Rick Steffen baits his line while ice fishing on Lake Winnebago in 2011. Anglers hope the recent cold temperatures are enough to get area lakes ready for the February sturgeon season. / Gannett Wisconsin Media
On the Web
To check ice conditions on Lake Winnebago and the
surrounding system, visit these sites:
» wisconsinoutdoorfun.com
» lake-link.com
» mrbluegill.com
About lake sturgeon
In February, lake sturgeon can be speared through the ice on Lake Winnebago and the upriver lakes of Poygan, Winneconne and Butte des Morts. Spears with wood or metal handles 6 to 9 feet long with three to eight barbed tines are used to catch the sturgeon through holes cut 3 feet wide by 5 feet long. The handle, attached to a long line, detaches when a fish is speared.
Sturgeon meat is firm and coarse, but can be delicious when baked, smoked, boiled, dried, fried, pickled or barbecued.
Sturgeon eggs, freed from ovarian membranes and pickled in brine, become the delicacy caviar.
Appleton resident Ron Grishaber set the new Winnebago and state record for his sturgeon speared on opening day in 2010. It weighed 212.2 pounds and was 84.2 inches long with a girth of 42.8 inches.
Source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
More
Ice fishermen and sturgeon spearers hope the week's bitter snap was just the beginning of enough cold weather to get Lake Winnebago ready for the February spearing season.
With three weeks to go until the spearing season opens, protected bays on the 130,000-acre Lake Winnebago were the only slices of hard water getting much fishing action.
"Checking this week, there was anywhere from 4 to 7 inches on parts of Winnebago," said Darryl Lehman of Oshkosh, president of the Paynes Point Hook & Spear Fishing Club.
More on sturgeon season: More headlines and photos | Share your sturgeon photos | Watch cameras on the Wolf River
Lehman worried the ice would fall short of the 12 inches needed to park cars during the club's fisheree that coincides with opening weekend of sturgeon spearing Feb. 10 to 12.
If the cold weather holds, Lehman said spearers should at least be able to take vehicles in the bays of the lake and travel by all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles.
"You'll see a lot more people spearing in the bays this year," Lehman said. "There will be a little more challenge to get on the lake, but we'll find a way."
Uncooperative ice conditions have been standing between spearers and a successful season. As recently as Monday, the lake still had vast portions of open water.
On Thursday, a massive shift in the ice created a gash that ran from Oshkosh to Neenah.
"She opened up 300 yards to a half-mile wide," said one commenter on the fishing site lake-link.com.
Troy Peterson, marketing director at outdoor outfitter The Reel Shot in Oshkosh, monitors satellite imagery from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration daily, along with hand-measured reports.
"With the strong winds we had this week, what little ice we had busted loose and shifted to the northeast," Peterson said. "The north end of Lake Winnebago is where the majority of the issues are. From Oshkosh south we found good ice, and the east shore near Pipe had 8 inches to a foot."
No matter the ice conditions in three weeks, the scheduled spearing season will go on, said Ron Bruch, sturgeon biologist for the state Department of Natural Resources.
"It's up to the people to be able to find areas they can go spear," Bruch said. "Even with less ice to work with, 4,000 shanties will still have plenty of room."
In the final weeks before the season starts, serious spearers will be busy scouting locations, Bruch said.
Spearers and local fishing clubs will check ice with picks and ice augers by testing every few feet.
Others will use sampling devices to check the concentration of red worms, the fly larvae that sturgeon eat on the lake's floor.
"You'll start to see scout shacks out," Bruch said. "They can't drill a big spearing hole yet, but some people drill a 'Swiss cheese hole' with 15 regular holes close to each other and watch for fish."
If and when the ice hits a solid 11 inches, fishing clubs will place bridges over cracks for vehicle travel.
Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Green Bay said the below-zero temps will end this weekend and might not return all next week.
"We get back to the mid-teens Saturday night then Sunday and Monday we'll be in the lower 30s," said meteorologist Dan Clark. "Next week we'll still be at the freezing mark, but we'll definitely be out of the deep freeze for the next few days."
