Brandi Lefeber walked from her family farm to her tent shanty on Lake Winnebago for the opening of sturgeon spearing season, and got the catch of … Suddenly, a sturgeon glided into view, and Tim Michels plunged his spear into the fish’s midsection. You’ll love Wisconsin Life, a place for engaging stories of the people that make Wisconsin feel like home. Expansion cracks on the ice are bridged, and many cities along the east and west shores plow roads on the icy surface. In the 1950s, poachers gouged the population of the slow-breeding sturgeons. Wisconsin registered 2,158 speared sturgeon this season, including 288 from the Upriver Lakes. The focal points of the sturgeon season are the 17 registration stations scattered around the lakes. On the Winnebago lake system, the season started Feb. 11 and ended Sunday; the season closes early if the harvest cap is reached sooner. Steve Krueger, 48, held a sturgeon he speared last month at Lake Winnebago in Stockbridge, Wis., during the state’s spearing season. 59 relations. When he started, in 1944, there were 30 shanties, and five tags could be bought for a quarter. Kendall Kamke, 56, a senior fisheries biologist, recorded data from a sturgeon speared by Cassie Stumpf, 29, left, at the Stockbridge registration station. Wisconsin and Minnesota have a hook-and-line season on designated waters.
He spotted the giant fish through the hole in the ice and grabbed his five-prong spear. This Wisconsin Sea Grant video was shot in 2008 and describes spearfishing for sturgeon on Lake Winnebago. But Lake Winnebago, the largest lake in Wisconsin, is the place to catch the sturgeon of a lifetime. About 13,000 licenses were sold for the spearing season this year, from Feb. 14 to 21. “Most of the fish speared are much older than the people spearing them,” Bruch said. Relatives and neighbors of all ages swing by to see the sturgeon check-ins. Nowadays, biologists implant transponders, like those used by pet owners, and sonic tags. “That’s the perfect present, Dad,” Trevor Michels, 23, said. Spearers were able to take 42 fish Monday. It has lived through the Great Depression and World War II. In the first four days of the 2015 Winnebago lake system spearing season in Wisconsin, his friends and family caught and registered three. The 129-pound fish hanging next to his was so big that its tail touched the ground. “Sturgeons have been around for 150 million years,” said Ryan Koenigs, a Winnebago sturgeon biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Only a few states have a season for lake sturgeon. About 13,000 licenses were sold for the spearing season this year, and Wisconsin registered 2,158 speared sturgeon, including 288 from the Upriver Lakes. The spear-fishing season on Lake Winnebago ended Sunday.
“After I speared it, I seen how big it was and I called for help on my cellphone.
“Terri, you know what that smells like?” a friend asked. Michigan’s 2015 season, which was limited to five sturgeon, was over in less than six hours. Black Lake in Michigan is the only other place that offers a spearing season for sturgeon. From his shanty, Krueger sent a second spear into a sturgeon to ensure its capture. Petska waited in her shanty to have it lowered over the hole that was drilled to fit the size of the shanty’s opening. This year, the fish were found to be leaner because of a lack of gizzard shad. “They act as a deterrent,” Bruch said. The success rate is 60 percent, and the cap was reached on the opening weekend.
LAKE WINNEBAGO, Wis. (WLUK) — Day three of the 2019 sturgeon spearing season is in the books. © Wisconsin Public Radio and PBS Wisconsin, services of the Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents. This Wisconsin Sea Grant video was shot in 2008 and describes spearfishing for sturgeon on. Spearheads are made in local machine shops. The 1,870 fish taken from Lake Winnebago made it the sixth highest harvest on record.
