This disgusts me...

[David P]

http://www.atlantisdivers.com/spearfishing-gallery.html

Spearing Large Mouth Bass to put on their walls...

Spearing 50 Carp in a day to do what? Sure as hell not eat them...

These guys go around spearing as many fish, regardless of the size, just for sport...

Some nice 6lb bass dead, because some guy thought it would be fun...

Sorry, just had to vent a bit, very disturbed by that.

[WhiteMike1018]

Wow thats sad.

Its also compltely unfair to the fish, they dont stand a chance.

At least in bass fishing the fish can decide if they want to take your bait or not, so cruel, so harmful.

If I see someone spearfishing anywhere near me in the water, they have some big problems coming their way.

-wm

[George Welcome]

You are disturbed by what is legal in the state of Utah.

[lunchbox508]

if you look at the page there is a few carp recipes I find it fine to do this for carp but not for bass but that is jst my opinion.

[Stringjam]

Bowfishing for rough fish is very popular around here - - I don't see any problem with it at all......matter of fact I wish more people would get into it because some areas are really overrun with gar and large carp.

I don't see how it could be considered any more cruel or unfair as any other type of "hunting."  

I don't care for seeing trophy gamefish speared - just my opinion - but apparently it's legal there.      

[moloch16]

It's all about perspective.  I'm sure some people find jabbing a needle sharp hook into a fish and fighting it to near exhaustion unethical.

[NJfishinGuy]

i call them guys a waste of life. they look like a bunch of morons to me. uhg if they ate everything they killed fine but to kill all those fish for no reason other than sport is stupid and ridiculous in less the waters had an over population and actually needed it. oh and mike i dont believe spearfishing is allowed in NJ. good thing to id be ticked to see that also.

if it was me id love to just find the big fish and see them maybe get an underwater camera and just see them living in there own habaitat. whats the point of shooting all of them really. not much of a challenge swim up and shoot em.

[Lucky Craft Man]

So let me get this straight.  In Utah, you need to be a "member" of a bar in order to get alcohol and a state lottery is not allow, but spear fishing for anything that moves is legal?  To make it far, while the guys are underwater spearfishing, it should be legal for fisherman on the surface to tie up huge hooks and try to snag the spearfisherman.  Imagine the fight one of those spearfisherman would provide.

The Largemouth Bass bothered me, but when I saw the Tiger Musky, the really got me.

[OldGuyAl]

spearing a fish makes it kinda hard to practice catch and release.

I have no problem with people taking a fish or 2 to eat.  No matter how they take it, if they're going to use it in some way then, I'm OK with it.  It sounds like these guys you're describing are just killing fish for the pure sport of killing them.

I'm like some others, it bothers me a lot more when they do it to bass.  I wouldn't be too unhappy with having someone culling a lot the gar around here because we're way overpopulated and gar don't seem to have any other predators to control them.

[jaskoh]

What the hell are you going to do with 1400 pounds of carp?   :-/

[grimlin]

I know a guy who bowfishes carps...but he eats what he catches.Also he does abide by the law and limits.Michigan is loaded with carps as well...good way to get rid of a few of them.I think it's a limited season when this is allowed...not sure though.

[Raul]

What the hell are you going to do with 1400 pounds of carp? :-/

Fertilizer ?  :-/

[JiggaMan512]

If your completely OKAY with the sight of this, (legal or not) somethings wrong.

[senile1]

Well, it looks like a lot of fish, but there are recipes posted and this posting is at the bottom of the page.

                                                                          ***PLEASE BE RESPONSIBLE***

Please remember! You owe it to yourself and the fish you hunt to use only the most appropriate equipment for the game you are hunting. You should make constant adjustments to maximize your success and minimize lost and mutilated fish. You must be responsible to make sure that the fewest fish possible die in vain.

Carp populations can get pretty thick so if you're going to have a big fish fry maybe killing this many is warranted.  With the proper recipe, and when cooked properly, I have read that carp can be rather tasty.  I'm playing the devil's advocate here.  Without more information I don't feel comfortable judging the ethics of what is being done here.  

[T-rig]

Here is another disgusting pic. That's 156.2lbs of very dead bass! (rod and reel) And that guy feels proud???

Sorry about the bad pic.

[BucketmouthAngler13]

I think the whole spear fishing thing is awsome! I would love to do that and catch some nice fish to eat.

However, killing dozens of fish and wasting them is plain wrong. Yes, some times carp need to be kept in check, but atleast eat them. Mass slaughtering of fish just to kill them should be ileagal.

