Thursday, February 16, 2017

Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Enthusiasts (Day 6 - February 16):

Alexis Kruger 125.3 pounds 75.5 inches_Quinney
Day 6 of the 2017 sturgeon spearing season included the harvest of 44 fish (28 from Lake Winnebago and 16 from the Upriver Lakes). Stockbridge Harbor remained the busiest station with 11 fish registered, followed by Cal Harbor (6), Payne’s Point (4) and Wendt’s (4).  Registration numbers picked up at Boom Bay today with 8 fish registered there.  An additional 6 fish were registered at Critters and 2 at Indian Point on the Upriver Lakes.   

The biggest fish harvested today was registered at Quinney by Alexis Kruger of Chilton. A photo of Alexis’s 125.33 pound, 75.5 inch fish is attached to the report.  There were two other fish larger than 100 pounds registered today, one at Calumet Harbor and the other at Boom Bay. 

Sturgeon Vignette – Lake Sturgeon Age and Growth Project

I've attached a low resolution PDF copy of the vignette. 

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Ryan Koenigs
Senior Fisheries Biologist / Winnebago System Sturgeon Biologist
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Enthusiasts (Day 5): February 15, 2017

Today marks the conclusion of the 5th day of the 2017 sturgeon spear fishery on the Winnebago System.  There were 32 fish harvested from Lake Winnebago and 18 from the Upriver Lakes today.  We are currently at 67% of both the adult female and male harvest caps and would need a harvest of either 22 adult females or 54 males to reach the 90% trigger that would close the fishery the next day.  With the decrease in harvest each day, I am expecting the Upriver Lakes fishery to go well into this weekend.  

Five more fish 100 pounds or larger were harvested today, all of which were from the Upriver Lakes. After the first 5 days of the fishery 7.9% of the Lake Winnebago harvest have been fish 100 pounds or larger, compared to 2.7% of the Upriver Lakes harvest.  The largest fish harvested today was registered at Quinney by Daniel Reindl of New London (118.2 pounds and 75.2”).  I don’t have a photo of Daniel’s fish, but we did get a picture of Jonathan Schneider’s 115.2 pound, 68.5” sturgeon that was registered at Payne’s Point (photo attached).  

Sturgeon Vignette – “The 1957 Sturgeon Spearing Season”

I often talk about the cultural and social aspects of sturgeon spearing. Modern sturgeon spearing seasons date back to the winter of 1931-1932, with much of the equipment used being handmade and handed down through the generations. This spearing season I plan to chronicle some of the past sturgeon spearing seasons, at least one’s that I have records from.  I will start with years ending in “7” and move on to the next digit with each passing season.  The archives of past sturgeon spearing seasons are pretty variable in content, but today I want to take a few minutes to describe the 1957 season (60 years ago). 

I have attached a few documents from the folder from 1957 (season synopsis, news release prior to season, sturgeon registration guide that was provided to the registration stations, and the length frequency from the 1957 harvest). It’s amazing reading through these documents how little some of the regulations regarding sturgeon spearing have changed in 60+ years.  Of course the harvest cap system, shortened spearing days, URL lottery, and many other regulations have been more recently implemented but some of the basic requirements have not changed. 

It’s interesting to read through these historic documents and realize that sturgeon biologists have always collected a tremendous amount of data from harvested fish. For example, the registration guide talks about collection of fin bones for age estimation.  To this date, we continue to collect fin bones for age estimation.  However, this season we are making a big push to collect sturgeon heads for an age and growth study.  That’s the nature of science though, we are always looking for improvements in the way we do things and that will never change.

It’s also interesting to read the information about the $10 reward for tagged sturgeon. Through time there have been a number of reward programs for not only sturgeon tag returns, but also other species.  At one point, breweries were even involved in the program to provide added incentive to anglers.  I hope you enjoy the information about the 1957 season. 

I enjoyed reading through the documents and learning more about the 1957 season.  Further, I look forward to chronicling other past spearing seasons as the 2017 continues on! 


