What are the chances of drawing a sturgeon spearing tag? Some years back a couple friends of mine went over to try it and both speared fairly nice fish. They hired a guide and were on some smaller lakes not far upstream of Lake Winnebago. I have tried it here on Black Lake 4 or 4 times, but only saw one sturgeon about 3 feet long. At the time our minimum size had to be 50 inches. I haven't been since the length limit was removed a few years ago. Unfortunately, our spearing season is VERY short......with a total quota of 5 fish it doesn't take long to close the season........usually less than an hour!

J. Morse, you just buy a license. I believe it has to be purchased by Oct 20 each year. (The previous year)

Thanks CA, I was under the impression the tags were limited and you entered a drawing.

You can just purchase a tag for Lake Winnebago itself But for the upriver lakes where your friends most likely speared you do have to apply and its a draw. Up rivers lakes were limited to 500 tags this year. You do have to purchase a tag before Oct 31st to spear the next season.

It's taking around 7 or 8 years to draw that upriver lakes tag right now, but it has been steadily rising. Could be 10 points 10 years from now.

It's a $3 application due Aug 1, the general Lake Winnebago license is $20 available March 1 through Oct 31.

Can you even eat them? I figured they were gross like paddlefish.

Can't keep em where I live but long ago my Dad said they always smoked them and they were great

Thanks for the info folks!

Mark K, they are great eating. I got one some time back and had about half of it smoked, the rest I just fried. Good stuff. I enjoyed the paddlefish I caught as well.

I drew a tag for the upriver lakes this year with 8 points. Speared my fish in the first 20 minutes.



If you draw a tag and come over, you’ll have a blast! I cannot encourage you enough to come try it.

Is sturgeon fishing mostly a find the right spot and wait activity, or do you use lures like you would for pike and muskellunge to draw them in and hold them in place?

Keith

Nice fish WIMarshRAT! I'm one or two years from getting an upriver tag. I can't wait!

This is my 6th season on Winnebago and I saw my first fish today. Missed it, but still cool.

KeithC, it is very much a waiting game, but spearers use a wide variety of decoys to lure the curious fish in close. On the upriver lakes it's much shallower, 5-9 feet versus 12-20 feet on the big lake. This year water clarity is hot garbage because there's been no snow on the lake most of the winter and the algae have been just having a good old time. Many spots you can't see more than 3-4 feet so some folks use cameras, some use forward facing sonar, some use nothing but their eyeballs.

The fish I saw today we watched it come in on the livescope first then it swam in front of the camera. My buddy's father-in-law who was on another part of the lake said he saw 9 on the sonar but nothing right under his hole he could've thrown at.

Takes a little work to find a good pod of fish. Takes a little luck to get them to swim under the shack, although fish do seem to like some lines better than others. Like most things, ask yourself why?

The fish around me were up shallow in the morning feeding and then would push out deeper as it got later. I knew anyone that checked for fish after about 930 would all set up on one side of me. They did. But I also knew the spot was going to die later in the morning.

The fish I speared came to the middle of the hole, turned 90 and swam lengthwise in hole over to rub on the decoy.

Sounds like you are on them tlguy. Can’t wait to see your picture!

Excellent!

That must be a heck of a battle once ya get it speared.

Do you eat it?

What's that cylindrical cage behind you on the ice?

I saw on the news where an 87 year old guy got one.
I'm surprised no one accidentally falls in a hole.

I didn't realize it's high tech with attractants, even decoys..and sonar. I think my neck would get sore from looking down that long.

With all the arguing and hate that some have/had for the use of cameras, there has to be some pretty heated discussions at the watering holes nightly when groups chat about the use of forward-facing sonar when spearing.

WS

180#
Lake Winnebago

nice guys ,

AJE, no fight at all. Stone dead from the spear. Didn’t even twitch.

I have a few friends that love eating them so they smoked it. I eat it, but I still prefer smoked catfish.

I think those metal things are garbage can holders that were at the bar/registration station.

A good chair makes all the difference. It happened so fast for me, I never sat down.

I stopped in to visit my 99 year old great aunt at the nursing home to show her a picture and give her a piece of smoked sturgeon. Watching her light up talking about the time she speared one was special.

That 180 lb fish was a giant. They are getting a fair amount of large fish this year.

What kind of sturgeon are they?
Definitely not white,,,,or green….

Lake Sturgeon

Justin, I think I'm going to add it to a bucket list item.

Do you know anyone who could help me out??????

AJE it's a trash can without the bag