[brian_82]

OK guys i dont really like the idea of it either. But let me ask and propose this point of view. How many of us hunt? There are people out there on the other side of that sport too. They ask the question how can we shoot a game animal when it is so unnecessary and the animals are so sightly. Some people find more of a sport to taking pictures of animals versus hunting them. So in perspectice I personally cant see gettin to bent out of shape over this. I for one enjoy going hunting, to these spearman that is their sport. Much the same way the a photographer would much rather take a picture than hunt the animal, us bass fisherman would rather catch the fish than kill it. Make sense?

[T-rig]

OK guys i dont really like the idea of it either. But let me ask and propose this point of view. How many of us hunt? There are people out there on the other side of that sport too. They ask the question how can we shoot a game animal when it is so unnecessary and the animals are so sightly. Some people find more of a sport to taking pictures of animals versus hunting them. So in perspectice I personally cant see gettin to bent out of shape over this. I for one enjoy going hunting, to these spearman that is their sport. Much the same way the a photographer would much rather take a picture than hunt the animal, us bass fisherman would rather catch the fish than kill it. Make sense?

Yes, but hunters have limits! They are only allowed to shot so many animals! These guys are killing everything in site! Carp, bass. salmon, whatever!

[Raul]

OK guys i dont really like the idea of it either. But let me ask and propose this point of view. How many of us hunt? There are people out there on the other side of that sport too. They ask the question how can we shoot a game animal when it is so unnecessary and the animals are so sightly. Some people find more of a sport to taking pictures of animals versus hunting them. So in perspectice I personally cant see gettin to bent out of shape over this. I for one enjoy going hunting, to these spearman that is their sport. Much the same way the a photographer would much rather take a picture than hunt the animal, us bass fisherman would rather catch the fish than kill it. Make sense?

Use and abuse are not the same, if you can keep 5 fish and you spear them then you are through with your limit, spear 6 or a 100 ..... you are abusing and it 's no longer "sport".

[brian_82]

Very true, limits should be set to conserve resources.

[youngangler13]

i wouldn't care just as long as  they ate everything they killed but i dont think they should call it fishing because how hard is it to troll around all day and shoot fish

also there is nothing wrong with hunting as long as u eat what u kill

but honestly how is one guy gonna eat 100bs of fish

[G3 Fan]

The one thing that really bothers me about this and no I didn't check out the website. I read an article in Bassmaster years ago about spearfishing for bass. If I remember correctly the problem was in Texas anyway, they were saying that the divers would just tap two metallic objects together and the bass would swim in to investigate the noise and end up getting shot.

If it is legal than I am glad there aren't more SCUBA diving spearfishermen in the world. If people are abusing limits and regulations that is a problem but I see that with fishermen too often as well.

It bothers me when people draw comparisons between fishing and hunting.

There was a description of "fighting a fish to near exhaustion" which if you guys are doing that you need to beef up your tackle and be in a position to land the fish quickly and get it back into the water healthy and if you think the fish is exhausted revive it don't just toss it back in the lake.

[NJfishinGuy]

yeah i agree my fish are never exhausted. if i need a min for a pic i keep them in the livewell to keep them breathing and spunky then get em right back

[David P]

Taking a few large carp to eat is fine.. But when you have 20+ carp plus carp that barely weigh a pound, that's said. Catch the big monster carp, and leave the small ones alone..

The bass images are what REALLY got to me and the reason for the post (Mostly).

Also, as many of you were bringing up HUNTING.. My point of few on hunting is the same as spear fishing. I'm against hunting, and will NEVER kill an animal unless completely necessary to survive.  

Don't get me wrong, I can understand WHY people hunt, but me, I cannot get myself to kill an animal. And for people who kill animals and leave them dead in the dirt, and for the people that kill animals, put their heads on their wall, and make clothes and junk out of the rest of them, and do nothing with the meat, disgusts me.

No i'm not some PETA tard, but those are just my views.  Like I said, this is me, everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

I'm glad to see i'm not the only one disgusted by 6lb bass with holes in the middle of their head with blood coming out.

[Replica.]

This was a big issue about 10 or 15 years ago in Wisconsin. It involved American Indians spearing walleye at night. There were a few of them abusing thier tribal rights, but when people found out the majority of them were using the fish for food and not abusing thier rights the issue went away. The careless wasting of the resource is what bothers me about this situation. If this is harming the resource, why is the Utah DNR not putting restrictions on the spearing?.