OSHKOSH – Sturgeon spearers have until Aug. 1 to apply for the 2010 Upriver Lakes sturgeon spearing drawing. Applications can be made through the Online Services link of the Department of Natural Resources Web site or can be purchased at any Department of Natural Resources license vendor.Participation in the Upriver Lakes sturgeon spearing season -- on Lakes Butte des Morts, Winneconne and Poygan -- is limited to 500 people, with participants drawn through a drawing. Those people selected in the drawing will be notified by Sept. 1 that they are authorized to buy a license to participate in the Upriver Lakes season and must buy that tag by Oct. 31, 2009.
Spearers who applied for but are not authorized to purchase an Upriver Lakes license receive a preference point toward the next year’s drawing, and can still purchase a license to participate in the Lake Winnebago spearing season that runs at the same time. Licenses for the Winnebago season must be purchased by Oct. 31, 2009, as well.
In 2009, 4,031 people applied for the Upriver Lakes drawing, and the DNR sold 10,239 licenses for spearing on both Winnebago and Upriver lakes. The 2009 season ran five days on the Upriver lakes, and the Winnebago system season was open three additional days.
The growing popularity of the two seasons – there’s been a 20 percent increase in spearing licenses in recent years -- and recent research work showing that lake sturgeon mature more slowly than originally thought underscore the importance of using a drawing to manage the harvest on the Upriver Lakes, according to Ron Bruch, senior sturgeon biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“The Upriver Lakes have had exceptionally high success rates: two of every three spearers get their fish compared to Lake Winnebago, where only one of eight get their fish;” Bruch says.
Plus, the fish found in the Upriver Lakes in the winter when the spearing seasons occur are a mix of adult migrants from Lake Winnebago staging in the Upriver Lakes before completing their run upstream in spring to spawn, and juvenile fish that are not mature yet. These juvenile fish may measure 36 inches or more, making them large enough to be legally harvested.
Research that Bruch and his Lake Winnebago based fisheries crews have been conducting is showing that it takes even longer than originally believed for lake sturgeon to fully mature. “We found that both male and female lake sturgeon experience a long protracted period of maturation.”
Females begin to mature at 48 inches -- about age 21 – and halfway through the maturing process at 55 inches or about age 27. All females are finally fully mature at 60 inches, about age 33. Male lake sturgeon first begin to mature at around 40 inches --about age 14. The fish are half way through the maturing process at 47 inches, or about age 20, and 100 percent mature when they are 56 inches or about age 30.
“The bottom line to all of this is it takes a long time for lake sturgeon to mature; and then all of the fish of specific age class won't be mature for another 11 to 16 years - all the more reason to manage harvest of this species very carefully,” Bruch says.
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