Sturgeon Spearing, Ice Fishing & Pheasants
The biggest fish to date on the Winnebago system was speared by Gerald Peterson and weighed in at 154 pounds.
Not to be redundant from the blog two weeks ago, but if you have never witnessed the sturgeon spearing opening day festivities on Lake Winnebago and the upper lakes, lock it away for next year; you are missing something. Travel the whole world and you will never see a sturgeon population so healthy, so well managed, and so appreciated by the locals as right here in our own state of Wisconsin.
With long-time buddy Scott Heitman, I landed at Wendt’s on the Lake located on the west side of Winnebago on Saturday morning. We took our photos of successful spearers at the registration station, each of whom also obliged our requests for short interviews on just what happened out there in their dark shanties at the moment of truth when the monster cruised into their personal window to the quiet green hues beneath the ice.
Greg Keup’s sturgeon was his eighth ever and third in a row.
The first person I approached with a sturgeon on his tailgate proved to be a veteran spearer who would soon find it funny that it was me walking up to him. Greg Keup of Theresa had speared a 56-inch, 38-pound fish that came in nice and high and slow in eight feet of water at 10:00 a.m. while holding vigil in the shack with his cousin, Bruce Christian of Mayville. The fish was Keup’s eighth, and third in a row.
Keup asked where the story would be posted and when I told him OnWisconsinOutdoors.com started laughing at a real coincidence. The day before, he said, the cousins had booked a mule deer hunting trip in Colorado with outfitter Scott Paul after reading our story on the trip in the last issue of On Wisconsin Outdoors. Scott Paul by the way is telling me business from Wisconsin for the coming season is vigorous, so if you are interested in the elk and deer hunt near Craig, Colorado, you had better call soon.
So, Keup and Christian and I talked a little deer hunting before Heitman and I moved on to other sturgeon hunters, and I was able to offer some sound advice for his upcoming trip to Colorado; don’t shoot like me and you’ll be fine.
Josh Holz needed a little help with a well-placed “X’ to locate his fish in murky water.
Josh Holz of Fond du Lac tells us that water conditions were less than perfect and he threw his spear at the last point he had seen the sturgeon crossing the “x”, the marker he had placed on the bottom to help visibility. The result was his 55-inch fish.
Joshua Johannes speared his 128 pound-plus sturgeon a few feet under the ice in 17 feet of water.
Joshua Johannes of Oshkosh and Ashley Kalbus of Readfield were in their shack together when a real beauty came in just three feet under the ice in 17 feet of water. The 73.8 inch sturgeon weighed in at a whopping 128.5 pounds.
One of the best stories we heard came from the mother-daughter spearing team of Colleen and Rebecca Kingsland of Van Dyne. On stand in seven feet of murky water, the 68 inch, 81.8 pound monster slipped in and surprised Colleen a bit, who has been spearing for 23 years. Colleen said a few words that surprised Rebecca too, and like any daughter who recognizes an opportunity when she sees one, Rebecca didn’t hesitate to remind mom of the dark dialogue she had heard in the shack.
Colleen Kingsland proved to her daughter Rebecca that she can spear a sturgeon and swear with great skill simultaneously.
“It came in and I yelled a few words I shouldn’t say, and then quick threw the spear where I thought it was,” Colleen said. “Then I said a few more choice words because I thought I missed. After it was over, Rebecca, said, ‘mom you said some not-so-nice words.’ I said, ‘I did?’ Oh, I’m sorry….’.”
“You really needed to place something on the bottom to help with visibility and we placed a white PCV pipe on the bottom,” Colleen continued on a more serious note. “That helped a ton.”
According to media releases received from Senior Fisheries Biologist Ryan Koenigs and team day 2 of the 2017 sturgeon spearing season on the Winnebago System ended in the books with a harvest of 115 fish from Lake Winnebago and 60 fish from the Upriver Lakes. That brings the season totals to 313 from Lake Winnebago and 183 from the Upriver Lakes. The take means the season is currently at 19.0% of the adult female harvest cap meaning the season will go the full 16 days. The Upriver Lakes have reached 50.6% of the male harvest cap and 42.1% of the adult female harvest cap. Therefore, according to Koenigs, there is a strong chance that the season will go into next weekend.
Stockbridge Harbor once again lead the way today with 37 fish harvested, followed by Payne’s Point (24), Quinney (21), and Calumet Harbor (14). Our Critter’s station continues to dominate the upriver lakes registration numbers with 43 of the 60 fish harvested on the Upriver Lakes today being registered at that station (harvest break down table attached).
The big fish trend continued today with 8 fish larger than 100 pounds being harvested from Lake Winnebago. Today’s biggest fish was 140.6 pounds, 78.9” and registered by Michael Larson from Seymour (photo attached). Through the first 2 days of the season there have been 23 fish 100 pounds or larger harvested from Lake Winnebago (7.3% of harvest) and 4 from the Upriver Lakes (2.2%).
