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Posts: 224
| I am showing factual pictures here and can be easily found on-line to be truthful. Here are pictures from the annual Ojibewe tribes muskie spearing tournament on Pelican Lake, WI. this year.
I do want to correct myself. All these may be from all the lakes that were in the spearing "tournament".
Edited by Jimbo 2/3/2026 9:22 AM
Attachments
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 Muskie sprearing.jpg (152KB - 17 downloads)
muskie spearing 2.jpeg (168KB - 25 downloads)
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Posts: 3510
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
No pictures are posted here that I can see, but they have tribal rights to do this whether others like it or not.
Steve |
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Posts: 1645
Location: Brighton CO. | I'm a long time visitor to the Northwoods my dad being from south east Wisconsin and my mom being born in Bena Minesota and living in Deer River before moving to Colorado in early high school years back in the 40's. My family helped dig the Lakes of Minnesota as the saying goes. We have native blood and have full Treaty rights. When we take mom back home we would fish Muskies and we would go to a cousins home for a fish fry, the fish were caught in gill net by a family member. And another family member would joke just go over to Cass and drop a jig on the break line and catch all the fish you would need. The last fish fry we had my cousin hired a guide and the four of them caught enough for the fish fry. (no nets needed)
My cousins also hunt Deer out of season because of there treaty rights and gather wild rice and pick berries. It's cool to partially live off the land and keep the traditions alive too. Tradition aside what the heck do you do with those Muskies? Eat em ? Well I think they would be full of Mercury. You would glow going down the street. my school of thought is you kill it you grill it. |
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Posts: 476
| I saw that on facebook too. What a waste of resources, there are some real nice fish in that picture. Guy who posted seems to really enjoy throwing it in white mans face. |
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Posts: 1157
| In the comments of this picture he (LaBarge Outdoors, the OP) says it was from a tournament on Bone Lake last year. They have tournaments coming up both days this weekend. Saturday is any lake in the ceded territory and Sunday they'll be on Stacks Bay, Lake Minocqua. If you check out LaBarge Outdoors he has speared some real dandies. Not sure which lakes they're all from but he's definitely doing damage to the population and nothing anyone can do about it. I don't even hate on him, but I started following him to stay informed. |
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| It is within tribal rights to spear, however no one is required to go to Lake of The Torches Casino, which is the economic engine of the tribe. Go past their parking lot in the summer and look at all the fishing boats parked there. |
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Posts: 306
Location: Not where I want to be! | North of 8 - 2/3/2026 1:18 PM It is within tribal rights to spear, however no one is required to go to Lake of The Torches Casino, which is the economic engine of the tribe. Go past their parking lot in the summer and look at all the fishing boats parked there. True it is their right but it still is no less sickening. |
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| wavridr - 2/3/2026 2:32 PM
North of 8 - 2/3/2026 1:18 PM It is within tribal rights to spear, however no one is required to go to Lake of The Torches Casino, which is the economic engine of the tribe. Go past their parking lot in the summer and look at all the fishing boats parked there. True it is their right but it still is no less sickening.
My whole point is that they get a lot of financial support from fishermen, through the casino. One outdoor writer who opposed spearing, in the next column was talking about the comedy show he enjoyed at Lake of The Torches Casino. Personally, I have not and will not step foot in their casino. |
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Posts: 695
Location: Duluth | Cousin works for the USDA, covers NE WI and UP, does a ton of work with the tribes. In his experience they are great stewards of our natural resources, even if we don't agree with their methods.
I don't like the pictures, definitely don't think anyone should be eating a fish that large but so be it. I'd rather get angry at real malevolence. |
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Posts: 50
| Let's trade them FFS for their spears. Sounds like a fair deal to me. |
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Location: PA Angler | Don’t think those fish are really going to waste. At least I believe they will eat them. As far as thinning the population is sometimes good for a lake but it also should be done with other species. Seems like the studies are there that it shouldn’t hurt. |
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| CincySkeez - 2/4/2026 12:20 PM
Cousin works for the USDA, covers NE WI and UP, does a ton of work with the tribes. In his experience they are great stewards of our natural resources, even if we don't agree with their methods.
