LAKE WINNEBAGO, WI (WTAQ) – Despite concerns about ice thickness and water clarity in spots around Lake Winnebago and upriver lakes, the sturgeon spearing season is set to kick off this weekend.
When the DNR checked the ice for clarity on Lake Winnebago this week, it was not quite at the level most spearers are looking for during the season.
“Clarity was 7-8 feet, which is pretty poor. Typically when we have 12 feet of clarity on average or more is when we’re likely to reach the harvest caps and have a shorter season,” DNR Fisheries Biologist Ryan Koenigs says.
Thousands of licenses have been sold, but once some spearers check the weather conditions and ice around the spots they want to set their shanties, it’s unlikely that all of them will be used.
“We sold between the two fisheries just over 12,700 licenses. But what we are anticipating with the ice conditions and how that may impact the season is maybe participation of those license holders actually going out on the lake,” Koenigs tells WTAQ News.
However, spearers are more likely to hit the upriver lakes like Lake Poygan for a number of reasons. Annually, just a few hundred licenses are distributed via lottery selection for those lakes.
“These people have been waiting 7-8 years to draw a tag up there, so they’re going to find a way to get out. Ice conditions are better on particularly Lake Poygan than Lake Winnebago as well, which will help,” Koenigs says.
So with potentially fewer spearers on the ice than usual, most would assume that means a dip in harvest numbers. But that may not necessarily be the case.
“There are going to be shanties out on the lake on Saturday, and we’re anticipating that they’ll be harvesting some fish,” Koenigs says, “[We’re expecting] similar numbers probably to what our harvest has been in recent years, around 300 fish by the time the season closes.”
The 16-day season runs from Saturday through February 23rd. No matter what the weather or lake conditions might be, the season must go on.
“The dates are set in a state statute and the DNR does not have the authority to close the season,” Koenigs says, “Going onto the ice is ultimately at the discretion of the spearers. It’s similar to – in the summer – the decision of a person operating a boat deciding whether or not it’s too rough for them to go out.”
Koenigs expects the season to run the full length this year.
When it comes to registering fish, spearers are required to possess a paper copy of their carcass tag at all times. There is mandatory in-person registration of all harvested fish. Fish must be presented at a registration station by 2:00 p.m. on the same day the fish is harvested.
Anyone looking for further information on sturgeon spearing season or the regulations can find them here.
