WI – Spearing of muskie elicits mixed reaction

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05/06/07 By Jim Lee Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers ** you do not have permission to see this link **

MINOCQUA — The spearing of what is believed to be the largest muskie documented in Vilas or Oneida counties is raising the hackles of some muskie anglers, but the overall reaction in the fishing community has been fairly restrained.

When a photograph of the 56¾-inch muskie — speared April 22 on a lake on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation — became available, there was apprehension as to how the fishing community might respond.

"We've gotten a couple comments" asking why a photo of the fish appeared in the Lakeland Times, said Ray Rivard, associate editor of the Minocqua-based newspaper that supplied the photo to Gannett Wisconsin News-papers, including the Press-Gazette "Why not run it? The fish is one of the largest muskies ever taken in northern Wisconsin — if not the state. The size of the fish … it's news."

Kurt Justice, fishing guide and owner of Kurt's Island Sport Shop in Minocqua, said, "A lot of (anglers) were disappointed and down" about the speared fish, but customers didn't seem consumed by it.

The muskie, speared by Jerome LaBarge, a member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Chippewa, was weighed on two scales. The spawned-out fish registered 52½ pounds on one, 54 pounds on the other.

Fifty-pound muskies are rare, and LaBarge's fish is said to be the longest and heaviest taken in the renowned muskie waters of Vilas and Oneida counties.

The world-record muskie is a 69-pound, 11-ounce fish caught by Wisconsin's Louis Spray from the Chippewa Flowage in 1949.

A segment of anglers in recent years have questioned whether the strain of muskies in northern Wisconsin waters is capable of producing fish of near-record proportions.

Spring spearing of muskies and walleye is a tradition on the Flambeau Reservation. Courts ruled the Chippewa may spear on lakes throughout northern Wisconsin under terms of treaties signed in the mid-1800s.

Implementation of off-reservation spearing was initiated 20 years ago, leading to boat-landing confrontations between sport anglers and tribal members. After the first few years, spring spearing has proceeded largely without incident.

Steve Gilbert, Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist for Vilas County, said anglers shouldn't be concerned when a large muskie is taken, whether legally speared or caught by an angler.

"It's just like any other large fish," he said. "It's probably at the end of its life span. It's been in that lake for at least 20 years. It's done its job and passed on its genes."

Some anglers are unwilling to accept tribal spearing.

"If your paper shows any crap like that again and makes the impression that it's anything but debauchery, I will never buy one of your papers again," a caller to the Wausau Daily Herald complained.

Hayward's Nick Van der Puy, a former fishing guide and proponent of treaty rights, said the public "should view the taking of a large fish (whether by spear or hook and line) with a more generous spirit."

"Why not say, 'My god, there are still big muskies swimming in the waters of Wisconsin.' Why not celebrate it?"