Sturgeon Spearing 2023 Pre-Season Run Down

Sturgeon Spearing season starts this Saturday and the Department Of Natural Resources have announced sturgeon caps for this year.

The season will last 16 days, until February 26th, or until any of the caps are met. This years caps are as follows.
For Lake Winnebago, 280 juvenile females, 714 adult females and 985 males.
And for upriver lakes Poygan and Butte des Mortes, 70 juvenile females, 79 adult females and 246 males.

If harvest caps are met early, a closure notice will be posted to the DNR’s Winnebago System sturgeon spearing webpage.

As far as season predictions go, the season length is usually dictated in part by water clarity. There is an average of 13.0 feet of water clarity around Lake Winnebago with generally clearer water on the eastern shores as well as farther from shores along the west side of the lake.

With better water clarity this year, The DNR is expecting to see a good harvest, though the warm weather could deteriorate ice conditions which may reduce spearing success.

Recorded low lake fly larvae/red worms densities this year may also impact sturgeon distribution around Lake Winnebago the DNR says.

This year’s registration stations have returned to their pre-pandemic locations. Some locations will continue to offer the drive-thru registration option.