2/24/24 Sturgeon Report Day 14
24 February 2024 Sports
From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources:
In the photo: Former North Fond du Lac Police Chief Darren Pautsch is one of the lucky few to harvest a fish on Lake Winnebago today, spearing his first lake sturgeon, a 53.8-inch, 33.3-pound, F1 female. Congrats Darren!
Feb. 23, 2024 Harvest Update
To the delight of spearers, Friday was another that felt more like winter than spring. Alas, even with the cooler temperatures, there were very few fish registered.
On Lake Winnebago, only 6 fish were harvested (2 juvenile females, 2 adult females and 2 males). All of the harvest and spearer effort continued to be concentrated around the southern portion of the lake with 2 fish registered at the Pipe registration stations and 4 registered at the Southwest Winnebago station.
Once again, very few spearers ventured out onto the the Upriver Lakes, and no fish were harvested.
As we head into the final weekend in the 2024 Winnebago Sturgeon spearing season, the current harvest total stands at 394 fish for the entire system, including 65 juvenile females, 127 adult females and 202 males.
View the full details in today’s harvest report.
Due to the uncertainty created by unseasonably warm weather we experienced this year, many of the spearing shanties were left at home. Not to be deterred, spearers got creative in their efforts to safely get onto the ice, often doing so with less weight that usual. Many spearers resorted to using lighter pop-up shelters and workout mats to keep things dark within their shelters. Some spearers even purchased hand saws for cutting into the ice, forgoing the heavy chainsaws they’d typically use. This “new” approach reminded many of the more seasoned spearers of the days when hand saws were the only saws around!
As always, we want to remind all spearers to be safe when venturing out onto the ice for these last two days of the 2024 season.
For those heading out this weekend, the Poygan, Neenah, Stockbridge and Quinney registration stations will remain closed today. All other stations will remain open.
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