Sturgeon Spearing Report: Day 1 - February 13, 2016
Attention Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Enthusiasts:
Day 1 of the 2016 Sturgeon Spearing season on the Winnebago System is in the books and things went as expected for the most part. The water clarity on Lake Winnebago contributed to a slow first day with a total harvest of 84 fish. Wendt’s was the busiest station by quite a margin (32 fish) followed by Stockbridge (16) and Payne’s Point (11). Earlier this week we observed a consistent 7’ of clarity throughout the Upriver Lakes and therefore, I was anticipating a pretty busy opening day. This was indeed the case as 151 fish were registered today on the Upriver Lakes, which means that 32.0% of Upriver Lakes license holders harvested fish today. A detailed breakdown of the opening day harvest by station can be viewed in the attached spreadsheet.
The largest fish today was a 131.6 pound, 78.3” female speared by Jeremey Witzel (Shiocton) and registered at Payne’s Point (photo attached). The 2ndlargest fish was 128.3 pounds (75.1”) and speared by Justin Enders (St. Cloud, WI) before being registered at Quinney (photo). In total there were 7 fish registered today that were 100 pounds or larger, 5 from the Upriver Lakes and 2 from Lake Winnebago.
As it stands now, it looks like a full 16-day season on Lake Winnebago and a shorter season on the Upriver Lakes that likely will end early to mid-week. I plan to send out a more detailed report comparing opening day this season, to recent seasons so stay tuned. Good luck during the remainder of the season!
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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