Daily Update: 2020 Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Season

Daily Highlights

There were 50 lake sturgeon harvested from the Winnebago System today. Thirty six of those fish were harvested from Lake Winnebago and 14 from the Upriver Lakes. The registration stations on the east shore of Lake Winnebago continue to see the highest registration volume as 30 of the 36 fish were registered at either Jim and Linda’s or Stockbridge Harbor. The 14 fish harvested from the Upriver Lakes today is quite the uptick after yesterday’s harvest of just one fish.  A breakdown of today’s harvest is available through the following link:

Day 14 Harvest Report.pdf

The largest fish registered today was 109.0 pounds, 75.5 inches and registered at Payne’s Point by Eric Nygaard. Eric’s fish was the only sturgeon registered today that was over 100 pounds.  The largest fish registered on the Upriver Lakes today was 84.6 pounds, 69.6 inches and registered at Critter’s by Michael Paull. I’ve included photos of both fish in today’s report.

We will have 5 registration stations (Waverly Beach, Stockbridge Harbor, Jim and Linda’s, Wendt’s, and Payne’s Point) open on Lake Winnebago and 2 stations (Indian Point and Critter’s) open on the Upriver Lakes for the final weekend of the 2020 sturgeon spearing season.  The registration stations at Quinney, Jerry’s Bar, and Boom Bay will continue to be closed for the rest of the season.

Good luck to all of the spearers that will be out for the final two days of the 2020 season!

Today’s Vignette: “Lake Sturgeon Otolith Microchemistry Project”

One of the vignettes from last week discussed a collaborative research project between the Wisconsin DNR and the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. One of the project objectives was to evaluate different methodologies for estimating age and growth of lake sturgeon. To do this, we asked spearers to donate their sturgeon’s head. An additional research project benefited from those donations  by using information gathered from sturgeon otoliths (small bones located in the head of the fish). Jasmine Johnson is a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and she describes her research project and the use of otolith microchemistry in today’s vignette. Once again, we would like to thank all of the spearers who donated their sturgeon heads to these research projects over the past three seasons!  This important research would not have been possible without your support!

Otolith Microchemistry Research Brief_2020.pdf