Sturgeon spawning update - April 30, 2014
Dear Winnebago System Sturgeon Enthusiasts:
Sturgeon continued to spawn at sites in the New London (Sturgeon Trail at County X and Memorial Park) and Shiocton (Bamboo Bend and a site on private property) areas today. Our crew worked at Bamboo Bend and another site on private property in Shiocton today and were able to handle a total of 112 sturgeon. The largest fish was a 73.4” female, but we handled multiple fish in excess of 70” today. The real promising news was the break in the weather pattern that we had been experiencing lately. The sun was even spotted during part of the day today and air temperatures once again topped 50 degrees, which led to slight increases in water temperature.
As for tomorrow, we anticipate that some spawning activity may continue at Bamboo Bend and sites in the New London area. One thing is for certain, the cooler water temperatures are prolonging the spawning activity at some of the spawning sites further down on the Wolf River. Fish have now been spawning for 7 days in New London and 4 days in Shiocton. It will be interesting to see how the fish respond to slight increases in water temperature over the next week and how long spawning will take place at some of these sites.
Ryan P. Koenigs
Senior Fisheries Biologist / Winnebago Sturgeon Biologist
Oshkosh Fisheries Team
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
(() phone: (920)303-5450
(() fax: (920)424-4404
(+) e-mail: Ryan.koenigs@wisconsin.gov