New Record Sturgeon speared in WI

[Nick Kuhn]

Quote:

Ronald Grishaber of Appleton started out Saturday morning as just one of about 10,000 sturgeon spearers on the Lake Winnebago System.

At 9 a.m., he became a legend, spearing the largest sturgeon ever taken from Lake Winnebago.

Grishaber’s massive fish weighed 212.2 pounds and was 84.2 inches long, shattering the previous record fish taken by Dave Piechowski of Redgranite in 2004. Piechowski’s fish weighed 188 pounds and was 79.5 inches long.

Regardless of the method you must admit that is an impressive fish.

[Andy Loos1432404924]

that is one massive fish!

[GatorBait]

Yeah, it's gigantic. It ran all is line out, glad he hung on, 3 guys to bring it through the hole and had shook his house a bit when it came out of the water. Congrats to him, I can't imagine seeing something that big.

Pretty interesting though that the fish is over 100yrs old and managed to evade the DNR...What's her secret.

[bobbymalone]

What exactly does one do with a speared sturgeon? Are people eating these things? Mounting them? Not sure I understand what the point of harvesting them is.

[riverrat56]

Yes people eat them, I never have, but I hear the meat is very very good.

[BigWhopper]

I have heard it compared to swordfish for taste and because of how firm it is. Some of the best smoked fish I have had also.

[cbrooks]

Just trying to imagine the three of those guys wrestling with that beast through the hole. Holy cow.

[Nick Kuhn]

What exactly does one do with a speared sturgeon? Are people eating these things? Mounting them? Not sure I understand what the point of harvesting them is.

Apparently sturgeon spearing in Wisconsin was first allowed during the 30's to help put food on the table during the depression. It continues today as tradition. From what I hear most people smoke the meat.

As far as how it managed to evade the DNR, Lake Winnebago is pretty large. Other 200lb+ fish have been surveyed by the DNR.

[mrklean]

dont they sell the eggs for caviar or is that not legal?

[GatorBait]

The black caviar is illegal to sell. They are usually pretty good to eat. I am having 1/2 of mine smoked which is awesome. The rest of it I cut up and will deep fry it. It's a very white meat and usually lacks the fishy flavor.

This year, we had a tremendous amount of shad in the Winnebago system and the meat tends to not be as good compared to their usual diet of red worms. Guess we'll find out. Most important thing is remove the yellow/red fat from the meat, that'll most definitely ruin the flavor during the cooking process.

[goblueM]

not to mention be CHOCK full of heavy metals... 100+ years of living tends to result in a hefty amount of bioaccumulation of some not-so-good things

[fishuhalik]

That is an incredible fish. I wonder how long it'll be before we start seeing fish like that in the Rainy and Croix, 30-40 more years?

[JBMasterAngler]

Goblue, you beat me to the punch! I can only imagine how much mercury (among other things) have been absorbed into that meat, especially in that part of the state. Fox river has such a "decorated" history of pollution. Regardless, that is a massive fish...imagine driving behind that guy on the highway

[pikestabber]

Talk to some of the resort owners on Rainy, and they will swear that a fish or two this size has washed up on their shores in year's past (I would swear that, too, if I was wanting to convince people to stay at my resort ) In either case, I think there are numerous fish over a hundred pounds in the Rainy System, 50-75 pound fish are more and more common each year. And who can say for sure if there aren't bigger ones somewhere between LOW and Rainy Lake? That's a lot of water... Ever lost a rig to a "snag" fishing Rainy? I have lost many dozens in the 15 years I've been up there. The question is, was one of those "logs" a 200lb sturgeon?

[fishuhalik]

I know a guy on this site, i believe he goes by pdogg, caught one around 100lbs last year. I also posted a pic of one that was 120-130 from a couple of years ago. But 212lbs? That's as big as both of those fish together.

[mrklean]

i think as long as we keep good regulations in time we will start seeing really big sturgeon coming from rainy

[pikestabber]

I know a guy on this site, i believe he goes by pdogg, caught one around 100lbs last year. I also posted a pic of one that was 120-130 from a couple of years ago. But 212lbs? That's as big as both of those fish together.

MN State record is only 94 pounds 4 ounces... You didn't get these confirmed, or weren't they in MN?

[Ralph Wiggum]

MN State record is only 94 pounds 4 ounces... You didn't get these confirmed, or weren't they in MN?

Since we're certainly talking about LOTW/Rainy River, those fish were likely either caught out of season or out of the slot. Lots of big sturgeon are caught during catch and release season, thus they cannot be kept. Also, even during the catch and keep season, a kept fish must be at least 75" (on the big end). We had one that went about 95lbs two years ago, but it was only 67". Add another 8" to that fish, and you are talking HUGE.

Mid-90lb fish, Spring of 2008

[pikestabber]

Our group has boated numerous 60+" fish over the years, some fatter than others, but two years ago we caught one that was 68" and considerably fatter than a basketball, and it didn't even break 80 pounds on a VERY accurate scale... How can a person estimate a fish at or close to a hundred pounds with no scale? Most people erroneously call a pound and half crappie "over two pounds" so how can they accurately judge a sturgeon when even simple panfish sizes get confounded? I am not picking a fight or calling your fish into question...pictures are deceiving, but if you saw the 68" sturgeon compared to what the fish above is estimated at, you would swear it was 110 pounds. Unless girth measurements are used to calculate (and even then the "estimate" is questionable due varying degrees of girth over the length of the whole fish), what basis is there to estimate weight and believe it to be accurate?

[fishuhalik]

Here's pdogg's fish, from last year. It's in team otter's post

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1685211/11

I can't find the pic of the 120lber, but I believe it, it's an impressive fish

[leech~~]

Yes people eat them, I never have, but I hear the meat is very very good.

Yuummy! It must be the best 100 year old meat on the planet!

[GatorBait]

Don't knock it till you try it.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Unless girth measurements are used to calculate (and even then the "estimate" is questionable due varying degrees of girth over the length of the whole fish), what basis is there to estimate weight and believe it to be accurate?

Well, that fish was 67" x 30" (not my fish, but I measured it myself, hoisted it into his lap, and photographed it). The DNR has a nice little chart that takes into account length/girth. It was made from fish sampled from the LOTW/Rainy River watershed. We have compared most of our 50+" sturgeon to the chart over the years and have found it to match our scale within a pound or two. We put that fish on the scale, but it snapped the hook. The chart puts it at 93 pounds, and I believe that is pretty close. Also, the guy in the photo weighs about 290.

MN DNR Sturgeon Length/Girth/Weight Chart

[mrklean]

has there been any protest against the spearing of sturgeon? I figure someone would be heated up over spearing something 70-100 years old.

[Nick Kuhn]

Not really, the DNR watches the numbers like a hawk. It would be nice if some sort of agreement was reached to allow for some form of hook and line fishing for them (even if it were only CPR fishing).