen. Been seeing lots of smaller ones, and ones too close to 24 to throw at , only speared one so far this year, 27 in.


Not sure how long you have been spearing and I haven't done it in years but...
I speared for years and one of my best holes was 18ft deep 6ft right (size of spearing hole) was 25ft. I fished that same place for seven years and Jan. was always so-so. February was when the huge pike came in from the depths though.
15in-18in sucker 3ft down with plenty of rope to allow spear to lay sideways on bottom and make sure I hit them right behind head, always worked for me. Back-up spear is essential.
February is always the best month.
Btw. I would always string my minnow with a needle and thread, so I could set two tip-ups in other spots, thats how I found/chose that spot.
Hope this helps. The best is yet to come.


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## mr bill (Dec 4, 2007)

ther are a lot of good advice here, things that i have used in the past. i might add put your shanty so that one end of your hole is over the top of the weeds and the othere end over the deeper water. try to find a trouph of some sort leading into the weeds to set-up over.
potatoes sliced thin is what i found that work the best, but i have used egg shells and things like that.also you need to have your deco up high i ran mine always half way down to the bottom.

jigman11, if speared on a spot for years on gull lake that was simalar looking. i found a place on the edge of a sand bar that lead out of 70ft. of water up on to the bar in 6ft. of water. i set the shanty so one end was over 30ft. of water and 6ft away it was in about 18ft. i would use the biggest smelt that i caught the nite before about 8-10ft. down and always closer to the shallow end of the hole. it was fun watching the pike come out of the deep water up that trouph to have a good look at your bait. 
also it helps to have your bait high like that for the fish that is cruising the shallows will also see your bait off the weeds and come out to look at your deco. i have notice that when a pike comes out of the shallows it moves in very slow and coming out of the deeper water it moves right in almost sudden like.


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## Cooley (Oct 20, 2003)

How deep do I spear !......... When my wife say's OH YHEA ! ! !


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