POYNETTE, Wis. – The hook and line season for sturgeon opens Sept. 3 on several Wisconsin waters amid concerns from state fisheries managers that low water flows on river systems could result in high harvests of these slow growing fish.
Hook and line season regulations
The hook and line sturgeon season opens Sept. 3 with a 50-inch minimum length limit and a one-per-season bag on the Wisconsin River from the Wisconsin Dells Dam downstream, the St. Croix River downstream from the St. Croix Falls Dam, and specific segments of the Chippewa, Flambeau, Jump and Yellow rivers, and Yellow Lake in Rusk County and Butternut Lake in Price County. The season on these waters closes Oct. 15.
The hook and line season on the Menominee River also opens Sept. 3 with a 50-inch length limit and bag limit of one per season but closes Nov. 1.
To fish for lake sturgeon with hook and line, anglers must have a Wisconsin fishing license and obtain a free sturgeon tag from their local DNR Service Center or license agent. After catching a lake sturgeon of legal length, anglers wanting to keep the fish must immediately validate and attach the tag to the fish just in front of the sturgeon’s tail and register the fish at a designated registration station no later than 6 p.m. the day after it was caught.
It’s illegal to catch a sturgeon for someone else to tag or to even possess the tag of another person. Possession of an illegal or untagged sturgeon may result in a fine of up to $3,000, mandatory three year revocation of all DNR licenses and possibly a 90 day jail sentence. To report a violation contact your local warden, sheriff’s department or the poacher hot line number at 1-800-847-9367 or 1-800-TIP-WDNR.
Low water flows raise concern over increased harvest
Low water flows on the Wisconsin River and Menominee River and a history of heavy angling pressure are creating the potential for heavy total harvests, according to DNR fisheries officials. The prospect is spurring DNR biologists to encourage anglers to practice catch and release this year to help protect the sturgeon fisheries in these rivers.
“I’m very concerned about excessive harvest if flows remain low, because it appears that anglers are more successful when water levels are low,” says Tim Larson, DNR fisheries supervisor in Poynette. “Two years ago when we had extreme low flows on the Wisconsin River, the fish got hammered.”
A minimum length limit that alternates every year between 50 inches and 70 inches on the Wisconsin River and the Menominee River has reduced harvest of lake sturgeon on those waters by about 30 percent each. That’s important because the state does not have sturgeon population estimates for these large river systems, and because lake sturgeon are particularly vulnerable to overharvest, given that females don’t spawn until they’re 25 years old and then only once every four years.
But the alternating minimum length limit didn’t offer adequate protection in 2003 on the Wisconsin River, when water flows at their second lowest level in 63 years contributed to a record harvest of 72 fish. At the start of this season, stream flows are likely to be well below the average again.
Mike Donofrio, fisheries supervisor stationed in Peshtigo, also has concerns about the potential for heavy harvests on the Menominee, where fishing pressure has been increasing since the late 1980s.
The alternating year regulations have reduced the overall harvest because it’s resulted in an average harvest of zero in years with the minimum 70-inch length limit. But harvest during years with a 50-inch minimum length limit has grown every year and has risen from 80 fish in 1989 to 210 in 2003.
“Increasing fishing pressure since 1999 of 12 percent per year will likely induce another record harvest, estimated at 235, for the Menominee River,” Donofrio says.
The Menominee River’s sturgeon population is estimated to be about 30 percent of the estimated carrying capacity for the river system. The eight hydroelectric dams on the river keep the fish from migrating upstream from Green Bay into the tributaries for reproduction, Donofrio says. Most of the lake sturgeon harvest occurs within 500 feet of three hydroelectric dams on the river at White Rapids, Grand Rapids, and Menominee.
Reports from waters with hook and line sturgeon fisheries
Some of the fish biologists assigned to counties with rivers or lakes open for the hook and line season filed the following reports and reminders.
Chippewa River
The season is open on the West Fork downstream from Moose Lake Dam in Sawyer County and East Fork in Ashland County downstream to the confluence with the Mississippi River, including sloughs, bayous and flowages. Successful anglers will notice a change when they register their sturgeon this year. In addition to recording the traditional length and weight information, registration stations will also be scanning each harvested fish for PIT tags. PIT, or Passive Integrated Transponder tags, are about the size of a grain of rice and are similar to coded chips used for pet identification. PIT tags emit a unique electronic code that is detected by a PIT tag reader. DNR staff capture sturgeon, inject a tag just beneath the skin into the base of the fin, then immediately release the fish to the same waterbody. Tags found in harvested sturgeon provide valuable data on sturgeon growth, survival, and movement, which are essential to ensure that these long-lived and late-maturing populations can continue to sustain a harvestable surplus. PIT tagging equipment was purchased with federal funds through a grant from Wisconsin's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan. We encourage anglers to allow registration stations to collect fins and entrails, so DNR Fisheries staff can determine the age and gender of harvested sturgeon. – Jeff Scheirer, fisheries biologist, Park Falls
Flambeau River
Anglers are reminded that the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage and all of the upstream rivers that flow into the Flowage (including Benson, Vance and Sturgeon Lakes on the Manitowish River) are CLOSED to sturgeon angling. Sturgeon fishing is open below the Turtle-Flambeau Dam on the North Fork of the Flambeau River. There is a fishing refuge immediately below the Turtle Flambeau Flowage dam that prohibits all angling. Below the refuge, the North Fork of the Flambeau River is open to sturgeon fishing. - Jeff Roth, senior fisheries biologist, Mercer
Wisconsin River
We will have the registration stations scanning for PIT tags, similar to Chippewa River, for purpose of determining an exploitation rate. Registration stations will also be asking for gut donations to determine sex of harvest and PCB samples from harvested fish. Fish will get a working over at the registration stations this year! – Tim Larson, fisheries supervisor, Poynette
Lake Superior
The hook and line season for sturgeon on Lake Superior is open all year with a minimum length limit of 50 inches and a bag limit of one fish. We continue to catch good numbers of lake sturgeon in Chequamegon Bay in our spring assessment nets. Lake sturgeon do not spawn in Chequamegon Bay. However, they do appear to spend time in Chequamegon Bay in the years that they do not spawn. Since sturgeon have been tagged throughout Lake Superior, we have accumulated some interesting information. The last two years we have captured two different lake sturgeon that had been tagged in the Sturgeon River in Upper Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula (at least 150 miles away).– Mike Seider, fisheries biologist, Bayfield
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON A STATEWIDE BASIS CONTACT: Karl Scheidegger (608) 267-9426
WISCONSIN RIVER: Tim Larson (608) 635-8122; MENOMINEE RIVER: Mike Donofrio (715) 582-5050
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