Sturgeon Spearing!!!

[GatorBait]

Well, it's a mere 13days until Sturgeon Spearing is upon us. I was a lucky candidate or the last of the big bunch to draw a Lake Poygan tag this year, which I'm happy to have. Being this is season 16 without spearing one, I'm hoping this my chance. I'll be spearing with the state record holder, so I hope he can shed some of his luck upon me.

I will be out this whole next week doing some scouting. I will return with fish reports along with water clarity reports. If anyone has any questions, needs a whole cut or is looking for a location whether it be poygan or bago let me know, I can help.

Let's pray for some snow though, ice is pretty clear in a lot of areas, and that's never a good thing.

[tweedlap]

Hey Gator,

Is there a size restriction on the critters? Too big to spear or too small.

All hell must break loose when you stab one of those things !

How about sharing a little info on the spearing? How deep

Decoy? Time of day, etc.

A video would be awesome.

Good luck.

tweed

[GatorBait]

Tweed - The size limit is 36 inches mininum. Try judging that on Winnebago in 20ft of water. Spearing is much like MN pike spearing in essence, just a bit more heavier tackle. We use weighted handles and detachable 4-8 prong spears. Some spears are actually called Flying Barb spears in which the barbs are retractable, making it very difficult to loose even a poorly hit fish.

Decoys are pretty much anything, from your traditional fish decoys to bowling pins. Basically anything that stands out as they are very curious fish. We try to set depth of decoys in accordance to where we'd like to spear them. Last year I was 19fow, I kept my decoy at about 12fow. Course, the one I did see was at 19fow so it didn't help.

We have set times to spear which are 6:30am to 12:30pm. I enjoy this, because there didn't used to be preset times. It's tough staring down a hole from sunup to sundown.

Most shacks used are your traditional fishing shacks in which my hole is about 5ft wide by 4ft long. All our holes are cut in by chainsaws and then we push the chunk of ice under the ice. That's the only bad part of the sport, especially when it's sub zero and 30in of ice. Not a solo project. But, if we find fish in an area and have to move, we can be spearing within 10 mins of arriving to that area.

To be honest, I've never seen one speared, I do know that the bigger they are the worse it is. My buddies 188lb state record took him and another guy over 45mins to land. The worst part is the hole goes black from the bottom being stirred so you can't see much.

One constructive idea we use when the water is not clear is the use of pvc pipe in an X pattern. By law, nothing can be on the bottom if it can't be retrieved. So we have 4 pieces of 1in pvc coupled to a 4 way. We then finagle it down to the bottom with a rope. This does 2 things, Breaks up the bottom to make fish a bit more visible when the fish cross it, and allows to help get a measurement on the fish with our markings on the pipes. In the old days, potato slices were one of the things that would be spread on the bottom to help see fish.

I may try to get some video this year if I can find a trusty videographer to go with me. There are some decent vids on the tube that I've seen recently.

Mojo- Unfortunately, we cannot spear muskie or northern in WI. Though, it is one of my goals this year to get that ball rolling. I have contacted DNR, Legislatures and fellow fisherman in wisconsin and have yet to get negative feedback. We will see what happens with that.

[tweedlap]

Gator,

Sounds like a knee knocking experience. How many people are

out spearing? It is a lottery drawing? How long is the season?

188# is a lot of fish. Is there caviar in those and are

they smoked to be eaten.

Good Luck,

tweed

How many lake have spearing and why do you guys have

sturgeon so far south?

[GatorBait]

I'm going to guess that there is well over 5,000 sturgeon spearers, the numbers have multiplied the last 10years. There is a lottery drawing, but it's only for Lake Poygan and the Upriver areas from Lake Winnebago. There are 500 tags drawn each year for this. It took me 5 years to get one, and from the numbers put out this year, it may be another 10 years before I see it again. This area used be open to everyone, every 5 years, but they did away with it due to management concerns seeing Poygan is only 6ft deep in average, which makes harvest a bit easier.

Length of season is dependent upon harvest caps. There are caps for juvenile females, adult females, and males on each Upriver and Lake Winnebago areas. When one of the caps are hit the season for that area will be closed. The upriver success rate is 60% and Lake Winnebago is 13%. So that tells you the Upriver spearers should plan on 2days +/- 1. Winnebago usually goes for a week if not the whole season. But it all goes with water clarity, if ya can't see them, the kill will be down big time.

Tons of caviar in the females. It makes up alot of their weight. I believe the DNR collects alot of it when you register it.

They are great smoked, the younger ones are also great deep fried. 1 inch chunks with some batter, meat is super white and is just awesome. Can atleast say you ate a dinosaur.

Only spearing is on Lake Winnebago and the Upriver which consists of Lake Butte des Mortes, Lake Winneconne, and Lake Poygan. It's been an ongoing tradition since the late 1800's where the Stockbridge Indians began spearing them, and it's been going on since my time and has been a tradition in my family since. Michigan also has a season on Black Lake. But that's the only other one I know of that have this great tradition.

[tweedlap]

Thanks for sharing so much information about your passion.

Please keep us posted.

tweed

[GatorBait]

I'll be back later tonight with a full scouting report for Lake Poygan Sturgeon Spearing. On my way out to slay some big gills that are hopping right now.

[GatorBait]

Alrighty, finally off the ice. Been busting the hump the past few days and I'm lacking in the sleep department for sure. Should be worth it though.

