(DNR) – The second weekend of sturgeon spearing has come to a close, and many spearers are reporting that the cold weather has helped firm up the ice.
With another 36 lake sturgeon harvested today, this brings the Winnebago System total to 202 juvenile females, 662 adult females and 660 males.
With the 19 adult females harvested Sunday, we have reached the 90-99% Winnebago System-wide harvest cap for adult females. Spearers with an unfilled Lake Winnebago tag have until 1 p.m. tomorrow (Monday, Feb. 23) to harvest a sturgeon. At that time, the 2026 sturgeon spearing season will close.
It seems that many spearers are still finding good ice and clear water on the east side of the lake, as 21 lake sturgeon were registered between the Pipe, Quinney and Stockbridge stations.
Our largest fish of the day came from the Pipe registration station. Trevor Theyerl harvested a 138.1-pound, 80.3-inch female.
Click here to view the full Day 9 Harvest Report online.
As we head into the last day of spearing this year and the first season in a long time to close early, it is a good time to remember how lucky we are here in Wisconsin. It takes an extremely healthy population to sustain any amount of harvest of lake sturgeon, especially through a spearing season. There are only two populations in the United States that support a spear harvest for lake sturgeon.
The only other lake sturgeon spear fishery is the season on Black Lake in Michigan. While there are many similarities between the two seasons, one very distinct difference is that the Black Lake season has a harvest cap of 6 fish. This year, the cap was reached in 48 minutes – much different from our 10-day season this year. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any less excitement and energy surrounding the Michigan season.
It continues to be a testament to all the great management, as well as the assistance from the conservation and spearing groups, that the Winnebago System can sustain a long season and that 1,524 lake sturgeon have been harvested so far this year.
Congrats to all successful spearers, and we hope a few more of you find success tomorrow as we close out the season.
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