2017 Sturgeon Spearing Season Complete!
Attention Winnebago System Sturgeon Enthusiasts:
The 2017 sturgeon spearing season on the Winnebago System is now complete. As expected, things ended in a slow fashion with only 10 fish harvested over the last 7 days of the season (8 on Monday, 1 on Tuesday, 1 on Wednesday, and 0 fish each of the last 4 days). The season still closes with a total harvest of 847 fish (552 from Lake Winnebago and 295 from the Upriver Lakes).
I’ve been asked to summarize this season in a few sentences and overall I would say this was a successful season for the following reasons:
- Opening day shanty counts (>5,000 shacks) indicate that many license holders were able to take part in the early part of the season. Thus another season provided opportunities to renew traditions and create memories.
- Large fish in the harvest. We had 9 fish harvested that were 140 pounds or larger. In comparison there were only 12 fish of this size harvested within the last 4 seasons combined (3 in 2013; 8 in 2014; 0 in 2015; 1 in 2016).
- We can’t control Mother Nature and climate, but 2017 was another safe season as spearers were able to take part in the sport safely.
- 847 license holders were able to fill their tag. This is down from averages over the last decade, but still the largest recreational spear harvest for sturgeon in the world and an increase over last season (703 fish).
There will be more information to come in future reports that I plan to distribute throughout the next week. One advantage of a slower finish to the season is we were able to get most of the harvest data entered before season closure, so we should have the successful spearer list ready for distribution in the next couple of days. I’ve included a vignette about the history of the Upriver Lakes spear fishery in today’s report. Here are a few highlights from the Lake Winnebago and Upriver Lakes seasons.
Lake Winnebago:
- Harvest of 552 fish from Lake Winnebago ranks 45th highest out of 77 seasons dating back to 1941 (reference PDF attached; harvest data unknown for 1944 and 1945 seasons).
- 46 fish 100 pounds or larger harvested, including 9 fish 140 pounds or larger
- 8.3% of harvest fish 100 pounds or larger. This is the 2nd highest value on record dating back to 1955, behind only 2013 (9.5% of harvest). Stark increase from 2015 and 2016 seasons that each had 2.0% of the Lake Winnebago harvest be fish 100+ pounds.
- 5,074 shanties on opening day was the 2nd highest shanty count on record behind only 2009 (5,958 shanties).
- 5th full 16-day season within the last 7 years; only 2014 and 2015 seasons reached harvest caps early.
Upriver Lakes (much of this presented in vignette about the history of the Upriver Lakes fishery):
- Harvest of 295 fish 7th largest harvest since lottery fishery implemented in 2007 (11 seasons; average harvest 297.2 sturgeon/season).
- First full 16-day season since lottery fishery implemented, largely because of increased harvest caps over recent seasons.
- 8 fish 100 pounds or larger harvested (2.7%) down slightly from last season (3.6% of harvest).
Sturgeon Vignette – “History of the Upriver Lakes Sturgeon Spear Fishery and Trends in the Modern Era”
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Ryan Koenigs
Senior Fisheries Biologist / Winnebago System Sturgeon Biologist
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
625 E County Rd. Y, Suite 700
Oshkosh, WI 54901
Phone: (920)303-5450
Fax: (920)424-4404
Ryan.koenigs@wisconsin.gov