Sturgeon Spearing Report: How does the 2016 opener stack up against recent season openers
Attention Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Enthusiasts:
My previous report contained the harvest numbers for today, but I wanted to also put this year’s opening day harvest into perspective with recent seasons. For starters, the opening day harvest of 151 fish on the Upriver Lakes is the 6th largest opening day harvest since the lottery fishery on the Upriver Lakes was implemented in 2007 (10 seasons; Table 1). The opening day harvest of 84 fish on Lake Winnebago ranks 12th out of the 15 seasons since the 6-hour spearing day was implemented in 2002. Further, only the 2006, 2012, and 2013 opening day harvests contained fewer fish than this year’s opener (Table 2). It’s common knowledge in the sturgeon spearing community that water clarity is the biggest factor impacting spearing success and this year was no different. Figure 1 graphically displays the relationship between water clarity and opening day harvest of sturgeon on Lake Winnebago. It’s a pretty clear relationship and typically water clarity needs to average 12’ or more for an above average harvest to occur, and the average of 9’ of visibility in 2016 is below that threshold.
More information to come in future reports as the season progresses.
Table 1. Upriver Lakes opening day Harvest (2007-2016)
Table 2. Lake Winnebago Opening Day harvest (2002-2016).
Figure 1.
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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