Winnebago Sturgeon Spearing Report - Thursday February 14, 2013
Happy Valentine’s Day to all of the sturgeon spearers and sturgeon enthusiasts out there! I know spearers would love to celebrate the harvest of a “big lady” sturgeon on Valentine’s Day, and that is just what Dale Jenkins did. Dale was thrilled to register his 74.6”, 119.0 pound female sturgeon at our Jim and Linda’s registration station in Pipe. Dale’s fish was the largest on the lake and I congratulate him on his nice fish (see attached photo). The Jenkins family is rich in sturgeon spearing tradition and it is great to see an involved member of the sturgeon community have success! The overall harvest today was down slightly from yesterday, with 12 fish being registered today (one of which was greater than 100 pounds). The overall harvest was down slightly from yesterday, but water clarity continues to increase. I had staff checking water clarity along the East Shore this morning and they observed clarity ranging from 8-14 feet (average of 11.5 feet). More details can be viewed below, but conditions have improved over the last 10 days when clarity at these same locations was 6-9.5 feet with an average of 8 feet. More information on the effects of water clarity can be read in the vignette below. Hopefully we will see a big push of spearers gearing up for the 2nd weekend to take advantage of the better clarity conditions. Just remember, you can’t spear a fish if you aren’t on the ice.
Water clarity readings observed on 2-14-2013:
- Fisherman’s Rd: ½ Mile = 11’ in 11’ of water, 1 Mile = 11’ in 15’ of water, and 2 Miles = 8’ in 15’ of water
- Brothertown: 1 Mile = 12’ in 17’ water, 2 Miles = 14’ in 17’ of water
- Stockbridge: ½ Mile = 11’ in 17’ of water, 1 Mile = 12’ in 17’, 2 Mile = 13’ in 19’