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Ryan Koenigs
Senior Fisheries Biologist / Winnebago System Sturgeon Biologist
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Enthusiasts (Day 4):

John Leroy 149.4 pounds 77.1 inches
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone out there! We are now ¼ of the way through the 2017 sturgeon spearing season, and harvest numbers continue to drop with each passing day.  A total of 70 fish were registered today with 46 coming from Lake Winnebago and 24 from the Upriver Lakes.  After today’s harvest from the Upriver Lakes, we have now reached 60.0% of the adult female harvest cap and 63.4% of the male cap.  A harvest of either 29 adult females or 63 males is still needed to reach the 90% trigger and force an early season closure.

Today’s harvest included 5 more fish weighing 100+ pounds, including 2 fish larger than 140 points registered at Jerry’s Bar. John Leroy’s 149.4 pound (77.1”) fish was the heaviest fish of the day, but there was a 81.6” fish (144.8 pounds) also registered at Jerry’s Bar that was longer.  John honored the Valentine’s Day holiday by kissing his fish in the attached photo.  As a side story, I was fortunate to harvest one fish in my spearing career and that fish was harvested on Valentine’s Day 2010.  Although my fish was not near the size of John’s, I still have fond spearing memories of this date.

There has been a lot of discussion about the mild weather we have had during the first 4 days of the spearing season. Further, there is concern about the weather forecast starting this upcoming weekend.  The sturgeon spearing season will NOT be closed early due to weather, but we want to make sure that spearers are aware of the warm temperatures (upper 40s) forecasted for later in this week and into this weekend.  I strongly recommend that spearers stay up to date on ice and landing conditions in the areas that they plan to travel.  Also, stay in touch with local fishing clubs and conservation groups maintaining access points and roadways as some of the local fishing clubs may choose to pull their bridges if conditions worsen.  Also, make sure that you properly mark your sturgeon hole with wood lathe cut into the ice any time you move your shack from that location.  Unmarked abandoned holes pose serious safety concerns for people travelling on the lake and placing the lathe in a snow bank is not sufficient to mark holes. 

Good luck to all spearers venturing out on Wednesday! More to come in later reports.    


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Ryan Koenigs
Senior Fisheries Biologist / Winnebago System Sturgeon Biologist
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources



Monday, February 13, 2017

Winnebago System Sturgeon Enthusiasts:(Day 3)

February 13, 2017

Scott Lehl 72.5 inch 140.6 pounds
There were 98 sturgeon harvested on the Winnebago System today including 66 from Lake Winnebago and 32 from the Upriver Lakes (attached table). Today’s harvest included the largest fish of the season to date, both in length and weight.  Gerald Peterson’s 154.9 pound (83.4”) female just beat out Sandra Schumacher’s 154.7 pound fish from opening day.  Congratulations to Gerald on an impressive fish (photo included)!  A second 140+ pound fish (140.6 pounds, 72.5”) was registered at Payne’s Point today by Scott Lehl. Scott and Gerald’s fish bring the season total to 6 fish that have been harvested at 140+ pounds during this season.

In addition to registering 98 fish today, our crew was busy analyzing gut contents of ~80 fish harvested over the weekend. The results have not been entered and summarized yet, but it’s clear that most fish in the system are focusing in on gizzard shad as their primary food source. I will be sure to get a report out on the diet work later in the week, but our primary objective now is removing otoliths from all of the sturgeon heads that have been donated to date.  

Good luck to folks heading out on the ice tomorrow!  

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Ryan Koenigs
Senior Fisheries Biologist / Winnebago System Sturgeon Biologist
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Enthusiasts (Day 2):

Day 2 of the 2017 sturgeon spearing season on the Winnebago System is in the books with a harvest of 115 fish from Lake Winnebago and 60 fish from the Upriver Lakes. That brings the season totals to 313 from Lake Winnebago and 183 from the Upriver Lakes.  We are currently at 19.0% of the adult female harvest cap meaning the season will go the full 16 days.  On the Upriver Lakes we have reached 50.6% of the male harvest cap and 42.1% of the adult female harvest cap.  Therefore, there is a strong chance that the season will go into next weekend. 

Michael+Larson_78.9+inch_140.6+pounds
Stockbridge Harbor once again lead the way today with 37 fish harvested, followed by Payne’s Point (24), Quinney (21), and Calumet Harbor (14). Our Critter’s station continues to dominate the upriver lakes registration numbers with 43 of the 60 fish harvested on the Upriver Lakes today being registered at that station (harvest break down table attached).

