Sturgeon speared on Lake Winnebago near Pipe, February 14, 2023 . PC: Fox 11 Online
LAKE WINNEBAGO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — As sturgeon spearing season rolls on, many people are finding success.
But what is the health of the prehistoric fish?
“The sturgeon population still seems to be hovering at about 25,000 adult males and about 15,000 adult females. About 40,000 adult fish swimming around the system,” said Margaret Stadig, Wisconsin DNR sturgeon biologist.
Stadig says the population in the Lake Winnebago system is healthy, feeding on a variety of items like chironomid or lake fly larvae, also known as red worms.
“We’re actually seeing a really good batch of chironomids out on Lake Winnebago, particularly kind of in the middle of the lake and towards the north end. We haven’t seen chironomid levels like this in a long time,” she said.
Another food source is the boom-and-bust population of the tiny fish called gizzard shad.
“We monitor the gizzard shad population on our trawling survey throughout the summer, and gizzard shad populations this year are pretty much down, just like what we’ve seen the last couple of years. We haven’t seen any really big increases in our gizzard shad populations,” said Stadig.
And while the 2026 harvest caps are down slightly, Stadig says there are plenty of fish in the Lake Winnebago system.
“Not only are we seeing large fish, but we continue to see some of those smaller fish come out the the system, which again, is just a testament to the health. They’re not just big fish and they’re not just little fish. We’ve got a very nice healthy array of sizes coming out of the system, which again, is good. Kind of a litmus test on how healthy the system is,” she said.
The season continues and, in total, is scheduled to run 16 days or until the safe harvest caps are met.
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