So years ago my brother had invited me to go to a voting sit down with the DNR and Michigan-Ontario Muskie Club on whether or not spearing for musky should be legalized here at Lake St. Clair, I think it was also for possibly the whole lower peninsula as well too, can't remember. I suspect the DNR wanted to get a feel from local hardcore musky anglers in southeastern Michigan area what they thought of possibly loosening of regulations on spear fishing for this rare species of fish. For some of us this was a no brainer, I'm a type of angler that loves the challenge of casting for this rare species of fish and the fact that I can release them back into the wild without killing them so they could be caught by another angler at a much larger size and also spread the genetics, this is what I loved so much about the sport... But for those that enjoy spear fishing, which is also embed within the culture in Wisconsin and upper Michigan, well, it's also a sport other Outdoorsmen love. It's understandable if you watched the documentary the Frozen Chosen! That documentary showed how much spear fishing for sturgeon in Wisconsin intertwines within culture of family and friends at Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin. Shows the art of how they design the spears, the patience and time that goes into waiting in super cold temperatures for sturgeon to come by their ice hole... But as explained in this documentary, the sturgeon spearing season is only opened for a brief moment for 16 days... Remind you, even though the Sturgeon almost went extinct, they are now thriving again in the wildlife most likely due to "strong conservation and regulation rules laws" to protect them.

Now diving into politics... It's funny, because I've been told by some Outdoorsmen, I shouldn't talk about politics on my fishing channel, the way people vote and think about politics is private and has no place in the public eye for relaxing recreational sports like fishing and hunting. First and foremost, I most definitely think it does and I'm going to explain why! This is the internet, this is what it should be used for, everyone getting their point across what they think and believe in so we can make the right and proper decision on making rules and regulations or loosening or lifting them entirely, I honestly love the new idea of this new social media site called Rumble.com. This is what it could be basically used for... Years ago, the DNR made the decision on lifting the rule of fishing for smallmouth bass in the season of spring as long as anglers are practicing catch and release, releasing them back in the wild. Some were against it saying it's still poaching, some were all for it, some took middle ground... But so far, with more and more bass anglers practicing care and more catch/release tactics for this beloved species of fish, spring fishing at this time doesn't seem to be harming the population of smallmouth species at Lake St. Clair, they seem to be still thriving. Some anglers still bring up the GoPro video where 1 Rod 1 Reel posted, of when a bass is plucked up off it's nest during the spring when caught, gobies and bluegills move upon the nest to feed on the eggs... After new underwater technology exposed this through social media, there's some devout bass anglers that claim they'd still never fish beds in the spring time... It's kind of similar to when the DNR loosened up restrictions of fishing for musky all year round, as long as we're practicing catch and release, musky are broadcast spawners, the species shouldn't be effected. But some of us devout Lake St. Clair local musky anglers, we disagree, many of us still frown upon musky fishing in spring and don't fish for this rare species till June 1st. Some of us realize, even though they're broadcast spawners, if every charter and boat started trolling for them in spring when they're easily stressed out, have eggs, damage could be done since a lot of trollers don't slow the boat down after releasing them, even though they're revived in a livewell... So even though targeting musky has been legalized in the spring time as long as you release them, there's still some sort of code going on between musky anglers locally, you could say sort of a pirates code to honor and protect these rare fish... Even though it's quite obvious some musky anglers are libertarians and quite anarchists like Pirates!

It's really hard to compare musky to another species of fish like I'm doing. Because here's the thing, even if smallmouth bass become affected by overfishing even if we're doing catch and release, gobies gobble up vast majority of eggs during the spawn, the DNR can always enforce a rule again, the smallmouth bass will probably rebound fairly quick within a few years because this species isn't rare in population numbers. Musky on the other hand, can take a long long time to rebound like Sturgeon, because they're in small numbers! There's a reason why we not only call this a fish of 10,000 casts, but because back in the day musky were rare and unheard of even on Lake St. Clair, most of the time the only way you heard about catching them was trolling for hours on end from a Charter boat, covering miles upon miles of water, and eventually hooking into them. But after strict conservation and rules/laws, this species of fish became a common fish that you could actually catch from the shoreline in modern day because of that reason. So knowing all this, knowing how long it took through strict conservation from the DNR and clubs like Michigan-Ontario Muskie Club to work together to increase the population of musky at Lake St. Clair, remind you this is one of rarest lakes in the world where species of Esox like pike and musky breed together to make an even rarer species of musky called the tiger, remind you this tiger musky can't procreate. Some fishermen think they're going to bring spear fishing to our beloved rare lake and rare species, if you think many of us hardcore musky fishermen aren't going to bring this up and go deeper, along with how and why we got here, especially if politics are involved since ideology now is to legalize everything under a free market, you got another thing coming!