I don't like the pictures, definitely don't think anyone should be eating a fish that large but so be it. I'd rather get angry at real malevolence.
Many of the lakes in the region have high levels of naturally occurring mercury, which accumulates in top of the chain predators. Hopefully not a regular part of their diet. As an old guy, it is supposed to be really bad for the elderly. |
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Posts: 3510
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Roughly 20 fish in that picture... When I first posted, no picture was there, but even so, we don't have a good number of how many muskies are caught by hook and line that don't survive due to delayed mortality...my instinct would say that number may be much higher than the 20 or so taken in this picture.
There is no doubt that overfishing/overharvest happens probably more often than we all would like for multiple species. Sad all around and why it is so important to practice good handling of all of our game species of fish.
I too would tend to believe that these fish will be consumed. I would also agree that the amount of contaminants in the fish is probably quite large as well, but one meal for many I would hope would keep any issues of our health to a minimum.
Seeing this is a tough pill to swallow for some because it is so raw to see. I don't see our indigenous friends changing anytime soon with this as it is a traditional way of harvest, and...suffice it to say this is happening with a significantly small population of people. If this were open to the population at large, that would be a completely different scenario to take in... |
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Posts: 364
Location: Vilas County, WI | The other thing to keep in mind here is that these winter speared fish do NOT count towards the tribal spring harvest quota (Prime spearing season for walleye and musky).
During the spring spear, lakes have quotas for both species, and the tribes are issued the an allotment of permits, per specie, per lake. The permits factor in an appropriate level of harvest for the lake to allow sustainability.
Winter spearing goes unreported and undocumented. When you question a DNR or GLIFWC warden on this loophole, there's no explanation. It's just a definite flaw in the system. |
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| TheShow - 2/5/2026 2:20 PM
The other thing to keep in mind here is that these winter speared fish do NOT count towards the tribal spring harvest quota (Prime spearing season for walleye and musky).
During the spring spear, lakes have quotas for both species, and the tribes are issued the an allotment of permits, per specie, per lake. The permits factor in an appropriate level of harvest for the lake to allow sustainability.
Winter spearing goes unreported and undocumented. When you question a DNR or GLIFWC warden on this loophole, there's no explanation. It's just a definite flaw in the system.
I didn't know they didn't document like they do spring spearing. That is strange. |
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Posts: 293
Location: Oconomowoc, WI | I know my opinion won’t be popular, and I agree that those pics are hard to see as someone that knows the cost of stocking fingerlings and what the exponential value of fish that big are.
With that being said, I applaud those tribes for passing on their native heritage and practices. We live in a day and age when most teens would rather sit and stare at a screen instead of get out into the outdoors and enjoy it.
I think we need to keep in mind that we are only 70 years removed from the Leech Lake Muskie Rampage in 1955. Most of us are only a generation or two removed from the guys in these pictures, and that was just sport fishing.
https://leech-lake.com/moment-time-1955-muskie-rampage/
These tribes have been doing this for thousands of years for survival, and they literally have every right to do it. Pretty sure those of us that are not native have done greater damage to our resources than the Native people.
Just my 2 cents.
Andy |
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Posts: 29
| Man, if only our collective had the vitriol for the pollutants and contaminants going into the air and the water table on behalf of decades of poor industrial practice. |
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Posts: 1645
Location: Brighton CO. | The old fishing guides said that once the spearing started in the 80's the amount of big Muskies spotted went down 80 %.
In the catch and kill period the Muskies got thinned out and there were more true giants, less fish eating more bait, but the giants also got giant by smashing up primitive tackle and going thru the nets of the day. In some places of you thin the herd great but leave the big ones alone. |
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