February tradition

[rocksnstumps]

Well here in this part of NE Wisconsin it's that time of year Dad always thought was even bigger than deer and bird hunting combined.......sturgeon spearing of course! Well Dad is no longer here but one of my brothers and I still get together with some of his friends every year. This year there's about 20 inches of ice, water clarity is pretty good, easily see bottom in 16 ft of water looking into the 3 ft X 6 ft hole once you're inside your dark little shanty with no windows.

Traditions continue, I use one of the spears my Dad made over 50 yrs ago while still in high school, my brother uses another. My shack I got from a great uncle and it's been around since the late 50's but with a replaced floor and runners and lots of caulk around the roofing nails. The old coal stove has been upgrade to propane

Here's a pic of cutting a hole with a sled saw. Uses a 40" bar and grease instead of bar oil (otherwise leaves an oil slick that's hard to get rid of and hard to see through)



The old shack




Not my fish, but a dandy from a club member from a couple of years ago, 161 lbs. Was on the 10 best fish of all time from the local lake system until today. Learned that there were several speared over 200lbs with the biggest at 224lbs

[Tom]

I want to know what a sturgeon tastes like.  What kind of other fish is he/she like.  Are you after the roe?

Sturgeon down here are almost protected.  Might be protected in some waters.   We're told that the larger ones are in the 50 yearold range or more.   It almost makes us feel guilty to think there is one on the line.  I've never even seen a real live one. 

[LOGDOG]

We used to have a February ice fishing tradition too. Although we'd go up to Pickerel Lake in St. Germain and put the tip ups in for Northerns and then jig for panfish. We'd take the grill and all the fixin's. One thing that we used to eat on that annual trip that never manifested itself at any other time of the year was "wildcat". Think "steak tar tar". I loved it. My former mother-in-law could really make it good. Used to love seeing those flags go up ....TIP UP!!!!!!!!!!!! 8)

LOGDOG

[rocksnstumps]

Sturgeon is fairly meaty with big flakes, sorta reminds me of what I remember seeing from mako shark. I'm probably not the best person to ask about the flavor since I'm not a big fish fan, but do like 'em smoked.

A hundred pounder is likely 50-60 years old. Will be interesting to find out how old a 200# fish is. The lake system around here is rather unique. Has a large self sustaining population of sturgeon and saw that this year about 10,000 tags were sold (one fish per year limit). They put a quota in place that is roughly about 1500 fish so trying to limit overharvest on a sport that years ago not many participated in.

[Brucer]

There's a fairly extensive white sturgeon population in the Columbia River system in BC, Washington, and Oregon. In this neck of the woods they're isolated from the ocean by the Grand Coulee dam.

About 20 years ago a guy in Trail, BC (just down the mountain) caught a 600 pound sturgeon. He had a very light line and it was a fluke that he landed it. Naturally this made the local news and they guy's picture was in the paper beside the record fish. He didn't enjoy the attention, though -- he'd phoned in sick that morning and his boss was none too happy :(.

Folks don't recommend eating Columbia River sturgeon. Toxins accumulate in their flesh and they feed on anything of biologic origin on the river bottom. Being relatively high up in the food chain, they concentrate all the nasty stuff that the bottom feeders pick up.

[SwampDonkey]

We have a sturgeon season here to. We never fished them here because they never got up the river this far. The fishing in these parts was for Atlantic salmon and brook trout. There is a fish hatchery in Woodstock that used to raise Sturgeon for the Asian market. It didn't take. They also bottled water, so the joke was they were selling bottled water those fish swam in. :D IN the spring they do what they call "black salmon" fishing. It's when the sea run salmon return to the ocean. There are also sea run trout, that go to the bays and run upstream in spring. Just a brookie with silver scales. They are born in the same spawn as the rest, just some have that altered gene. Brook trout are pretty fish and their belly colour can be white or red. They are a lot more sensitive to water changes than rainbow. If it ain't just right in your pond or holding pen you can loose the whole bunch.

[fishpharmer]

rocksnstumps, very interesting post, neat to hear about regional fishing traditions.  It would be neat to see a picture of the spear as well.  Hearing about the 200lbs plus fish would make me think the population is doing well.  I heard a nice presentation just last week about Lake Sturgeon by the good folks from this hatchery..........

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Genoa/lake_sturgeon.html

I also borrowed the following info from the above site........
"Wisconsin is the home of one of the last viable lake sturgeon populations in the country. Lake sturgeon can grow to over 9 feet long, and weigh more than 300 pounds. One specimen was thought to live to be over 150 years old!

Lake sturgeon populations are declining throughout their native range, and are listed as threatened in 19 out of the 20 states they inhabit. Reasons for their decline are overharvest and habitat loss due to dam construction. Skip navigatio

Genoa has been rearing lake sturgeon since 1995, in an effort to reintroduce lake sturgeon to two different sites that have been cut off from their spring upstream spawning migrations.

Each spring, wild broodstock are collected using large dipnets along known sturgeon spawning habitat. Females are gently stripped of their eggs and males are milked for their milt on the riverbank. The eggs are fertilized, stripped of their adhesive coating, and brought back to the station and placed in egg jars to begin their early life cycle. Once the eggs hatch, in roughly 5–7 days, they are moved to fry rearing tanks.