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I grew up in a strict Catholic shcool based on morals, ethics, and religion, safe to say I got pretty educated on my country and history, what it was based off of, being a republic and democracy all that... It was the two common words I heard back in the day, the word capitalism was rarely mentioned and brief time that I heard it was in the movie was Wallstreet, republic is the primary word in the national anthem, it's mentioned multiple times in constitution and declaration of independence, majority of people whether they were republican or democrat would say they still believed in Democracy. Question is, this has been plaguing my mind ever since so many have been using it so frequently, when did capitalism ever become the norm to say this is what our country was founded upon...? When did Libertarianism become such a popular term for some Conservatives to proclaim that's what they are.... I mean look, I get it, freemarket intertwines with freedom somewhat, but does it necessarily mean the same thing? If you look around, even under a freer market we're starting to see more land property being privatized and gobbled up by businesses and corporations, less anglers having the freedom to fish and access a lot of the land surrounding these inland lakes! JC Dropshot did a piece on this... So even if we did live a true free market, where businesses or corporations could thrive, they'd be able to buy up a lot of land, similar to Disney and Florida where they want to now own a city, where's it leaves many of us Outdoorsmen unable the freedom to fish and hunt these properties!

My worry is, as I mentioned in a recent article about long lost favorite Western of mine from my childhood, is that a lot of people from a certain party became so worried about having their 2nd amendment snatched away from them, meaning the right to own hand guns and rifles, that I think a lot of them said hell with that, if they think they're going to regulate and remove my guns, legalize everything... I'm sure this doesn't fit everyone in the belief in Libertarianism... But for a lot, I think it does. And with a lot of men, once a lot of strong Alpha male makes a boldly make claim, a lot of weak beta, omega and gama males just follow... Posting their guns up on social media, saying Liberty or give me death. Sounds great and all that... But first question is, is this what you're Forefathers believed in and is this what your country was founded upon? Because last time I looked, national anthem referenced a republic, based on strong religions beliefs with ethics and morals, as well as a strong government... And really, is a gun going to solve all your issues, whether it's climate change or PFAS at Kent Lake? Sometimes it takes rules and regulations to preserve our land, lakes, and fish to make them healthy again!

And lately, it's ironic that I think some capitalists are starting to get scared and see warning signs, like Patrick Bet David, they're boldly making statements that in order for capitalism to work, there must be laws... This is obviously directed towards the Libertarians... And I loved what Bet-David said in this interview with Michael Malice, "you sound so convincing, if your ideas are so perfect how come there aren't other countries implementing it?" Remind you of the late try with Von Ormy in Texas... The Rise and Fall of the ‘Freest Little City in Texas’ - How a libertarian experiment in city government fell apart over taxes, debt and some very angry people.

I'm not going to beat around the bush, I think it's great some of you are fans of Rand Paul or even Ayan Rand in general. I've never seen a politician like Paul challenge Government on mandates during the pandemic, as well as Dr. Fauci on the funding of a lab in Wuhan doing gain of research. There was crickets in the political atmosphere when the pandemic hit, wondering what caused it all, yet here's Dr. Rand Paul plugging away drilling Dr. Fauci on how this pandemic occurred... We owe Rand Paul a great debt of gratitude for speaking up on this topic, digging for the truth, dude has got brass balls. And I'm pleased to know we have senators like him that speak up when it comes time to when finding out the honest truth, we need Libertarians like him that keep Government honest. But what I'm worried about is, sometimes being one step away from anarchy or basically what happened to Von Army down in Texas. It's great some of you are thinking outside the box, looking to create a better system, but I think some of you need to analyze and realize both Michael Malice and Ayan Rand came from a Government that was over regulated with communism, so they're going to have a warped point of view on Government. I'm gonna explain how having rules and regulations intertwine with protecting a rare species of fish like musky soon, I think it's pretty obvious, but this gets back to human beings short shortsightedness and getting wrapped up in their belief system.

