Wednesday, April 11, 2012

2012 Lake Sturgeon Spawning Update Wednesday, April 11th

Sorry I didn't get a report out last evening - but yesterday (Tuesday 10 April 2012) was a very long, but very historic day in the Winnebago Lake Sturgeon Management Program. We not only captured and tagged the most sturgeon in one day (565 fish) since spawning assessment operations began in the early 1950s, but Ryan Koenig's and Kendall Kamke's crew (the crew of young guys) captured the largest sturgeon we have ever handled in any spawning assessment operation. After our two crews (the "Young Guys Crew", and my and Dan Folz's crew - the "Old Guys Crew") worked all day at the spawning site, Ryan Zernzach, one of our Fisheries Technicians, made one last dip with his net to capture the last fish of the day. He came up with a fish that will likely be the subject of folklore and song for decades - an 87.5 inch fish weighing approximately 240 pounds (the fish was partially spawned out and would have been about 30 pounds heavier had she still had all of her eggs). See the DNR photo with the "Young Guys Crew" and the record shattering fish below.

Largestlakesturgeon_shawano

WDNR note: “probably made first spawning run during WWI.”

No comments: