Sturgeon spawning update 5-3-2013
Dear Winnebago Sturgeon Enthusiasts:
It has been a wild and crazy spring, and the weather has affected the spring sturgeon spawn. The warm weather late last week and early this week activated fish at numerous spawning sites throughout the Winnebago System and fish were spawning at numerous sites simultaneously during the early part of this week (Monday-Wednesday). Late Wednesday afternoon it really looked like the fish were going to spawn hard at the Shawano Dam on Thursday and Friday, concluding the first spawning run which is typically the largest run. Most of the females that we were handling in Shawano on Wednesday afternoon were still hard and had not started laying their eggs, but looked to be close. However, we were very surprised Thursday morning when there was not nearly as much spawning activity below the dam as anticipated or that we normally observe. This trend continued as I was at the dam this morning and there were no longer visible fish. At this point, it looks like some of the early females spawned before the colder weather came in, but the later spawning fish did not start spawning before water temperatures started to decrease. Thus there is still spawning to take place at the Shawano Dam and the fish will wait until water temperatures warm up to within their optimal range before they come back in. There was intense spawning over the last 4-5 days, but there is likely also more action lying ahead.
Ryan P. Koenigs
Fisheries Biologist
Upper Fox - Wolf Fisheries Work Unit
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Phone: (920)303-5450
Fax: (920)424-4404
E-mail: Ryan.koenigs@wisconsin.gov