He was watched by Connie Petska, 46, who fished the hole with Darin Callahan, 44. | February 10, 2012. Ice fishing is popular on Lake Winnebago. Tim and Trevor Michels built an ice shack this year and donated it to Sturgeon for Tomorrow for a fund-raising raffle. “This fish was probably hatched in the 1920s. Annual Sturgeon Spearing Season Getting Underway There are concerns about the ice condition for the annual spearfishing rite that draws thousands to Lake Winnebago and Upriver Lakes. David Koball, 44, of Elkhart Lake, Wis., drove about two miles on the ice to his shanty, following a row of other vehicles and spearfishermen. On the Winnebago lake system, the season started … Produced by Wisconsin Public Radio and PBS Wisconsin. Through the Sturgeon Guards program, 300 to 400 volunteers with cellphones work 12-hour shifts during the spring spawning run to keep an eye out for poachers. Nowhere else in the world has this. Most stations are at marinas or taverns like Wendt’s on the Lake here. Then the fisherman cut through the ice, using a chainsaw, and position the shanty over the hole. Tim and Trevor Michels, father and son, stared into the holes, their spears hooked to the ceiling and the pitchfork-like heads submerged to avoid a noisy splash if they stabbed at an unsuspecting sturgeon. According to Koenigs, the season attracts people from Canada, and last year, license holders traveled from roughly 20 states.
Ice, cold and winter are an integral part of what it means to live in Wisconsin. After propelling it through the water, Krueger, 48, was shaking, realizing his throw was accurate and the spear in place. “People keep them for souvenirs and put them on their key chains.”.
The next generation of biologists is in a good position because the Winnebago sturgeon fishery is considered a conservation success story. With the program that we have in place, they finally have an opportunity to show us their real stuff. It was his father’s 50th birthday.
“We don’t know for sure how long they can live because they’ve never had a chance since the late 1800s to really show us how long they can live. Pictures from previous spearfishing seasons lined the walls of Rick Hintz’s shanty, reminding him of former successes.
They have a lot of ownership in it.”. The success rate is 12 percent on Lake Winnebago, where the sturgeons are more dispersed and the water is deeper and murkier. The program we have right now is built by the public.
The 1,870 fish taken from Lake Winnebago during the spearfishing season, from Feb. 14 to 21, made it the sixth highest harvest on record. Sturgeon are native to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River drainage basin, and spearfisheries exist at Winnebago and Black Lake in Michigan. Some people have space heaters and chairs or a bench to sit on. This series honors the foods and meals that make the day. Sauger and walleye predominate, with rare perch and white bass catches. “The whole sport brings families together,” Kendall Kamke, a senior fisheries biologist, said. Groeschel has joined in the annual tradition of sturgeon spearing on Lake Winnebago system for more than 40 years, and has taken home quite … Chrys Bocast Chrys Bocast is a musician with a Ph.D. in Environment and Resources from the Nelson Institute at the University of Wisconsin. So it will be another 40 or 50 years before we really know the answer.”. A local sturgeon advisory committee includes representatives from local fishing clubs, and the group Sturgeon for Tomorrow has donated $800,000 for conservation since 1977. “You sit and wait.”. By Chrys Bocast | February 10, 2012. Schmidt usually paints them in realistic colors, but one custom order called for green and gold with a Green Bay Packers logo.
“This is probably one of the more heavily regulated fisheries in North America in terms of the mandatory harvest cap system in place,” he said.
Wendt’s on the Lake was packed by noon, although the legal fishing hours extend to 12:30 p.m. A metal fin tag was used from 1954 to 2005, said Dave Bartz, a fisheries biologist. By Chrys Bocast Lake Winnebago is a freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. The first modern sturgeon spearing season on Lake Winnebago occurred during the winter of 1931-32, but it wasn't until 1952 the first spearing season occurred on the Upriver Lakes. “It’s a waiting game,” she said.
This year’s catch will fall short of the caps — 400 for juvenile females, 828 for adult females and 1,200 for males — probably because murky water decreased visibility and thin ice prevented access to some spots on the lake. Terri Barth said that it was her fourth sturgeon and that it had required only two hours on the ice. It is not uncommon for 10,000 cars to park on Lake Winnebago during the ice fishing season. For example, Rod-Bender Guide Service in Kaukauna offers sturgeon shack rentals that include use of a shack, spear, gaff hook, decoy, and (most importantly) a heat source. This Wisconsin Sea Grant video was shot in 2008 and describes spearfishing for sturgeon on Lake Winnebago. It is usually dark inside the shanty, with light coming in from the lake below. Lake Winnebago is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin.At 137,700 acres it is the largest lake entirely within the state, covering an area of about 30 miles by 10 miles, with 88 miles of shoreline, an average depth of 15.5 feet, and a maximum depth of 21 feet. “The economic importance of the fishery as a whole during the average nine-day season contributes $3.5 million to the local economy,” Koenig added.