My brother and I went out darkhouse spearing this past weekend. I bought a new house sunday morning. A cabelas pop up type - perfect for my type of fishing. Quick setup, quick tear down and spaceous. My brother is 6'4" and he can stand straight up in it. Anyway we drilled a few holes, cut out the block and started setting up. It was a beautiful morning. Probably 25 degrees or so, but little to no wind. Sun shining bright. We live for those days out here. 
By the time we had the hole cleared of slush and our gear in the house, I was sweating. Hadn't even turned the heater on yet. My brother started hanging the decoy and as soon as he had it in the water we had action. I bet it was no more than 5 minutes after he dropped it in we saw fish. All fish we saw were northerns. (Northern Pike (Esox lucius)). The first one was decent size, 25 inches a good eater. It was remarkable in that it had a scar on its right side. Easily visible. It kept circling the deek (decoy) but the spear line wasn't untied yet. (The spear is connected to 20-25ft of rope so that when you throw the spear you can retrieve it). I was so excited I kept yelling "throw it! Just throw it!" Lol. And that just made my brother more excited and more clumsy with the rope. He finally got it unwound and of course the fish had swum away.
It wasn't more than 10 minutes later and two came back to the hole. The first was the same one from earlier, scar on the side. The second much much larger. We couldn't tell how much larger because it stayed pretty deep. Down to the bottom was around 10.5 - 11 ft. The larger one made one pass through and didn't come back but the smaller one kept showing interest. At one point he swiped at the decoy, mouth open. I lifted the deek to about 2ft down and he came up to look at it - at this point my brother already had the spear head in the water and as soon as the fish rose, the threw. Solid hit, right behind the head. First one down.
Then it was my turn. We sat for probably 20 minutes after that with no action. Not too suprising given we had just chucked a spear down the hole. Then from in front of the hole swimming towards us came a beast. Big fish. Of course I had a sandwich in my hand and the spear was behind me. Our roles reversed. My brother loudly whispering "throw the spear! Throw it!". I wasn't ready. I had to let it pass, he came up pretty shallow and would have seen me move so I held still. He swam directly under us and I tossed my sandwich and grabbed the spear, and like something out of the Outdoor show he came right back, this time right to left eyeing up the decoy. I had the spear head in the water and let him have it. SPLOOSH! All I saw was bubbles and even though the fish was huge and I knew I hit him square I had that moment of anxiety and excitement. And then the rope line started pulling away... the fish was swimming away with the spear in his back!!!! Are you shi##$% me?! I grabbed the rope and slowly applied tension not knowing how solid my hit was. I brought him up nice and slow after he ran 10 ft of line out a few times. I was in shock at how strong he was. My hands were shaking just holding the rope tight. I finally got him up and couldn't believe how big he was. I'm still in a bit of shock.
41 inches long, over 20 lbs. A handful of guys came over from other houses after hearing the ruckus. I imaging we weren't very quiet. One brought a tape, and scale. The scale bottomed out, max weight of 20. Tape only went to 36, but we just marked the end of the tape and then moved the tape over. Forgot to get the girth now that I think about it... Beastly fish.
The best part about this story... My spear has a bent prong from my brother messing around with it. Anyway I hit the fish with just one prong - top of the back and it came out his side, sort of an angled hit. The prong that was bent, had it been straight would have hit him in the opposite side and went diagonally across the meat of his body. That indefinitely would have mortally wounded him. Instead I was able to release this fish. He had been out of the water quite a while so when I put him in the water I was skeptical that I'd be able to revive him, but as soon as he was submerged he took off with gusto. He lives to fight another day. Glad to say so. Hell of a day on the ice.
By the time we had the hole cleared of slush and our gear in the house, I was sweating. Hadn't even turned the heater on yet. My brother started hanging the decoy and as soon as he had it in the water we had action. I bet it was no more than 5 minutes after he dropped it in we saw fish. All fish we saw were northerns. (Northern Pike (Esox lucius)). The first one was decent size, 25 inches a good eater. It was remarkable in that it had a scar on its right side. Easily visible. It kept circling the deek (decoy) but the spear line wasn't untied yet. (The spear is connected to 20-25ft of rope so that when you throw the spear you can retrieve it). I was so excited I kept yelling "throw it! Just throw it!" Lol. And that just made my brother more excited and more clumsy with the rope. He finally got it unwound and of course the fish had swum away. It wasn't more than 10 minutes later and two came back to the hole. The first was the same one from earlier, scar on the side. The second much much larger. We couldn't tell how much larger because it stayed pretty deep. Down to the bottom was around 10.5 - 11 ft. The larger one made one pass through and didn't come back but the smaller one kept showing interest. At one point he swiped at the decoy, mouth open. I lifted the deek to about 2ft down and he came up to look at it - at this point my brother already had the spear head in the water and as soon as the fish rose, the threw. Solid hit, right behind the head. First one down.
Then it was my turn. We sat for probably 20 minutes after that with no action. Not too suprising given we had just chucked a spear down the hole. Then from in front of the hole swimming towards us came a beast. Big fish. Of course I had a sandwich in my hand and the spear was behind me. Our roles reversed. My brother loudly whispering "throw the spear! Throw it!". I wasn't ready. I had to let it pass, he came up pretty shallow and would have seen me move so I held still. He swam directly under us and I tossed my sandwich and grabbed the spear, and like something out of the Outdoor show he came right back, this time right to left eyeing up the decoy. I had the spear head in the water and let him have it. SPLOOSH! All I saw was bubbles and even though the fish was huge and I knew I hit him square I had that moment of anxiety and excitement. And then the rope line started pulling away... the fish was swimming away with the spear in his back!!!! Are you shi##$% me?! I grabbed the rope and slowly applied tension not knowing how solid my hit was. I brought him up nice and slow after he ran 10 ft of line out a few times. I was in shock at how strong he was. My hands were shaking just holding the rope tight. I finally got him up and couldn't believe how big he was. I'm still in a bit of shock.
41 inches long, over 20 lbs. A handful of guys came over from other houses after hearing the ruckus. I imaging we weren't very quiet. One brought a tape, and scale. The scale bottomed out, max weight of 20. Tape only went to 36, but we just marked the end of the tape and then moved the tape over. Forgot to get the girth now that I think about it... Beastly fish.
The best part about this story... My spear has a bent prong from my brother messing around with it. Anyway I hit the fish with just one prong - top of the back and it came out his side, sort of an angled hit. The prong that was bent, had it been straight would have hit him in the opposite side and went diagonally across the meat of his body. That indefinitely would have mortally wounded him. Instead I was able to release this fish. He had been out of the water quite a while so when I put him in the water I was skeptical that I'd be able to revive him, but as soon as he was submerged he took off with gusto. He lives to fight another day.
Glad to say so. Hell of a day on the ice.
