Upriver Lakes Sturgeon Season Ends Saturday

Friday, Feb. 19, was the seventh day of the 2021 sturgeon spearing season. 108 fish were harvested Friday on the Winnebago System, with 88 speared on Lake Winnebago and 20 speared on the Upriver Lakes.

The Lake Winnebago harvest decreased slightly from Thursday. Of the 88 fish speared on Lake Winnebago Friday, 18 were juvenile females, 37 were adult females, and 33 were males. This brings the season harvest totals for Lake Winnebago to 163 juvenile females, 438 adult females, and 362 males. Officially the 50% mark was met for the system-wide and Lake Winnebago caps for adult females. That said, it is not expected the Lake Winnebago or system-wide caps will be triggered in the coming days. The Stockbridge Harbor station led the way on Lake Winnebago again today with 24 fish registered.

Friday’s Upriver Lakes harvest pushed season totals over the 90% trigger for male lake sturgeon. As a result, the Upriver Lakes season will close on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, at 1 p.m.

The Upriver Lakes season totals have increased to 42 juvenile females, 75 adult females, and 230 males. The Boom Bay registration station was the busiest station on the Upriver Lakes Friday, registering ten fish. The 347 sturgeon harvested so far on the Upriver Lakes has surpassed the 2014 total (341). Additionally, it is now the highest Upriver Lakes harvest since the lottery system began in 2007.    

Click here for the full day 7 harvest breakdown.

The largest fish harvested on the Winnebago System Friday was the 130.2 pound (73.1 inches) F2 female speared by Owen Tesson. Owen’s fish was the only sturgeon to triple digits at the registration scales Friday.

Impressively large males continue to be harvested this season, including the longest male on record speared Friday by Steve Marciniak. Steve’s 94.6 pound (73.0 inches) M2 was brought into the Oshkosh registration station. This incredible fish was previously tagged by Wisconsin DNR staff in the spring of 2002. At that time, it measured 62.1 inches.