Sturgeon Update – 2-11-14

Day 5 of the 2014 Sturgeon spearing season has come and gone with a total harvest of 152 fish. Overall, Tuesday’s harvest was much more spread out, but the south end stations of Jim and Linda’s (Pipe) and Wendt’s still produced the most fish.  There were 7 more fish harvested today that exceeded 100 pounds, with the largest fish of today being a 128.4 pound, 77.3 inch fish that was registered at Jim and Linda’s by Steven Lucus. Given the harvest Tuesday and the relation to the adult female harvest cap, it appears that Wednesday’s harvest will exceed the 90% trigger for adult females and Thursday will be the last day of the 2014 spearing season on Lake Winnebago. We are currently only 38 adult females away from the 90% trigger for the adult female harvest cap, and there were 73 adult females harvested Tuesday. So barring a 50% reduction in harvest of adult females in day 5, the 90% trigger should be reached Wednesday meaning the season would close on Thursday. You are urge you to make the appropriate arrangements to get out on the ice in the next couple of days if you want another chance to harvest a sturgeon this year