172-pound sturgeon

[IFallsRon]

FOND DU LAC, Wis.—Ed Blatz brought in one of the largest sturgeon ever speared on Lake Winnebago as the season ended after just four days Tuesday. Blatz, of Fond du Lac, bagged a 172-pounder that measured 78 inches in length.

It is the third largest sturgeon taken from the lake since record keeping began in the 1950s. The only larger ones were a 180-pounder caught in 1953 and a 188-pounder caught in 2004.

Blatz's catch was one of 43 sturgeon speared this year that weighed 100 pounds or more.

"This is the greatest run of large trophy-sized fish in the harvest in more than 50 years and an indication of the health of the Winnebago sturgeon stock," said Ron Bruch, sturgeon biologist with the state Department of Natural Resources.

He credited tighter regulations over the past two decades with helping to protect the sturgeon population.

The rules include a harvest cap that requires shutting the season down after a certain number of fish are taken.

This year, spearers had bagged 528 adult female sturgeon through Monday, or about 90 percent of the harvest cap of 556, so the season closed at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

A total of 1,513 sturgeon were taken from Lake Winnebago and upriver lakes.

The lake sturgeon is a throwback to the age of dinosaurs 100 million years ago. The fish can live to 100 years old.

They have bony plates instead of scales, among other unique characteristics. Females do not become sexually mature and start producing eggs until they are 20 to 25 years old.

Spearers place shanties on the lake, cut holes through the ice and wait until a sturgeon swims beneath them, within range of the spear.

[bassNspear]

man, sounds like alot of fun to me. Is there any photos of these fish anywhere?

[MN Mike]

It was on the Startrib site last night.

Mike

[Lusid]

http://images.google.com/images?q=sturgeon&num=30&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title

they look weird imo

[beer batter]

Here's the actual fish that was caught. What would a guy do with a thing like that? Do they eat these things??

[vitalshot5]

Best smoked fish you'll ever eat

[tisosy11]

What type of spear is that - I am only familiar with the mulitple fork spears that are used in MN for Northerns?

Is that hand thrown as well?

[Brunsvig_slayer]

I bet that was alot of fun

[rowdyf]

Looks like one you would shoot from some type of gun or bow, with a line to reel 'em in! Kind of like bow-fishing?

[ImissReeds]

Its kind of a shame, one poke and its over for such an old fish. I like being able to catch and release these fish and only be able to keep a potential state record if caught.

Who needs to be eating something thats older than they are?

Whoever said its the "best fish ever smoked" is full of it IMO. I do think they are pretty good, but not notably better than Whitefish or even Hammerhandle Northerns for that matter. Tell me which fish removed is harder on the resource. Oh well, Sconnies gotta kill em I guess.

[Fish Toys]

His spear is a pretty big one. Heard some weigh close to 40 lbs. More than likely it has removable tines. A lot of the spears have a set screw of some kind to hold the tines onto the spear head. When they spear a fish they will loosen the set screw on the tines that are in the fish and push the tine all the way through it to remove the tine from the fish instead of trying to pull it back out. I haven’t seen any pictures of the big spears but it would be great if someone could post one!

[Brunsvig_slayer]

Was the guy by himself or did he have some other people their to help him wrestle that thing out of the water?

[BartmanMN]

I'd probably drop a deuce in my pants if that swam under my hole. Probably why I don't spearfish

[Fishnblood]

Hows a guy to be able to lift that thing out of the water? 172 pds? That's pullin a person out of the water? Impressive fish

[JigginIsLife]

i second the deuce dropping...!!

[blackdog1101]

 Originally Posted By: ImissReeds

Its kind of a shame, one poke and its over for such an old fish. I like being able to catch and release these fish and only be able to keep a potential state record if caught.

Who needs to be eating something thats older than they are?

I agree. After 100 years leave it alone.

[JoeTC]

After over 50 years of allowing sturgeon spearing and still to be producing that many big fish I think Wisconson DNR is doing a fine job of managing their resource. Congrats to the man who speared it. I saw a special on the news once about sturgeon spearing on Winnagego and it's quite the tradition they have going there.

Joe

[tisosy11]

Yeah, seems like they are doing alright. The size and numbers are there - let em spear!

[Sutty]

I agree lets not get too haughty on how other states manage their resources, lets get our house in order first...

[Eyehunter2]

Heres a pic from a last year

[Fish Toys]

Google WI sturgeon spearing and there are lots of pictures. Accidentally closed the one link that had all the pictures so I can’t tell you which one it is and I’m to busy to look through my history. The guy was using a 1 tine spear.

[robert1965]

thats almost a crime, take a picture let em go. in my opinion