MENASHA, WI (WTAQ) – An invasive species of fish found in the Fox River has forced the Wisconsin DNR to close the Menasha lock for the Labor Day weekend.
According to the DNR, four round gobies have been caught by anglers below the Neenah dam in recent days. It’s the first time the fish has been confirmed upstream of the series of locks and dams between Neenah and Green Bay. (Since the Fox River flows north, upstream is to the south.)
Anglers are now being asked to help determine whether the round goby is present upstream of the dams in Neenah and Menasha, or even Lake Winnebago.
The DNR is asking anyone who catches a goby to kill it and take it to their Oshkosh office, 625 E. County Road Y, along with specific information on when and where it was caught. That office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, although it will be closed on Labor Day.
The DNR encourages anyone who catches a goby this weekend to freeze it and take it to their office next week.
So far, the gobies that have been caught bit on hooks baited with worms.
Gobies have a single, scallop-shaped pelvic fin on their bellies, a black spot on their front dorsal fins, frog-like raised eyes and thick lips. They are between 3 and 6 inches long, and have a mottled gray color.
The bottom-dwellers force out native fish by eating their eggs and young, taking over optimal habitat and spawning multiple times per season.
“The gobies represent a real threat to the valuable native species in the Lake Winnebago system – home to a world class walleye fishery, the largest self-sustaining population of lake sturgeon in North America, good populations of bass, yellow perch and other game and panfish species,” Kendall Kamke, DNR Oshkosh fisheries team supervisor, said in a news release.
DNR workers are also setting traps and using shocking equipment on the water to determine how widespread the gobies are.
Meanwhile, the Fox River Navigational System Authority, which operates the locks along the Fox River, says while the Menasha lock is closed, boaters can access the Fox River at various public launches in the Fox Valley as well as about 60 on Lake Winnebago.
The Menasha lock closed at 10 p.m. Wednesday. The authority recommends boaters check its Facebook page for updates on when the lock will reopen.