The big fish trend continued today with 8 fish larger than 100 pounds being harvested from Lake Winnebago. Today’s biggest fish was 140.6 pounds, 78.9” and registered by Michael Larson from Seymour (photo attached).  Through the first 2 days of the season there have been 23 fish 100 pounds or larger harvested from Lake Winnebago (7.3% of harvest) and 4 from the Upriver Lakes (2.2%).  

I want to thank all of the spearers who have donated their sturgeon heads thus far. As I write this report there are a number of my colleagues and volunteers working to remove otoliths from sturgeon heads that were dropped off at our stations today.  It looks like we will have a pretty good sample of aging structures to work with.  I have included a photo of a pair of otoliths (2 white structures)that were removed from one of the sturgeon heads collected today. 

Until my report tomorrow, good luck to those spearers venturing out on Monday!

We are committed to service excellence.
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Ryan Koenigs
Senior Fisheries Biologist / Winnebago System Sturgeon Biologist

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Enthusiasts:

The opening day of the 2017 sturgeon spearing season is in the books. Overall, I have to say things are off to a good start.  The highlight of today is the size of some of the fish harvested.  Of the 198 fish harvested from Lake Winnebago, 15 were 100 pounds or larger (7.6%).  There were 3 fish larger than 140 pounds harvested today: 1) Sandra Schumacher’s 154.7 pound, 78.5” fish registered at Stockbridge (photo attached), 2) Mason Krueger’s 145.6 pound, 73.2 pound fish registered at Jerry’s Bar (photo attached) and 3) Craig Kelliher’s 140.5 pound, 76.0” fish registered at Wendt’s.  Sandra’s fish is the largest fish harvested since the 2014 season.  Three of the 123 fish (2.4%) harvested from the Upriver Lakes were 100 pounds or larger today.  

Earlier this week I reported that the best water clarity was along the east and north shores of Lake Winnebago and that showed in harvest numbers by registration station (harvest table attached). Stockbridge Harbor paced the way with 59 fish registered on opening day, followed by Payne’s Point (37), Quinney (30), and Wendt’s (28).  Critter’s received the majority of the fish registered on the Upriver Lakes with the other stations of Indian Point and Boom Bay registering far fewer fish. 

Today’s opening day harvest of 198 fish on Lake Winnebago ranks 11th of 16 seasons since shortened spearing hours were implemented in 2002.  With today’s harvest we currently are at 12.5% of the adult female harvest cap on Lake Winnebago.  Each of the 5 previous seasons with lower opening day harvests went the full 16-days.  So at this point I am bracing for the long season that likely will go 16 days.  The harvest of 123 fish from the Upriver Lakes ranks 10th of the 11 seasons since the lottery fishery was implemented in 2007.  We are currently at 31.6% of the adult female harvest cap and 32.8% of the male cap on the Upriver Lakes. Thus, we are expecting this season to at least go into mid-week but likely longer.

Year
LW Harvest
Water Clarity (ft)
LW Shanty Count
2017
198
9.5
5074
2016
84
9
3831
2015
468
12
4436
2014
636
15
4046
2013
41
8
2724
2012
39
10
2197
2011
283
13
4321
2010
515
16
4033
2009
389
14
5958
2008
635
18
3171
2007
195
10
4411
2006
39
6
3434
2005
215
16
2604
2004
1310
15
4751
2003
248
7.5
4150
2002
228
7.5
4368

Year
URL Harvest
2017
123
2016
151
2015
126
2014
242
2013
140
2012
171
2011
159
2010
141
2009
117
2008
169
2007
168

We collected sturgeon stomachs from more than 50 fish today and will be collecting more tomorrow. I plan to go through the stomachs on Monday, with report to follow during the week, but it’s very apparent that sturgeon are heavily predating on gizzard shad this year.  This is not a surprise at all given the large shad hatch that we observed this year during our fall bottom trawl surveys. Overall, I think today was pretty successful.  Harvest numbers were not real high, but 321 spearers were still able to tag out.  Further, another season has commenced, offering spearers opportunities to reunite with friends and family while renewing traditions and expanding on the social culture of sturgeon spearing. 

Friday, February 3, 2017

26th Annual "FREE" Ice Fishing Clinics for Kids

Sponsored by: The Wisconsin Council of Sport Fishing Organizations, Hunger Task Force Fish Hatchery, the Waukesha  and Milwaukee County Parks and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.