Fry will feed off their yolk sac for 7–10 days, then microscopic artemia (brine shrimp) larvae are introduced to the tanks. After 45–60 days, the fish are weaned onto bloodworms (frozen midge larvae). They will be grown to 6–8 inches, then released in the fall of their first year.

Predation on fish that have grown to 6 inches has been shown to be much less than in earlier life stages. Lake sturgeon are very slow to reach maturity, and may take up to 22 years for females to reach maturity. They also do not spawn every year, but commonly skip a year or even two between spawnings. This is another reason why wild sturgeon populations are slow to recover from adverse events.

In 2002, Genoa produced 29,000 fall fingerlings averaging 6 inches long, and provided them to three ongoing restoration programs."

[LOGDOG]

Rocksnstumps,

   Are you guys on Winnebago?

LOGDOG

[metalspinner]

My urban logging buddy is an aquatic biologist for TVA.  His large project over the last decade has been reintroducing Lake Sturgeon into the TN water shed.  Each year, he heads up to Wisconsin with a team to harvest and fertilize sturgeon eggs. 

Once back here, the fish are raised, marked and released.  Sometimes they are about 6", sometimes 3 feet. 8)  The boys and I have participated in a few of the releases.  It's great fun to let those big ones go.

[ErikC]

 There are a few in the Klamath-Trinity river system. I have eaten them several times, but we aren't allowed to keep them. However I have some friends who live on Indian Land, and they are. It is good white fish, and excellent smoked. I guess somewhat like shark, or halibut. Not as flaky as cod or bottomfish.
  They are not a predator fish from what I understand, the toxins accumulate during the age they reach. If caught on hook and line it is with a small hook and corn or dough, similar to carp fishing.

[Brucer]

They are not a predator fish from what I understand, the toxins accumulate during the age they reach. If caught on hook and line it is with a small hook and corn or dough, similar to carp fishing.

Hmm ... that doesn't quite fit the stories I've heard around here. So I did some checking.

Sturgeon don't have teeth so they can't eat big fish. They're also not especially fast so catching fast-moving prey can be an issue. It seems they'll go after crustaceans, dead fish, and small living fish plus any vegetation they encounter.

The guy who caught the big one here was actually fishing for trout. I'd have thought his line couldn't handle it, but apparently they tire quickly and don't put up much of a fight after that.

Also, 200 pounds is close to the maxium for Lake Sturgeon (e.g., the ones in Wisconsin). White Sturgeon like the ones on the west coast have been recorded at over 1700 pounds. Most of the here are a lot smaller ... 30 to 50 pounds. Both species reach over 100 years in age.

[rocksnstumps]

LogDog,

Yes, on Lake Winnebago. I did manage to spear a small one this morning, 33lbs. Another fishing club member (same fella as running the sled saw) got a 115 lber. He's past 70 and has been spearing for many years, not even his biggest.

I don't think I have a good picture of a spear and how the head separates from the handle. Maybe have to snap a few pictures when I get some new batteries for the camera. The rechargables aren't doing much in the recharging department lately. Got about 3 pics this morning and than kaput.

[fishpharmer]

rock glad to hear you got one.  Now is that it?  Only one per person? 

[rocksnstumps]

That's it for another year. However it's fun to watch the fish spawn in the spring along the rocks on certain areas of the local rivers. They have a "sturgeon guard" to keep everyone honest these days. Many poachers in years past once it got dark. You can watch the DNR net and tag fish and see some big ones to get the 'ole ticker excited.......

[IMERC]

and I thought my 47" sturgeon was something...

back for another try...

well it was taken on a #5 tippet...

[LOGDOG]

LogDog,

Yes, on Lake Winnebago. I did manage to spear a small one this morning, 33lbs. Another fishing club member (same fella as running the sled saw) got a 115 lber. He's past 70 and has been spearing for many years, not even his biggest.

Cool Rocknstumps. How much ice is on Winnebago these days? That's a great big body of water. You ever go up to the Fox River in DePere and catch the spring Walleye run? Some real hogs come out of there in the spring each year.

LOGDOG

[rocksnstumps]

About 20" of ice on Bago. I've fished some up by Green Bay but have not had any big walleyes in the Spring. Had better luck in the fall up by Escanaba

For those that want to check out more on the whole sturgeon tradition, you can go to the local newspaper site at www.postcrescent.com/sturgeon

[LOGDOG]

Rocks ....

   You may want to stop short of Escanaba and swing into Peshtigo on the Peshtigo River. I met a guy at Fleet Farm up there who works in the sporting goods dept. He spends every free minute on the Peshtigo. The number of 30" plus walleyes he has taken was simply amazing. He said he's convinced that a world record will come out of there. The one downside is the pollution in the water and fish. He doesn't recommend eating the walleyes out of that area. I'm trying to think, are you fishing Little Bay De Noc when you go to Escanaba?

LOGDOG

[iceman7668]

A new state record was taken this year. It was 84.2" long and weighed 212.2lbs. They have a pic at www.greenbaygazette.com if you want to see it.

[LOGDOG]

Bad link?

[trapper]

only saw one this year and it was too small.  We pulled the shack yesterday and the season closes today as the harvest quota was reached