I think the problem with a lot of human beings is, once they have a solid foundation on what they believe in, they have this bull headedness and strong reasoning where nothing's going to change their mind. lol Freemarket and freedom, that's it, it's what I believe in, nothings ever going to change! lol But enter the new modern age of AI, aka Artificial Intelligence... What Elon Musk has been warning us lateley, is we must implement rules and regulations now, not 5-10 years down the road like we've done with seat belts when death happens, this is not relevant to AI. Because once the cat is out of the bag, it's too late, AI controls everything. In a way, you could relate to the spearing of musky... Even though this is a strong Apex Predator, if you've ever fished for the species, despite all that you know how sensitive they are... You know if you take them out of the water for too long of time, they could die. You know after the long intense fight with them, they're super lethargic and take some time to revive. Those of us that know Lake St. clair, know that back in the day you pretty much impossible to catch a musky in the middle of the summer at the 9 mile pier, know that the musky population has never been this good in our lifetimes, and know a few years ago when the VHS outbreak hit, the musky population and their prevalence was extremely effected. My personal opinion is, this is not a species of fish you can just roll the dice with like Von Army and see what the outcome is a few years later after legalizing spear fishing... Especially after watching the video of Robbie and Lee discuss the rise and fall of Mille Lacs... This a rare species of fish, that should be protected based off of ethics, morals and religion not based on pure profit to just sell fishing licenses!

And what I've noticed is, Joe Rogan expressed recently in his podcast, how the left and right have recently switched sides on regulations and rules... Do many of you realize this? It's weirding me out, growing up I saw a lot of conservatives very strict on controversial things like violent video games, porn, and swearing in rap songs, lol, but nowadays many could give a hoot, profit rules above all, now it seems to be Liberals trying to enforce regulations and rules in today's world, have we entered the Twilight Zone where Hippies are enforcing the rules and regulations in todays world lol? And my hunch is, just like Musk says, after a huge death takes place with some new technology like Ai, similar to seat belts, that could still easily flip flop later again as Tucker Carlson is freaking out when Elon Musk said about his Google friend Palo Alto saying he wants to develop a technological God... I wonder how this sits with "religious" conservatives? I think this gets back to what I've been preaching about shortsightedness with human beings... How could Ayan Rand ever known what might take place half a century from now from on her freemarket views on on rules and regulations from her era that didn't have all these technological advancements... We live in a very complex world, I recommend having an open mind... Sometimes it isn't till death, that humans all of a sudden wake up... Take for instance Gwen Olsen, Big Pharma rep and sounded like a hardcore capitalist at one point when she was making hand or fist money... Wasn't until her niece fell for the big pharma con of pharmaceuticals being safe and non-addictive, that she began to realize how much freemarket and no regulations effected her after her niece lit herself on fire and committed suicide. The point is, if musky start to die off due to looser regulations, people start to realize that, it may be too late to reverse... If you listen to what the Frozen Chosen documentary said, it took half a century(50 years) to get the Sturgeon population somewhat back to where it was... I don't have that amount of time to spare, do you? I'm already 40 years of age! What I recommend is, not always have your mind made up, because down the line, you may change what you believe in, you can quote me on that, as I've changed my view on religion and science many times over! The Michael Mallice and Rogan video on left and right switching sides is proof, yet many people don't realize it, which is downright scary...

At one point in this clip, Elon Musk said he used to sleep on Palo Alto's couch and was a close friend... What could of split these two friends up even though believe in very similar things and similar ideologies? My hunch, even though they're both seem to be both Capitalists, is the difference of opinion on regulation rules for AI after Alto called Musk a Speciesist... If you aren't aware, some believe AI is going to solve a lot of our problems in this world... Whether it's plastic in our oceans and blood, rise of Austism, but the question stands, what if it solves these problems but also creates new ones... It's amazing, even at the height of both these two people's Einstein like intelligences, they can still have a difference on opinion and break up a friendship, I think it says a lot...

Growing up Transformers was embedded into our culture at a young age through science fiction cartoons... If you aren't aware, it was meant to open us up to the reality this may one day happen, the benevolent and malevolent side of AI.... Hence Decepticons and Autobots... Science fiction could soon be our reality!

