justnorth posted on January 26, 2007 00:33 :: 1542 Views
Spearers eager to participate in the 2007 lake sturgeon spearing seasons here are anxiously watching the thermometer and waiting for ice to form on the Winnebago System lakes so there will be enough ice for the season opener.
Separate but concurrent lake sturgeon spearing seasons are scheduled to start at 6:30 a.m. on Feb. 10 on Lake Winnebago, and on the three smaller lakes upstream, where nearly 500 spearers selected in a drawing last fall are set to participate – if ice conditions cooperate.
“Sturgeon spearing seasons have been held annually on Lake Winnebago since 1932 and we’ve never had a season without sufficient ice for spearers to pursue this unique tradition,” says Ron Bruch, senior sturgeon biologist for the Department of Natural Resources and a fisheries supervisor based in Oshkosh.
There have been numerous seasons where ice conditions did not allow travel by cars and trucks but there was at least sufficient ice for safe travel with all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles, he says.
“We think ice conditions will improve in time for the spearing season, and if the water is clear, spearers should have as good a chance as ever in seeing fish,” Bruch says. “People look forward to this every year and we depend on the harvest data to manage the fishery.”
Wisconsin’s century-old sturgeon management program and citizen commitment to the ancient species have enabled the Winnebago System to support the largest naturally produced lake sturgeon population that is the largest within the lake sturgeon’s native range. It’s currently estimated at 11,000 adult females and 25,000 adult males. Wisconsin also to offers North America’s largest winter spear fishery, with an annual average harvest of 1,400 fish and annual economic impact of more than $3 million dollars to the Winnebago region.
The population has been improving over the last 15 years as a result of a series of regulation changes designed to maintain harvest at a safe level and allow the number of large adult female fish to expand, following a period of serious overharvest in the early 1990s.
“We’ve worked hard with the Winnebago Citizens Sturgeon Advisory Committee over the years to build the sturgeon management program and are very pleased with its success,” Bruch says.
A video on sturgeon management in Wisconsin is available on the DNR Web site.
Upriver Lakes sturgeon drawing
New for the 2007 season is the drawing fishery on the three smaller lakes upstream of Lake Winnebago: Poygan, Butte des Mort, and Winnecone lakes. Previously, the Upriver Season occurred only once every five years but was open to anyone who wanted to participate in it and bought a license.
Concern over the excessive effort and harvest in 2000, when a record number of spearers harvested 2,169 sturgeon in a two-day season, led to the development and implementation of the Upriver Lakes sturgeon drawing fishery being initiated this year, Bruch says.
Nearly three thousand applicants entered the drawing, 500 were authorized to purchase an Upriver Lakes license, and 481 licenses were purchased by the sales deadline of Oct. 31, 2006, Bruch says.
“The Upriver Lakes sturgeon spearing drawing should provide an extremely high quality fishery for its participants, as typically the water is clear in the upper lakes and the odds of seeing one or more fish are often pretty good,” Bruch says.
The Upriver Lakes sturgeon drawing is the first application of a drawing to control a fishery in the state’s history. Tag levels were set to minimize the risk that safe harvest levels will be exceeded. The fishery on Lake Winnebago remains an open fishery with no limit to the number of tags sold.
The Lake Winnebago season is set to run from Feb. 10 through Feb. 25 unless spearers reach a pre-set harvest cap for Lake Winnebago, or unless a pre-set harvest cap for the entire Winnebago System is reached, which ever comes first.
The Upriver Lakes season is also scheduled to run through Feb. 25 unless spearers reach a pre-set harvest cap for the Upriver Lakes, or unless a pre-set harvest cap for the entire Winnebago system is reached.
More information on the season and the location of registration stations can be found in the 2007 Sturgeon Spearing Regulations (849 kb PDF), available on the DNR Web site or from DNR Service Centers and Lake Winnebago area license outlets.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Ron Bruch (920) 424-3059
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