Sturgeon Spearing Season to Close Today

By PAUL A. SMITH

Spearers harvested 1,334 sturgeon, including 528 adult females, through Monday on the Lake Winnebago system, triggering an early closure to the 2008 sturgeon spearing season.

“We’ve had very good ice and excellent water clarity and that’s tailor-made for spearers,” said Ron Bruch, sturgeon biologist for the Department of Natural Resources.

The season will close at 12:30 p.m. today; spearers have until 1:30 p.m. to register any fish harvested.

The harvest through Monday afternoon included 233 juvenile female, 528 adult female and 573 male fish. The adult female harvest represents 95% of the 556 fish system-wide harvest quota. To protect the sturgeon population, the season is closed if 90% or more fish are taken in any of the three categories.

The season started Saturday and was scheduled to run 16 days or until one of the harvest caps was triggered. Eight-hundred-six fish were registered Saturday, followed by 297 Sunday and 231 Monday.

Paul A. Smith

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