2/10/25 Sturgeon Report Day 2
10 February 2025 Sports
From the Wisconsin DNR:
Reports from spearers indicate that Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes are experiencing a shift in water clarity. Areas with clear water Saturday were murkier Sunday, even with the sun shining through the ice.
Despite the less-than-ideal conditions, spearers overcame the adversity and were successful. Sunday, 121 lake sturgeon were speared throughout the system, including 25 juvenile females, 34 adult females and 62 males.
There were 3,340 shanties counted on Lake Winnebago this weekend. Most of the shanties were located off the west central portion of Lake Winnebago near the Oshkosh area. This observation is reflected in the number of fish registered at the Downtown Oshkosh and Neenah registration stations, with 19 each. These stations continue to register the highest number of harvests for Lake Winnebago.
The Southwest Winnebago registration station continues to have the most fish weighing over 100 pounds, with five for the season thus far. A total of 74 lake sturgeon were harvested on Lake Winnebago, with 30 males, 30 adult females and 14 juvenile females. Based on reports, finding those clear pockets of water is a spearer’s best bet at success.
Access issues continue to plague the Upriver lakes, with lower-than-normal harvest for an opening weekend. Still, that doesn’t mean all spearers had issues. A total of 47 sturgeon were speared on the Upriver Lakes today, with 32 males, 4 adult females and 11 juvenile females. This brings the total fish harvested in the Upriver Lakes thus far this season to 97 males, 17 adult females and 20 juvenile females.
View the full details in today’s harvest report.
It is still always a good day when the traditions of spearing are passed from generation to generation. Today, 12-year-old Kolby Worth (pictured) successfully speared their first fish on the Upriver Lakes with a 21.1 lbs., 47.5 inch male lake sturgeon. 16-year-old Jake Reitzke also speared his first fish today on Lake Winnebago, an 81.2-pound, 63.3-inch fish. Congratulations to you both – we hope to see you successfully registering fish for years to come.
Lake Winnebago continues to prove that there are a significant number of large fish in this system. After the large fish yesterday, another large individual came in today. Joseph Miller (pictured top) successfully speared a 161.9-pound, 81.9-inch female lake sturgeon. The most surprising thing is that this fish wasn’t even an F4 female full of eggs. This fish was still about a year away from spawning and could have likely weighed an additional 40-50 pounds next year. Fish like this remarkable specimen are a testament to how healthy this ecosystem is to support a fish this size.
Overall, it was a good opening weekend, with a good number of fish coming in. With the new snow, we are hopeful that we will see better water clarity this week. Congrats to all who were successful over the weekend, and good luck to those who are continuing to take to the ice this week.
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