Lake Sturgeon Spearing in Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes

While pollution and overfishing have threatened lake sturgeon nearly everywhere in North America, this fish is thriving in and around Lake Winnebago. No place else in the United States boasts a lake sturgeon population as big - and draws as many fishermen - as Lake Winnebago and its connecting rivers and lakes.

Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes are collectively known as the Lake Winnebago Pool lakes.
KJS Graphic

Lake Sturgeon Spearing 2008

The 2008 sturgeon spearing season on the Winnebago System is in the books closing today at 12:30 PM and will be remembered as the season of the big fish. Out of the total harvest of 1513 fish, 43 weighed 100 pounds or more with the largest being a 172 lb fish speared by Ed Blatz of Fond du Lac. The 172 pounder is the third largest on record behind a 180 pound fish taken by Elroy Schroeder of Appleton in 1953 and a 188 pound fish taken by David Piechowski of Redgranite in 2004. Four of the top ten largest fish on record, since the Department began keeping good records of fish weight in the early 1950's, were registered this year. This is the greatest run of large trophy size fish in the harvest in over 50 years - an indication of the health of the Winnebago sturgeon stock and, at least in part, of the impact of a series of 22 stricter harvest regulations, including the annual harvest cap, enacted by the Department working with the Winnebago Citizens Sturgeon Advisory Committee, over the last 15 years. Spearers took advantage of the best combination of ice and water clarity conditions in over a decade to enjoy a short but sweet season. While the harvest cap for adult females was exceeded slightly we won't know for sure for a few weeks if we exceeded our 5% annual exploitation limit until we get all of the data entered, proofed and analyzed. We manage the harvest to minimize the risk of annual harvests exceeding 5% of the Winnebago sturgeon stock. The current adult stock in the Winnebago System is estimated at 25,000 adult males and 12,000 adult females and is considered the largest population of lake sturgeon in North America. The lake sturgeon population and fishery on the Winnebago System has been intensively managed for over 100 years to control harvest and sustain the sturgeon stock.

The sturgeon hotline number with an updated recording each day is (920) 303-5444 or you can send an e-mail requesting information to our Sturgeon staff.

For more information, please contact:
Karl Scheidegger
(608) 267-9426

Last Revised: Wednesday March 19 2008