Sturgeon spearing summary report - February 15, 2015 - Day 2
Dear Winnebago System Sturgeon Enthusiasts:
Well spearers were once again met with cold conditions on day 2 of the 2015 spearing season, but at least the winds had died down and visibility on the lake had substantially improved. Shanty counts on Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes remained similar to those observed on day 1 with the only noticeable change being a significant decrease in shanties in area 3 (West Central) and a significant increase into area 5 (Southwest shore). Harvest numbers on day 2 remained strong with 403 fish being harvested from Lake Winnebago and 85 fish harvested from the Upriver Lakes. We are roughly half way to the adult female harvest cap for Lake Winnebago and have reached 72% of the adult female harvest cap on the Upriver Lakes. Given these numbers I am anticipating the Upriver Lakes season to last another 2-3 days, while the season on Lake Winnebago is a little harder to predict (could end as earlier as Thursday or as late as Sunday). A more detailed breakdown of today’s harvest is presented in the attached document.
The largest fish harvested today was 129.3 pounds, 78.2” and speared by Tom Reise of Oshkosh. At this time I haven’t been able to track down a photo of that fish, but will attempt to do so for at least tomorrow’s report. I hope to send out a more detailed report later today/tonight, but wanted to get the harvest numbers out so people knew how today’s fishery went. Thank you and good luck to those spearers who still have active tags!
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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