Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Season 2009

Saturday, February 21. -Despite white-out conditions on Lake Winnebago due to a snow storm and strong winds, large numbers of dedicated sturgeon spearers drove out on the ice to their shacks this morning in an attempt to get their sturgeon on the last day of the 2009 sturgeon spearing season.

Today's harvest: 89 fish registered from Lake Winnebago.

The System-wide final harvest: 1512.

Sturgeon Season Daily Summary Report as of February 21 [PDF 12KB]

2009 Lake Winnebago Sturgeon Spearing Season Totals (CLOSED as of Feb. 21)

The current lake sturgeon population in the Winnebago System is estimated at about 60,000.
Copyright Bob Rashid, 2008

2009 Upriver Lakes Sturgeon Spearing Season Totals (CLOSED as of Feb. 18)

Upriver Lakes Background

This is the third year of the lottery fishery on the Upriver Lakes which has been very successful. Four thousand thirty one people submitted applications into the 2009 Upriver Lakes sturgeon spearing lottery, up from 2795 in the inaugural year 2007, and 3902 in 2008. Spearers are drawn to this high quality fishery as the success rate averages over 60%, whereas the success rate on Lake Winnebago averages only 13%. During the course of the year the Upriver Lakes are a nursery ground for juvenile sturgeon, but in the winter thousands of adult sturgeon from Lake Winnebago join these juveniles for a short stay prior to finishing their spawning run up the Wolf and upper Fox Rivers come spring. Adult female sturgeon don't begin spawning until they are in their 20s, and then spawn only once every 4 years, while males begin spawning in their late teens/early 20's with about 60-70% of the adult male stock spawning every year - hence the much higher proportion of male sturgeon in the sex ratio of the Upriver Lakes harvest compared to the harvest from Lake Winnebago.

The Upriver Lakes sturgeon spear fishery was first initiated in 1952, put in place to replace a set-line fishery there that was closed at the time out of concerns about illegal sturgeon harvest on set lines. Upriver Lakes spearing seasons were held annually from 1952 to 1957, with no limit to the number of spearers on the three lakes (Lakes Butte des Mort, Winneconne, and Poygan). Also at this time spearers could spear both Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes in the same season. Concern about excessive harvest in these first six years led to holding seasons on the Upriver Lakes once every three years, then later every five years. In the year 2000 an unlimited fishery on the Upriver Lakes produced a harvest of 2,169 in two days, emphasizing the need for a restricted fishery there which in turn gave rise to current lottery fishery in place since 2007.

The illegal set-line harvest of juvenile lake sturgeon that took place from 1932-1951 was severe enough to be noticed in size distributions of sturgeon system-wide in the 1950s through the 1980s - there was an entire group of fish nearly missing from the population in those decades. Many of the large 150+ pound fish we are seeing in the harvest the past few years were the first juvenile fish afforded protection from the excessive illegal set-line harvest beginning in 1952.

Sturgeon Registration Stations

A person who spears a sturgeon must accompany and exhibit the tagged sturgeon at an official sturgeon registration station no later than 1:30 p.m. on the day speared. To avoid the "end of the day" rush please bring your fish in as soon as possible after spearing it. You must be at the registration station and in-line to register your fish by 1:30 p.m.

Lake Winnebago

• Waverly Beach Resort - Junction of U.S. Hwys 10 and 14
• Behind Harrison Town Hall - Junction of U.S. Hwys 114 and State Park Rd
• Harbor Bar - Stockbridge on the lake
• Quinney Quencher - Quinney on the lake
• DNR Calumet Harbor Station - Pipe on the lake
• Wend'ts Bar and Harbor - Hwy 45, 8 miles north of Fond du Lac
• Jerry's Tavern - 1210 Ceape St., Oshkosh
• Payne's Point Tavern - Cty Trk A, 3 miles south of Neenah

Upriver Lakes

• Critters Wolf River Sports - 131 W. Main Street, Winneconne
• Indian Point Tavern - Cty Trk H 1/2 m. E of Tustin
• Boom Bay Boat Landing - Cty Trk MM on Boom Bay, Lake Poygan

Regulations and Information

Please refer to the 2009 Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Regulations and Information [PDF 800KB] for complete regulations.

• Total harvest of sturgeon will be limited through pre-set harvest caps. Harvest caps for the 2009 Winnebago System spearing season are 350 for juvenile females, 630 for adult females and 1000 for males.
• There will be a bag limit of one lake sturgeon per license and a minimum length limit of 36 inches.
• Lake Winnebago - February 14, 2009 through March 1, 2009 on Lake Winnebago or until the pre-set harvest cap for Lake Winnebago is reached, OR the pre-set Winnebago System-wide harvest cap is reached, whichever comes first (as per trigger closure rules).
• Upriver Lakes - February 14, 2009 through March 1, 2009 on the Upriver Lakes (Lakes Butte des Morts, Winneconne and Poygan) or until the pre-set harvest cap for the Upriver Lakes is reached, OR the pre-set Winnebago System-wide harvest cap is reached, whichever comes first (as per trigger closure rules).

An Interview with Ron Bruch

Ron Bruch, Senior Fisheries Biologist/Work Unit Supervisor with the DNR shares some tips for the 2009 season.

• 2009 season shaping up to be memorable [MP3: 461Kb]
• Set up over deep water [MP3: 913Kb]
• Winnebago spearing season unique[MP3: 526KB]
• The secret to spearing success [MP3: 657Kb]

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