As of right now, water clarity on Poygan is good but not great by any means. 6.5ft to 5ft is visible to the bottom with the last foot being somewhat murky. A white cup turns to a dark green almost brown. Shouldn't be a problem seeing a fish by any means though. I checked out the deeper water from 7-9ft and I could only get about a 7ft clarity reading there.

We have finally gotten some snow on top of the ice with more to come on tuesday, so i'm hoping clarity starts to improve next week due to the micros dying off from the lack of sunlight.

Onward to fish.....I didn't have any luck seeing any on camera. Imagine that right. I've talked to a few other guys in my group that have been seeing fish on the East side. So that is definately a good thing. The shad are not consistently present, I saw maybe 10 shad the whole time and I covered a vast amount of the lake. Not sure what that's about, seeing they were suppose to be thicker than mud, but definately a lot of suck marks in the mud.

More to come as the days get closer. I will be out scouting tomorrow, monday, thursday and will be cutting the hole friday. Talk to you soon.

[tweedlap]

Gator,

I just checked back to see a picture of you and the monster.

I will look again Saturday. You might as well get one the

first day.

Good Luck !

tweed

[GatorBait]

Man, the way it's looking right now, it should be a 1st day treat. I've seen over 20 sturgeon so far on camera, multiple on a daily basis in the same hole. I've found the gold!!! Now as long as they are still there come saturday, well, that's a different story. I'll have pics up if one gets pinned in the mud.

[waterbound]

Good luck with the sturgeon! I've read about it and I think it would be great to experience someday. Sturgeon sounds like a pretty tasty fish, too. I'm hoping to see a picture or two soon!

[GatorBait]

Well no fish today. Out of our group we are 3 for 4 right now with biggest being 99.5 lbs. It was a record setting day on the system with over 34 fish over 100lbs. The biggest beating my partners state record of 188lbs was a whopping 212lbs. I may have mistaken that fish for a submarine had I seen one that big. Overall, it was a great harvest thus far. Our news claimed the harvest numbers for today were "Just" released, but she didn't share them. Soo...can't give anyone numbers for saturday. More tomorrow, hopefully with a filled tag. Have a great day.

[tweedlap]

Gator,

Those are some big fish ! Are your buddies going to help you

set up tomorrow?

Sunday is your day.

tweed

[snoozebutton]

Saw this in the Milwaukee paper:

Quote:

Ron Grishaber of Appleton registered a 212.2-pound, 84.2-inch sturgeon Saturday morning at the Town of Harrison. The fish easily topped the 188-pound, 79.5-inch fish taken by Dave Piechowski of Redgranite in 2004. Grishaber's record fish has not been aged but is likely older than 100 years, said Ron Bruch, sturgeon biologist with the Department of Natural Resources.

[GatorBait]

Well, Well. If it wasn't my lucky day today. Finally, woohoo, the once impossible task has finally come true. At 7:30am this morning, this nice mature male came floating lazily through my hole. Without question, I tossed the spear and successfully landed my 1st ever Lake Sturgeon. Mind you, this was 16 years in waiting. After a disappointing day yesterday, I changed decoys and it's placement. With only about 20mins of good viewing time, he ventured forth. I tell ya, I couldn't stop smiling. This beats everything. Yeah, it's no 212 pounder, but I'm not after that publicity. It was a great time in which I enjoyed with my Father and son this weekend. I was off the lake by 8am, got a nice tip from a friend on an easy way to clean this dinosaur. Wish everyone else the best of luck, it's been a great season for many people this year. Our spearing partner, Dave Piechowski mentioned above, was bumped in the records category, but managed another nice 100lb fish yesterday also.

[riverrat56]

Congrats!

This is something I'd sure like to try someday!

[goblueM]

care to share your tip? i tried cleaning one once and it was like a freaking tank

[croixflats]

Cut the scutes off the back and fins. The scutes will come off all in one strip if you go down just deep enough under them. Notch around the head and tail. Run a sturdy sharp kinfe straight down the cardalage back bone then along ribs ribs. Like some do with crappies or smaller walleye. Skin and remove red fat meat. Easy fish to fillet out.

Oh, bleed the fish out first by slicing a small whole in the belly towards the head end of the fish.

[GatorBait]

Well, the way I did it was really easy. Obviously, gutted it, removed the blood line. I then removed the head. Simply from there, I made 1 inch steak cuts out of the body. Then, turn the steak upside down, you'll have the spine on the top, just run the knife down on the side of spine and follow the meat in a C shape and fillet it out. After you do this to both sides of the steak, ensure that you remove any skin from the top and bottom of the fillet. That yellow/red fatty parts effect the taste of your meat dramatically.

This is just another way to do it. I having half of mine smoked, (tail section) so I can't wait for that.

[MJ1657]

Congratulations! That is truly awesome.

[PierBridge]

Big Time Congrats!

What an amazing Sturgeon Fishery you guys have up there. And the way they run the Sturgeon season and manage the waters is truly top -notch!

[waterbound]

Glad to hear you filled a tag. Sturgeon spearing sounds like a ton of fun!

[bassNspear]

thats a HOGG. Congrats on getting the state record!

[Cooter]

Congrats Gator! I have 3 buds over there, so far one miss. Sounds like they registered a bunch of fish Sat afternoon.

[GatorBait]

Thanks everyone, it was definitely a great day. Guys have just been pounding them this year. I'm just glad the week and half of scouting paid off. I knew the fish were there, with a slight front coming in yesterday, it was enough to get them active and moving. Now that it's over, it's time to concentrate on some perch I found today.