WINNEBAGO, CO., WI (WTAQ) – The 2017 sturgeon spearing season kicked off on Saturday and already 100’s of the pre-historic fish have been caught.
DNR Sturgeon Biologist, Ryan Koenigs, says within the first 2 days, 313 fish have been harvested on Lake Winnebago and another 183 pre-historic fish have been harvested from the upriver lakes.
“In relation to 2016, those numbers are up a fair amount…probably about a 100 fish over 2016 on Lake Winnebago but they’re down slightly for the upriver lakes,” Koenigs said.
Koenigs says they collect a tremendous amount of data from the harvested fish.
“The biggest things we get from the harvest and with the tag fish, is it allows us to estimate how many fish are in the population and then what percentage of those tag fish are harvested each year or what percentage of the population is harvested.”
The 16 day sturgeon spearing season started on Saturday and will end on February 26.
