Thick ice, clear water and a mild, sunny day meant a jubilant opening to sturgeon spearing season Feb. 14.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources sturgeon biologist Margaret Stadig said that, after two years of less-than-ideal conditions, «you can definitely tell people are really itching to get back. »
«It really made my heart sing to know that it’s going to be one of those normal seasons,» she added.
Starting every second weekend in February, Wisconsinites gather on the ice at Lake Winnebago, Lake Poygan, Lake Winneconne and Lake Butte des Morts, put up a shanty, cut a hole in the ice and watch and wait for a sturgeon to swim by. But they don’t use lines and hooks – they use spears, a method the Menominee people first used to catch lake sturgeon.
Every time a fish is harvested, the spearer takes it to a weighing station, where volunteers and workers for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources weigh and measure the sturgeon, determine its sex, check for the tag and count the sturgeon against a sex-specific harvest cap. The spearing season lasts 16 days or until one of the caps have been reached. This year, the caps across the Lake Winnebago system are 350 juvenile females, 732 adult females and 1,226 males.
This year, conditions mean spearers are ‘doing really well’
Stadig said the polar vortex last month made a lot of «really great ice» and the water clarity was good on opening weekend.
While some fog made for difficult driving out onto the ice, DNR warden supervisor Lt. Ryan Propson said, overall conditions for spearing are «much better than what I’ve seen in a long time.»
And, according to DNR water management specialist Scott Koehnke, spearing conditions are ideal on the north side of Lake Winnebago because it’s the right habitat, the water is generally clearer and it’s abundant in red worms, sturgeons’ preferred food.
Oshkosh Fisheries technician Tom Schlavensky, second from left, checks the sex of a sturgeon at the start of the 2026 sturgeon spearing season on Lake Winnebago Saturday, February 14, 2026, in the parking lot of the Stockbridge Harbor Bar in Stockbridge, Wisconsin. The sturgeon are checked for weighed, checked for tags, measured and checked for sex.
Oshkosh Fisheries technician Tom Schlavensky, second from left, checks the sex of a sturgeon at the start of the 2026 sturgeon spearing season on Lake Winnebago Saturday, February 14, 2026, in the parking lot of the Stockbridge Harbor Bar in Stockbridge, Wisconsin. The sturgeon are checked for weighed, checked for tags, measured and checked for sex.
«This year, we’re doing really well,» he said. «Great weather. Lots of people, lots of fish [coming] in.» He said that this year, he’s noticed a lot of people venturing out to spear for the first time.
As for the spearers themselves, catching a sturgeon was «quite a rush,» according to Sheboygan resident John Juckum.
Menasha resident Robert Fritsch agreed, saying he had to «struggle a bit» to bring his 90-pound sturgeon up. While he’s gotten a few close to that size, he said, this year’s sturgeon, caught in Lake Poygan, was his personal best. As of 11 a.m. Feb. 14, the largest sturgeon weighed at the Winneconne station weighed in at nearly 150 pounds.