With three days left of sturgeon spearing season on the Winnebago chain of lakes, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reported that there have already been over 200 more fish harvested than last year.
As of Feb. 18, 293 sturgeon have been speared on the Upriver Lakes (Butte des Morts, Winneconne and Poygan) while 427 have been harvested on Lake Winnebago. Last year, the entire Winnebago system saw 432 fish speared, which was the least amount of sturgeon speared since 2006.
The Upriver Lakes harvest is on pace to reach the cap before the 16-day season ends Feb. 23 after 41 out of the 70 possible juvenile females have been speared so far and 44 of the 80 possible females have been harvested. There are less than 50 males left that can be speared on the Upriver Lakes after the DNR reported that 208 of the possible 250 have been harvested. If one of the harvest caps is met, spearing on the Upriver Lakes would end before the season reached 16 days for the fourth time in the past five years.
The Lake Winnebago harvest is still a long way off from reaching the caps after the DNR reported that 69 of the 280 possible juvenile females have been harvested, 194 of the 717 females have been speared and 164 of the 1,002 males have been registered.
In the past week, the largest fish harvested was a 152-lb, 80-inch female speared by Jacob Thompson on the Upriver Lakes Feb. 15.
The largest fish harvested this season was by Hayley Herzig, who harvested a 180.5-lb and 79.3-inch female sturgeon on opening day, the fourth-largest fish recorded on the Winnebago system. So far this season, there have been 42 fish speared that weigh over 100 lbs.
Once a spearer has successfully harvested a sturgeon, the tag on the carcass must be validated by tearing off the bottom portion and the fish must be brought to an official registering station where it must be registered by 2 p.m. on the day it was speared.
Spearing on the Lake Winnebago system, which holds one of the largest populations of lake sturgeon in North America, will continue until the harvest caps are met or when the 16-day season ends Feb. 23.
