Published: Feb. 10, 2016
Concern looms for sturgeon spearing season
Water clarity may be the worst in 10 years
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
Area fishing enthusiasts are holding their breath as
spearers get ready for the 2016 sturgeon spearing season — a one-of-a-kind
tradition, which opens Saturday on Lake Winnebago in Fond du Lac, Winnebago and
Calumet counties.
“There’s a lot of discussion, but a little different than
the last two years,” said Ryan Koenigs, DNR senior fisheries biologist
stationed in Oshkosh. “We had better conditions. There was more excitement.
“This year, there’s similar buzz, but it’s a little
different. They’re questioning water clarity and conditions, and what it means
for this year’s season.”
In the 2014 and 2015 seasons, water clarity was the best it
had been in a tradition that goes back to the early 1930s. Last year’s harvest
of sturgeon was the sixth-best all time and the largest since the harvest cap
system was established in 1999. In 2014, it was the 10th-best all time.
“Water clarity is the biggest predictor of spearing
success,” Koenigs said.
In those two seasons, water clarity was at 12-15 feet.
Koenigs said when he and his crew tested the water two weeks ago, the clarity
was at 4-7 feet.
Dale Jenkins, who works at an ice shanty rental business on
the east shore of Lake Winnebago, said clarity is at about 7 feet.
The lake is 21 feet at its deepest, but about 15 feet, three
miles off shore. Sturgeon are bottom-dwelling fish so the better the water
clarity, the easier it is to see the fish as they swim by the fishing hole.
Koenigs said the population for sturgeon is strong, which is
why the harvest cap was raised for a second straight year.
“Things are going very well with our population,” he said,
adding the rise in harvest cap is “a strong sign of a healthy population.”
The challenge will be to catch the fish. The mild winter has
offset the lake’s transformation of mud sliding into the lake from the shore
and the water freezing over compared to 2014 and 2015.
Also of concern is the ice depth.
Shawn Wendt, who maintains an ice shanty rental shop on the
west shore — West Shore Fishing Club — said he had to cancel the rentals for
this weekend because of concern the ice was not deep enough.
“It is getting better,” Wendt said. “We have some spots that
only had 11 inches on it, now they’re 12 1/2.
“Our bylaws say that we need everywhere to be at least a
foot. If we get this cold snap, it should help us.”
Temperatures are predicted to be well below freezing for the
next few days, which should help.
Wendt cautioned spearers to “use their heads” before going
out onto the lake. It’s recommended those with reservations with shanty shops
should double check to make sure their reservations are still being honored.
Wendt said he urged those who made reservations to wait a
few days after the opening day to let conditions of ice depth and water clarity
improve.
Because of the mild winter, it is also anticipated the
season will go the full 16 days.
Rules state that the lake sturgeon spearing season ends when
either after 16 days or when the harvest cap is meet, whichever comes first.
In 2014, the season was six days. In 2015, it was eight
days. The season has gone all 16 days in five of the last 10 years. In 2012 and
2013, the water clarity was 8-10 feet and the season lasted 16 days.
“It might be the worse water clarity since 2006,” Koenigs
said.
The 2006 season ranks as the 10th-worst all time with only
225 fish harvested from Lake Winnebago.
But Koenigs also believes no matter the conditions, it won’t
scare away spearers who are looking to score the big fish.
In 2014, 106 fish were caught in the Lake Winnebago chain
that weighed more than 100 pounds.
The sturgeon spearing season is arguably as popular, if not
more popular, than the gun deer opener in November. The reason? It’s unique.
Koenigs said he is aware of only one other area that has
sturgeon spearing season: Black Lake in Minnesota. The harvest there, however,
is nowhere near what Lake Winnebago offers.
“We have one of the strongest sturgeon populations,” Koenigs
said. “This is a very unique opportunity.”
Started in the winter of 1931-32, sturgeon spearing, like
deer hunting, is a family, community tradition. Crowds gather at the
registration stations to see the size of the fish someone brings in.
In the 1960s and 1970s, poaching was a problem. People
illegally harvested these unique fish, specifically during spawning time or
mating season — when the fish are most vulnerable. The poachers sold the meat
on the black market. Soon after, Sturgeon for Tomorrow, a preservation group
for sturgeon, was formed.
Dale and John Jenkins are heavily involved in that effort,
as was their late father.
“We probably wouldn’t be sturgeon fishing as it is now,”
John said. “We would’ve been so depleted.”
The DNR also stepped in and put limits on harvests. At one
time, people could buy a tag for 25 cents, catch a sturgeon, buy another tag
for 25 cents and go back on the lake.
Now, it’s one sturgeon per license and the population is
heavily monitored with required registration at stations throughout the lake
region.
“Regulation of over harvest, legal and illegal, has helped
protect the fish,” Koenigs said.
But what makes sturgeon spearing popular? The social aspect.
“There’s more to the sport than looking down the hole and
spearing the fish,” Koenigs said. “I don’t think the draw is actually getting
the fish. The tradition, the culture, the social aspect is what makes it
important to a lot people in the area.”
It’s why Dale and John Jenkins do it. It’s why Wendt does
it.
“We’ve been doing this our whole lives,” Dale said.
“It’s not like deer hunting,” Wendt said. “It’s more
exciting. You’re with your whole family and friends.”
It’s a tradition unlike any other.
“It’s one of a kind,” Wendt said. “It’s the one spot in the
world where you can do something like this.”
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