I just heard through the internet grapevine, how spearing for musky was recently legalized at Austin Lake in Michigan. Some say spearing was legalized to kill of the northern musky, so the GLS don't get eaten. Some say Austin was always open to spearing... Someone said the spearing ban was lifted because Austin was no longer going to be managed as a muskie fishery. It's obvious some don't even know what the fuck is going on, all I can say is better start asking questions like this angler did who posted this comment! Years ago, I saw a debate between Jason Quintano from Michigan-Ontario Muskie Club and another musky club up north from Michigan go at it about the spear fishing on Facebook, lets just say they didn't see eye to eye on things... And that's alright, but I'm just glad we have someone like Quintano looking out for this rare species on Lake St. Clair, who remind you used to be a Brawler in Hockey I heard.

One thing's for sure, many musky anglers aren't happy about this recent news!

Ya know, I've always been an angler and hunter that preaches taking pride in hunting or fishing for your prey with a challenge. That's why I always hunted white tail deer with bow... I always fished for musky casting with a rod... I think there's a much greater reward and reverence when doing so, getting back to what I quoted from the movie The Hunted with Benecio Del Toro when he takes out two hunters hunting him with giant scopes on their sniper rifles with just a knife.

"When you kill with your own hands there is a reverence. There's no reverence in what you do..."

"Men don't respect animals anymore, they run'em down and kill them any chance they get."
"I think that's sad."

I think there's a hidden meaning within this movie, take the challenge of fishing for musky by casting instead of trolling or spearing. Hunt for whitetail deer with a bow, instead of a gun or crossbow. The reward and reverence will be much greater...! Whether it's with the endorphin release in your brain or simply burning more calories off or building up your muscles to cast a bulldawg pounder or pull back a bow... Let's see what the most interesting man in the world has to say about it...

My fear is, as technology progresses, more things become legalized like spearing and crossbows, we become fatter and lazier. This is a future I don't want to see, take the challenge of casting for these beasts... Garmin Livescope and Humminbird Mega 360 is going to make it much easier to track these fish as is... Take the challenge, I'm glad to know there's Outdoorsmen like Joe Rogan and Cameron Hanes still promoting using Bows!

Ya know, it wasn't just sturgeon that became extinct at one point until people became aware of the importance of conservation and rules/regulations to protect this ancient beast, along with the importance of studying science, this wasn't just the first, as I mentioned in a previous article, it was also Alligator Gar due to the overfishing, over hunting for this Apex Predator because they had gotten a bad name. Some myths were made up after some young boy was dragged into a river by a Gar, when it probably was mis-identification, when in actuality it was probably an alligator that killed the boy. Also other myths made up about Alligator Gar is that they were going to eat all the other good fish us humans eat, because they were so large and ferocious looking, remind you this is the common thing I hear from walleye and perch fishermen, all based on personal opinion with no backing of science, because of this the Great Alligator Gar almost went extinct! But as us humans progressed, started to acknowledge and study science better, we learned about this species of fish more, learned Alligator Gar have always been part of the balance of a healthy ecosystem. Emphasizing on the importance of studying science and not taking the law into your own hands, again there's a reason why we have rules, laws and regulations so we don't see more inappropriate killing of musky like this!

Alligator Gar Wikipedia - Populations of alligator gar have been extirpated from much of their historic range as a result of habitat destruction, indiscriminate culling, and unrestricted harvests. Populations are now located primarily in the southern portions of the United States extending into Mexico. For nearly a half century, alligator gar were considered "trash fish", or a "nuisance species" detrimental to sport fisheries, and were targeted for elimination by state and federal authorities in the United States. The 1980s brought a better understanding of the "ecological balance" necessary to sustain an ecosystem, and eventually an awareness that the alligator gar is an important element of the ecosystems they inhabit. Over time, alligator gar were afforded some "protection" by state and federal resource agencies. They are also protected under the Lacey Act, which makes transporting certain species of fish in interstate commerce illegal when in violation of state law or regulation. Several state and federal resource agencies are monitoring populations in the wild, and have initiated outreach programs to educate the public.

It's sad it took this long to admire alligator gar for their size, strength, and resilience. Some say they might be able to battle the asian carp to prevent them from taking over, our natural gate keeper in freshwater, apex predator, just like our cops that people have recently lost respect for!

Absolutely beautiful to see an alligator gar jump!

If you haven't noticed, musky are so rare, the History Channel has decided to organize them with other cryptic species like Sasquatch on the hit popular TV show Monsterquest! No reason we should be spearing them in my personal opinion!