Yeah I thought the whole thread was pretty disgusting. I was hoping the posts where guys talked about the fish being photoshopped were true considering the fish and the ice seem to remarkably clean for being speared but you just never know. Spearing muskies in general upsets me but spearing on a lake where resources are limited really sucks. If these pics are in fact true, I guess I better fish Austin a few times before those rape that lake of its muskies.
Looking through that thread has just ruined my day, and week, and maybe even month. Again, I'm directing 100% of my frustration and anger with our DNR. Hell, the man was doing what our DNR tells him he legally can do. Guess I'm going to have to get used to fishing other waters more, because that lake is going to be worthless real soon.
I'm all for sharing the resource but it needs to go both ways, in my opinion spearing is not sharing it is completely selfish. However, it is legal and as long as the fish is of legal length it is completely legal to harvest one each day during season – don't blame the person spearing. MMA asked (begged,pleaded, etc) that the Austin spearing ban not be lifted because stocking was being discontinued, but it was done anyway.
If you have something to say about this please e-mail Jay Wesley: ** you do not have permission to see this link **
I have one other major beef with all this. Clearly the DNR does not care about Muskies in Austin at all, and wants them out of there by any means necessary ASAP. So why do they close the season at all? They dont reproduce in Austin, so why close the season for that month? They keep increasing spearing seasons, why not have a year-round open season for Austin then like Webster?
"Smada962" said:
I have one other major beef with all this. Clearly the DNR does not care about Muskies in Austin at all, and wants them out of there by any means necessary ASAP. So why do they close the season at all? They dont reproduce in Austin, so why close the season for that month? They keep increasing spearing seasons, why not have a year-round open season for Austin then like Webster?
I have proposed (for many years) that we explore that on all the currently stocked water that doesn't have natural reproduction.
This is from a recent e-mail I sent to Jay concerning the fishery at Austin:
I hate taking a hard line on this topic but in many instances spearing simply doesn't make sense for the fishery. I understand creating "opportunity" but when it comes at the expense of a fishery that isn't renewable (no stocking, no natural reproduction) it just isn't an acceptable use of the resource (my opinion). Do they understand that if the spearing continues for another winter or two that the "opportunity" isn't going to be there? Just like Gun was decimated by spearing Austin will be decimated by spearing thus ruining the "opportunity" for any angler or spearer.
I got a reply back from Jat already. He appreciated my concern but basically said that the spearing guys would have the same concerns about not closing spearing on Austin. He did say the issues with water quality have changed some and the fish have not died off like they worried about so maybe Austin will become a viable stocking lake again and the spearing will stop due to that. Who knows.
"Esoxonthefly" said:
I got a reply back from Jat already. He appreciated my concern but basically said that the spearing guys would have the same concerns about not closing spearing on Austin. He did say the issues with water quality have changed some and the fish have not died off like they worried about so maybe Austin will become a viable stocking lake again and the spearing will stop due to that. Who knows.
In the mean time spearing will have removed all of the fish over 42".
"Smada962" said:
Clearly the DNR does not care about Muskies in Austin at all, and wants them out of there by any means necessary ASAP.
I don't think that's really the case. The DNR doesn't want muskies out. They know muskies are good to have in a lake. They just don't want to put muskie money into that lake with it being prone to diseases. Somehow those spear-chuckers always get their way. What a bunch of spoiled brats!
"Smada962" said:
They dont reproduce in Austin
Don't speak too quickly…. There have been hunches
I'm sure he sends the same email to everyone…
Thanks Jim for your concern!
The phone and emails have been pouring in since it was posted on the web forums.
As you know, MDNRE made a management shift several years ago away from Austin Lake for managing muskellunge. The purpose of that shift was due to not only on-going disease problems but also significant die offs that included muskellunge. Knowing the resources required to raise these fish, we did not want to stock the lake anymore knowing that there could be another die off. We removed the spearing ban to allow all anglers access to Austin, Long, and West lakes.
Since that decision was made, we have seen that the remaining fish are surviving well. Catch rates in the summer have been high and an impressive ice fishery has developed. I have had many inquiries about Austin Lake this year from both trophy anglers that don't like any harvest and from ice fishermen that do like the opportunity to harvest by tip-up, jigging pole, and/or spear. I am not in a position to take sides but do recognize the tremendous interest in the fishery.
We do have size limits, bag limits, and seasons to protect populations from harvest and to allow the size structure of the population to increase to an acceptable size. These alone are typically enough to protect a population without limiting or restricting how a fish can be harvested or sought after. The one thing that is lacking in this lake is natural reproduction. To sustain a fishery there will take some future stocking efforts.
Our biologists and I will review our current information on the lake to determine whether our decision to stop stocking was appropriate or not. We will also hold some public meetings or at least invite the public to review some options for the lake. These options might include stocking and possible gear restrictions. This process will take at least a year to complete with the reorganization of the department and its processes continues.
Thanks again for your interest.
Jay
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