STOCKBRIDGE, Wis. (WFRV) – Sturgeon spearers who missed out on a trophy sturgeon will have to wait until 2027, as the season came to a close on Lake Winnebago Monday afternoon.
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The Wisconsin DNR closed the season early due to the harvest caps being reached, helping preserve the sturgeon population for years to come.
Margaret Stadig, a biologist with the Wisconsin DNR, said that the success of opening weekend, seeing over 1,000 fish harvested, was one of the best in decades.
“That opening weekend was probably one of the best we have had in a decade, we had over 1,00 fish speared in the entire system,” said Stadig, “You could tell spearers absolutely loved it.”
Stadig also mentioned that the sturgeon coming in on land are showing the population will be steady for years to come.
One of the last fish to get registered came in at 95 pounds.
“It still looks like we have a good, healthy population. We are seeing a lot of big fish, a good number of fish over 100 pounds, which is good to see,” said Stadig. “We did see a good amount of small fish come in as well; we like to see all size classes.”
Stadig said that one of the things that helped the spearers was the water clarity. Even at the end of the season, when battling rain and deteriorating ice conditions, spearers continued to go out.
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“Just water clarity, throughout the entire system, we had great water clarity, and spearers were able to see sturgeon and lots of fish throughout the opening weekend.”
Stadig is hopeful for another Arctic blast next year to provide some good conditions for the spearers again.
