Thick ice, clear water and a mild, sunny day meant a jubilant opening to sturgeon spearing season Feb. 14.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources sturgeon biologist Margaret Stadig said that, after two years of less-than-ideal conditions, “you can definitely tell people are really itching to get back. “
“It really made my heart sing to know that it’s going to be one of those normal seasons,” she added.
Starting every second weekend in February, Wisconsinites gather on the ice at Lake Winnebago, Lake Poygan, Lake Winneconne and Lake Butte des Morts, put up a shanty, cut a hole in the ice and watch and wait for a sturgeon to swim by. But they don’t use lines and hooks – they use spears, a method the Menominee people first used to catch lake sturgeon.
Every time a fish is harvested, the spearer takes it to a weighing station, where volunteers and workers for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources weigh and measure the sturgeon, determine its sex, check for the tag and count the sturgeon against a sex-specific harvest cap. The spearing season lasts 16 days or until one of the caps have been reached. This year, the caps across the Lake Winnebago system are 350 juvenile females, 732 adult females and 1,226 males.
This year, conditions mean spearers are ‘doing really well’
Stadig said the polar vortex last month made a lot of “really great ice” and the water clarity was good on opening weekend.
While some fog made for difficult driving out onto the ice, DNR warden supervisor Lt. Ryan Propson said, overall conditions for spearing are “much better than what I’ve seen in a long time.”
And, according to DNR water management specialist Scott Koehnke, spearing conditions are ideal on the north side of Lake Winnebago because it’s the right habitat, the water is generally clearer and it’s abundant in red worms, sturgeons’ preferred food.
“This year, we’re doing really well,” he said. “Great weather. Lots of people, lots of fish [coming] in.” He said that this year, he’s noticed a lot of people venturing out to spear for the first time.
As for the spearers themselves, catching a sturgeon was “quite a rush,” according to Sheboygan resident John Juckum.
Menasha resident Robert Fritsch agreed, saying he had to “struggle a bit” to bring his 90-pound sturgeon up. While he’s gotten a few close to that size, he said, this year’s sturgeon, caught in Lake Poygan, was his personal best. As of 11 a.m. Feb. 14, the largest sturgeon weighed at the Winneconne station weighed in at nearly 150 pounds.
Wisconsinites young and old make a day of watching sturgeon spearing
Sturgeon spearing is a tradition that draws an excited crowd, even among those who aren’t out on the ice themselves.
While Shiocton residents Jay and Lynn Vander Wielen prefer to watch the sturgeon spawning in the springtime, they also enjoy watching the sturgeon catch as it’s brought in to the DNR weighing station at Critter’s Wolf River Sports in Winneconne.
Lynn said the appeal of sturgeon for her is that “they’re prehistoric, and they swim all the way into our little town.”
This year, warmer temperatures meant more spectators. At Waverly Beach Bar and Grille in Menasha, dozens of people sipped on Bloody Marys and Busch Lights as they lingered on the outside patio. Any lucky spearer that appeared with a sturgeon in tow was hailed with cheers and phones held out to get a picture of the catch.
Many of the observers were young children, who can’t go spearing themselves until they’re at least 12 years old. While some kids made a game of guessing the weight of each sturgeon and posed for photo ops next to the hanging sturgeon, others were more hesitant to come close, like 1-year-old Maddie from Greenville.
“She thinks [the sturgeon] are sharks,” said her mother Amanda Moyes.
Moyes said that she grew up watching sturgeon spearing in Wisconsin and gained a new appreciation for the tradition after she lived in Seattle. Now that she lives in the Fox Valley again, taking her daughter to watch the spearers is “really cool,” she said.
While the ice held up on opening day, warm temps may worsen conditions
Still, while temperatures in the 40s mean spearers and spectators are more comfortable, the mild weather is “going to eat our ice away” as it continues, said Propson.
The ice is currently between 20 and 26 inches thick, he said. But as the weekend progresses, with Appleton’s first February 50-degree day expected on Monday, the ice could start to crack and shift.
He urged people to bring inflatable life jackets and ice picks and check ice conditions with local fishing clubs before they venture onto the lakes. He warned that no ice was 100% safe. “Don’t get complacent,” he said.
Temperatures are expected to rise to highs between 45 and 55 degrees from Sunday to Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Green Bay.
Rebecca Loroff is an education reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. She welcomes story tips and feedback. Contact her at rloroff@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Sturgeon spearers find thick ice, clear water for opening day
Reporting by Rebecca Loroff, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
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