May 2014
"The Millerville Spear"
Mfg – Bill Thoennes
Millerville, MN
1950s - 1960s
Let’s go back in time. Back to the 1950s in Minnesota.
A Central Minnesota farmer, Joe Webskowski, is an avid darkhouse fisherman. Due to no fieldwork to do in the wintertime, he can be more devoted to one of his favorite pastimes…fishing. And, not just any type of fishing, but spear fishing.
First, he needs a good spear. One that would slice straight and true through the water when heaving it at those pike. He contacts his nephew, Bill Thoennes, who happens to be the local blacksmith in the small town of Millerville.
Thoennes starts with an old iron silage fork and begins to modify it. With some input from Joe on what he wants in a spear, he crafts it by using 5 of the tines from the fork, shortening, straightening and strengthening them. He then brazes barbs on the ends. Finally, he attaches a long iron shaft for the handle.
Joe takes the spear to the lake and tries it out. It is perfect! It is
heavy duty, straight, and the fish don’t have a chance. Many meals
for the family are brought home thanks to Joe and his spear.
Soon, other members of the family use the spear. His son,
Elphege (aka “Pin”), also learns the talent of spearing and soon
more meals of fresh northern are brought home.
Years go by…and years turn into decades. Finally, the day comes
when Joe could not venture onto the lake anymore with his
darkhouse and spear. After speaking with his son, Pin, it was
decided to sell his darkhouse and spear to someone who would
use it just as much if not more than he had. They sell them to Pin’s
brother-in-law, Don Fuhrman…my dad.
As I stated before in past “Lure Of The Months”, my dad was an
expert spearer just like Joe and Pin. He already owned a spear,
but found it harder to go to the lake with it as he had a family of
spearers, including his wife and sons. Purchasing the item from
Joe gave him his own spear…allowing the rest of the family “fight”
over the other one.
Thanks to his “new” house and spear, an additional ice shack
was added to his favorite lake. This was always called “Dad’s
House”. Sometimes he didn’t care where the other house was
placed on the lake, as long as HIS was in the perfect spot.
He loved this spear. It wasn’t one of those newer cheap ones that had tines that bent if you hit a fish. This one was solid. In fact, I remember one time when he latched onto a small log under the weeds when going for a low swimming fish. He was able to raise the fish and log out of the water…with no damage to the spear. The 5 tines were spaced perfectly apart, so the fish he speared would be easy to take off and not full of holes. It wasn’t one of those spears where you only could thrust straight down. This one glided through the water, allowing him to be a serious threat to any pike that even thought about entering his ice hole. Not many people got to use this spear, except maybe Pin whenever he joined him for ice fishing. It was now his favorite spear.
My dad speared for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, he was taken from this world too soon, and all the pike in our favorite lake breathed a sigh of relief.
Recently, the spear became mine. I was an active spearer, but had not fished this way for a few years. Other winter activities had taken its place. I knew this spear meant a lot to my dad, but did not know the story of its creation until just recently when I visited my Uncle Pin and he filled me in with all of the details.
Finally, the story of the spear and how it came to be is known. Without our conversation, this story would have been lost forever. I feel really blessed that my Uncle Pin has such a great memory and was able to share his knowledge with me. How many stories like this are lost over time?
Darkhouse spearing. What is it?
To me, it is more like hunting than fishing. And, my favorite sport of all time.
Like hunting ducks, you put a decoy out (live bait or imitation) and sit quietly and wait. Instead of looking through the cattails at the shoreline, you look at a large hole in the ice…which is like a huge 48” flat screen TV on the floor. The hole had a greenish glow in the darkness thanks to the small and enclosed shack you sit in. Hence the name, darkhouse.
In the large hole, you watch unsuspecting lake-life. You see the dull green plants lying on the bottom of the lake. You may see a water beetle appear and dart back and forth into the weeds. A few panfish swim by. A large-mouth bass comes into your hole and is mesmerized by your decoy. For fun, you spin your decoy around and face the bass…causing him to leave slowly.
Just like duck hunting, you have to sit quietly and pay attention with your gun (spear) at the ready. And, just like duck hunting, you have to identify what waterfowl (fish) you can shoot (spear). In the darkhouse, you can only spear rough fish and Northern Pike, therefore, that is why you pass on the bass I mentioned earlier. If you can’t identify fish in the water, you should not be spearing.
And, like deer hunting, you can chose what size you want to spear. Thanks to recent law changes in MN, you can now angle and spear at the same time. If you want to catch and release a big fish…you can do that by angling the big ones. Or, you can hunt the “big buck”. But, whatever you chose to spear, nothing beats the excitement of that Northern Pike entering your hole…even if it is only a little hammer handle. In my eyes, this rush blows away all other fishing and hunting activities.
Many people just don’t get it. They don’t understand why you would want to spear a fish. In fact, spear fishing in MN has gone down in popularity since its heyday in the 1950s. Many people have no idea what it is like to “hunt” for fish. Because of this, many people try to limit darkhouse spearing or try to ban it altogether in order to promote the way they like to fish.
Well, all I can say is this…the number of spear fisherman will go up by one next year…as I will be returning to the lake once again with my spear in hand. Pike…you have been warned!!
Also, on a side note...do you have a spear made by Bill Thoennes (or I heard Peter Thoennes made some too) of Millerville you wish to sell? If so, contact me...I may be interested.
Joe Webskowski shows off a nice fish that he speared (top right).
Elphege Webskowski (Pin) goes after some panfish (left).
Don Fuhrman heading to the fish house with the spear (below right).