In the day 3 report that came to OWO on Monday, Koenigs reported 98 sturgeon harvested on the Winnebago System including 66 from Lake Winnebago and 32 from the Upriver Lakes (attached table).
“Today’s harvest included the largest fish of the season to date, both in length and weight,” Koenigs writes. “Gerald Peterson’s 154.9 pound (83.4”) female just beat out Sandra Schumacher’s 154.7 pound fish from opening day. Congratulations to Gerald on an impressive fish (photo included)! A second 140+ pound fish (140.6 pounds, 72.5”) was registered at Payne’s Point today by Scott Lehl. Scott and Gerald’s fish bring the season total to 6 fish that have been harvested at 140+ pounds during this season.”
Winnebago was just one stop in a busy week that also included the second annual Mike Hart ice fishing extravaganza on Pretty Lake in Waukesha County, ice fishing Iron County lakes with my three brothers in Lake Superior Country, pheasant hunting Wern Valley with a good friend and three dogs, and finally, a two hour futile but fun hunt in Vernon Marsh with my first wife Lori, for shed antlers.
Mike Hart’s bear burgers and venison tenderloins will make any ice angler not worry too much about the fish biting or not.
Mike Hart’s neighbor Jack keeps his focus on the fish during the second annual ice fishing extravaganza on Pretty Lake.
Friends since 7th grade, Larry Calvi, Gerry Haines and I would join the Hart ice fishing clan every year even if there wasn’t a hole drilled or a fish caught. Long-time friend Mike Hart, who played the part of rookie bear hunter for OWO last year and made a perfect shot on a 198 pound boar with his bow as part of the ongoing Bayfield County diary, likes to serve his guests venison, bear and other wildlife harvested over the year, and grilled on the ice and that in itself is worth the drive. There also were a few fish caught, and a few beverages consumed. Unlike last year though, with this year’s snow covering the participants who indulged in more than a few beverages were not in danger of kissing the ice unexpectedly…on numerous occasions….like some of the guests that will go unnamed.
John Burris wore some protective head gear in 2017 in the event ice conditions were too smooth.
Brothers Jim, Steve, John and I tried out two lakes in Iron County while bunking at Steve’s cabin far back in no-man’s land near Hurley. We didn’t do very well on the first lake. However, we did do very badly on the second lake. Steve and Jim did catch crappies, including fish in the 12 or 13 inch range, but when we turned to tip-up fishing for pike on few-hundred acre lake known for giving up northerns in the summer, we never saw a flag over two hours with heavy snows moving in.
Steve Ellis finds a cooperative crappie or three but not much more while fishing Iron County lakes.
Jim Ellis and Steve Ellis pull the tip-ups in a growing snow storm after two hours of strike-less time on the ice targeting pike in Iron County.
Friend Greg Bornemann and I hit Wern Valley for an opportunity to work a crazy mix of hunting dogs and hone our shooting skills in the pheasant fields. Wern Valley is located in Waukesha and they do a very good job of putting out birds with wild instincts that run or hold until pushed hard to flush by a good dog or two….or three.
Gregg Borneman swings on a rooster that Lucy has pointed for three minutes in Wern Valley.
English Setter Lucy does her thing at Wern Valley.
I was doggie sitting for my sister’s English lab, Dylan and my father- in-laws’ English setter, Lucy. Throw Lucy’s instincts as a tenacious pointer together with my Micah’s flushing abilities as a golden retriever and Dylan's lab flushing instincts and we had quite a nut-house. Thanks mostly to Bornemann’s shooting ability; we walked out of Wern with six roosters for the stove. If you need a truck accessory or cap or like to shoot the bull about walleye fishing or duck hunting, Gregg is also founder and owner of the Cap Connection in Waukesha. It’s where we buy our truck caps. Gregg will take good care of you.
Lucy thanks Gregg for another shot well placed.
A good day of hunting and dog work at Wern Valley in Waukesha for Gregg Borneman and Lucy.
Finally Sunday, Lori and I were shed hunting in Vernon Marsh near Mukwonago. We were virtually lost on the border of the vast marsh and tag alder swamp, I fell down in the mud when a root system jumped my boots, and we never found an antler. It was great. Especially when we needed to give three dogs baths afterward, and Lori had told all her friends about my elegance in the field about five minutes after we left the marsh. She’s still laughing. You know the soup Nazi on Seinfeld? “No soup for you!” Well Lori, Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day….”No flowers for you!”
Everything did end up great when we stopped in at Kwik Trip for a tank of gas, Sunday paper, a cold soda and a free sample…alfredo/chicken pizza. Yes!
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis