Any sturgeon spearers here?

[BigHunt]

Cuttin in tomorrow....the shacks are starting to fill the ice on the south side and east side. NO TRUCKS for us this year. ATV only. Been hearing reports of quite a few cracks opening up all over the lake. Will definately be checkin the ice before my shack is going out.. Have not spent too much time on the lake this year but hopefully will find some good ice and clear water. Hoping for a safe season for anyone that is going.. Will post pics after the weekend.

awesome good luck ...ive allways wanted to do this but never had anyone to go with or get me started in it

[BigHunt]

My brother's shack mate just stuck a 50lber on the South side of Winnebago

congrats

[Mike.E]

Hey whats the 2012 report? Were setup south of Asylum Bay and had two out of our group the first day but muddied the water on Sunday, looking for a god word or anything, but am not expecting anything with the harvest numbers this year so far.

[Dewey]

Sunday, February 12:The Upriver Lakes lottery fishery closed at 12:30 PM today after spearers there registered 20 adult females tripping the 100% harvest closure trigger of 83 adult females total. The 2012 Upriver Lakes spearing season goes into the books at a total of 242 fish (see breakdown below and in attachment) and as the shortest season (2 days) since the lottery fishery began in 2007.

The harvest on Lake Winnebago today was slow, but the very cold weather has resulted in somewhat improved ice conditions in some areas on the big lake which likely was at least part of the reason shanty counts on Lake Winnebago increased from 2197 yesterday to 2544 today. We are still in for a long season though and expect at this point to go for the full 16 days on Lake Winnebago. If the ice conditions hold, Lake Winnebago spearers should have plenty of time to still get out on the lake to spear. Spearers reported seeing more vehicles in some areas along the east shore, although as always spearers need to be cautious when traveling on the ice as reports also came in that indicated some ice cracks opened up due to ice shifting caused by the strong winds the last two days

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[Bucky]

My brothers group ended up with 4 total fish with 20 or so spearers... One guy had one on that would weigh over 100lbs but lost i trying 2 get it out of the hole

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[Dewey]

Monday, February 13:Mondays are typically slow during the sturgeon spearing season harvest-wise, as spearers take a break from peering down their spear-holes or go back to work after spending a full weekend spearing and enjoying time with their buddies. Today was no exception as only 22 sturgeon were registered from Lake Winnebago. The Upriver Lakes season closed yesterday after harvest caps were reached there after two days of very successful spearing. Less than optimal water clarity on Lake Winnebago is still keeping spearer success down, but spearers are hopeful that the long season will allow water to continue to clear and increase their chances of seeing a fish in days to come.

Spearer effort overall is expected to increase as the season grinds on, providing the weather holds - not too warm and no severe snow dumps - and the second weekend of the season coming in 5 days could end up being as big or bigger from a participation and excitement standpoint as the first - a second "opening" day of sorts

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[Dewey]

More spearing on point for the 2012 Lake Winnebago sturgeon season

Weekly News Article Published: February 14, 2012 by the Central Office

"There's still lots of time and opportunity"
OSHKOSH, Wis. -- Improving ice conditions and a break in snowy weather should make for plenty of spearing opportunities for lake sturgeon this week on Lake Winnebago after a slow opening weekend.


A 79.6- inch, 179.9-pound female sturgeon taken by Chris Haedt of Oshkosh. The fish is the 5th largest fish on record since the fishery began in 1932.
"There's still lots of time and lots of opportunity on Lake Winnebago," says Ron Bruch, Department of Natural Resources fisheries supervisor in Oshkosh. "There were 400 more shacks out on Sunday than Saturday, so people are taking advantage of the improved ice conditions. If you're not out here now, hopefully you will be able to make it out before the end of the season."

The Upriver Lakes season closed Sunday after reaching the harvest cap for those waters. The spearing season on Lake Winnebago runs through Feb. 26 or until the number of sturgeon speared triggers the shutdown of the season. DNR sets harvest caps to limit to 5 percent of the adult spawning stock the number of fish harvested. A running harvest total and detailed information about registration from each station is found on DNR's Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Season 2012 web page.

"If it doesn’t get too warm where we lose ice or get too much snow that creates difficult travel conditions, I think we'll see the number of spearers on Lake Winnebago building over the week. It could be like a second opening day."

Poor ice conditions and fair water clarity on Lake Winnebago resulted in a modern record low harvest of 39 for an opening day on the big lake, while close to normal spearing effort and clear water on the Upriver lakes resulted in a higher than average opening day harvest from those lakes.

That pace continued on Sunday, and the Upriver Lakes season closed after spearing hours.

It was the shortest season on the lakes -- Poygan, Butte des Morte and Winneconne -- since a lottery fishery began in 2007.

Upriver Lakes produces trophy fish, faster action

Again this year, a high proportion of the registered fish exceeded 100 pounds, regarded as "trophy" fish. Of the 210 fish registered system-wide on opening day, 12, or 5.7 percent, were trophy fish; closer to 1 percent has been typical.

Ten of those trophy fish were from the Upriver Lakes including the 79.6 inch, 179.9 pound female taken by Chris Haedt of Oshkosh. Her fish is the fifth largest fish on record since the fishery began in 1932.

On Monday, Feb. 13, Mikey Galligan of Oshkosh registered a 175.3 pound, 78.5 inch female sturgeon from Lake Winnebago, the sixth largest fish by weight on record.

Bruch says the faster action and bigger fish on the Upriver Lakes could be due to a number of factors: the water was very clear, which makes it easier to see the fish and spear them, and there were more adult females staging in the small lakes than normal.

"Normally, these pre-spawn fish are spread all over the river system," Bruch says. "We're not sure why a higher percentage were in the Upriver Lakes this year. It may have been the warm weather, or some other weather phenomenon that may have caused fish to change their migration patterns.

"Or maybe it was a food thing. There's a gizzard shad hatch up there that we don't have on Lake Winnebago. They may have just stayed up there at the buffet table a little longer."

Videos, photo slide shows and other information about sturgeon and the sturgeon spearing season can be found on DNR's 2012 Sturgeon Spearing Season feature page (click on the numbered squares in the top right hand corner to see different features for every day).

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron Bruch (920) 427-9831; Trish Ossmann (920) 662-5122

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[Dewey]

  
Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Season - 2012


Tuesday, February 14: Another slow day with very low effort - basically it boils down to "when the effort is low, low numbers of fish come in". Add in the poor water clarity in some areas, a dash of bad ice here and there, and you have the perfect recipe for low harvest rates. Despite the low numbers though, some very nice fish were registered. At this point of the season, we have seen 22 fish 100 pounds or larger in the total harvest of 347 system-wide; 7 out of 105 on Lake Winnebago (6.7%) and 15 out of 242 (6.2%) during the 2-day season on the Upriver lakes.

Spearers are reporting seeing large groups of gizzard shad this year, but not the typical 6-8" shad that the sturgeon like to eat in the winter, rather very large shad 12-14" which are fish that survived last winter and grew to this large adult size. These shad will also experience a natural winter die-off, but not in the quantity that is seen when they are only 1 year olds. Sturgeon will consume these large 2 year and older shad as they find them on the bottom dead or dying, but this is a much larger fish to swallow and occasionally we will see a sturgeon with the tail end of a large shad sticking out of its mouth when it is brought in to the registration station. Sturgeon consume mostly lake fly larvae ("redworms") but will also consume large quantities of dead and dying yearling shad in the winter in the years when we have big shad hatches. The shad are a very important food source for Winnebago sturgeon and one of the reasons we have such healthy fish and an abundance of sturgeon in the system. The fact that we have much lower numbers of yearling shad this winter and an abundance of lake fly larvae is part of the reason spearers are having a hard time seeing fish on Winnebago this year. The lake fly beds are primarily in the deep water mud flats, mostly in water greater than 12 feet in depth. Water clarity is at best about 10-11 feet on Lake Winnebago so even if a spearer is set up over a good "redworm" bed, the fish are likely swimming below the 10 foot water depth closer to the bottom where the lake fly larvae are, out of site of the spearer anxiously waiting to see a fish. Fish that deep may not even decoy all that well either as the decoys are set also above the 10 foot depth level. So the hunt goes in the sport of sturgeon spearing. Hoping the water clears over the next week or so.

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[Mike.E]

No luck this year yet on Winnebago. Our group had luck and got 2 the first weekend, but no other spears have been flung. Hoping to get out for the last weekend and keeping the truck on shore. We've been set up on the west side in Oshkosh and saw big had, 12-14 inchers, but not much small shad. Well see how it goes, chances are just as high as opening day haha Good luck and stay dry everyone.