Daily Update: 2020 Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Season

Daily Recap and Highlights

Day 5 of the 2020 sturgeon spearing season on the Winnebago System is now complete. Harvest on Lake Winnebago picked up today with 24 fish registered. Jim and Linda’s registration station continues to lead the way in registration numbers as more than half of the fish speared on the big lake today were registered at that location. Waverly Beach was the 2nd busiest registration station today with 7 fish brought in. There were 14 fish harvested from the Upriver Lakes today, 12 of which came in to Critter’s station and 2 at Indian Point. A breakdown of this season’s registration numbers by station can be viewed through the following link:

Day 5 Harvest Report.pdf

Two fish registered today tipped the scales at over  100 pounds.  Diana Sanders had the biggest fish of the day, taken from the upriver lakes, when she registered her 111.5 pound, 72.8 inch lake sturgeon at Critter’s. Scott Schafer’s 102.5 pound, 72.8″ sturgeon was second largest today and came out of Lake Winnebago. I’ve included photos of both fish in the right hand margin.

There’s some very cold weather coming and I’ll be curious to see how the weather will impact spearer effort and harvest numbers heading into the weekend. Good luck to all of the spearers who will be going out over the next few days!

Scott Schafer registerd this 102.5 pound, 72.8 inch lake sturgeon at Stockbridge Harbor on 2/12/2020!

Today’s Vignette: What does the “average” spearer look like?

Most sturgeon spearing aficionados are aware that sturgeon spearing is a local tradition that is passed down from generation to generation. For today’s vignette, we ask the question of what does the average spearer look like? To answer this question I’ve looked into various demographics of our sturgeon spearing license holders including: gender, age distribution, mean age, and residence (both state and county). I’ve also compared demographic characteristics from the 2020 license holders to seasons 5, 10 and 15 years ago to see if any trends have developed through those years. Overall, the demographics of our license holders has changed very little over this time period. Some general observations include:

• Sturgeon spearing license holders are primarily male (86% in 2020), but female license holders are on the rise!
• Non-residents make up less than 3% of license holders. Michigan and Minnesota residents purchase the most non-resident spearing licenses.
• Sturgeon spearers are primarily residents from counties around the Winnebago System. 69% of spearing licenses are sold to residents of Calumet, Fond du Lac, Outagamie, or Winnebago Counties.
• The average age of sturgeon spearers has increased through time from 43.7 years in 2005 to 48.1 years in 2020.

Figures displaying how spearer demographics from the 2020 sturgeon spearing license holders compare to 5, 10 and 15 years ago can be viewed through the following link:

2005-2020 Spearer Demographics.pdf