Sturgeon spawning update for April 27, 2014
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Dear Winnebago System Sturgeon Enthusiasts: Well the sturgeon run continues to linger on, but spawning activity was observed at additional sites today, Sunday April 27. Numerous active spawning pods were once again present at the Sturgeon Trail in New London, where our crew tagged 91 fish today. The largest fish handled there today was a 68.5” ripe female, but we also captured numerous large males that were in excess of 65”. In addition to fish spawning fish at the Sturgeon Trail on County X, spawning was also observed at a few other locations in New London including Memorial Park, Pfeifer Park and behind the town garage. Spawning at all of these sites was limited to small numbers of fish and likely only 1-3 females that were beginning to ovulate. We did tag 10 fish at Memorial Park today and this was a noteworthy occurrence because the DNR and Sturgeon for Tomorrow completed a joint project this fall to re-rock the shoreline. This had been a site where sturgeon had spawned in the past, but the existing rock was smaller than desired and the shoreline was starting to show signs of erosion. So Sturgeon for Tomorrow paid for the rock for the project and the DNR habitat crew from Wild Rose placed the rock. Within just one year the sturgeon honed in on this new rock and we are optimistic that more fish will spawn at this site during this year’s run and for years to come. In addition to spawning fish at these sites in New London, there also was the first glimmer of spawning activity at Bamboo Bend today. I was there at around 9:45 AM and observed at least two pods of actively spawning fish. Our crew did not tag any fish there today, but we likely will be actively monitoring this site in the upcoming days. Hopefully you were able to get out and observe sturgeon over the last couple of days and enjoy the resource. Both Bamboo Bend and the Sturgeon Trail received a great deal of visitors and hopefully the fish will continue to show up at these sites allowing more people to witness sturgeon spawning. I attached a few pictures of the new rock that was placed at Memorial Park in New London.
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