February 15, 2023 – Fond du Lac, WI – With warmer temperatures continuing to prevail today, only 72 fish were harvested throughout the system, with 58 from Lake Winnebago (5 juvenile females, 27 adult females, 26 males) and 14 from the Upriver lakes (0 juvenile females, 3 adult females, 11 males).
Upriver, there are still 3 adult females left until the 90% trigger is activated or 11 more adult females until the 100% cap is reached. If the 90% trigger is hit, there will only be one more day to spear after that. If 100% is reached, then the season will close that afternoon. But so far, harvest Upriver has been slow, and the season will be open tomorrow.
Despite the slow day, a record-setting fish was caught. James Gishkowsky speared a massive 177.3-pound, 79.9-inch female sturgeon from Lake Winnebago. This is the 7th largest fish ever speared from the Winnebago system. This female was an F4 or black egg fish.
Click HERE to view the full Day 4 Harvest Report.
When you register your fish, DNR staff not only identifies the sex of the sturgeon as female (F) or male (M), they also identify where they are in their reproductive cycle. Female stages are V, 1, 2, 4 or 6, while male stages include V, 1 or 2. FV or MV stages indicate a fish that is not yet sexually mature.
For females, stages F1 and F2 indicate a fish that was not ready to spawn this year or even next. F4 female fish is a female that is full of eggs and would have spawned this year (spring 2023). This is why many of the largest fish registered are indicated as F4s. They are full of an additional 20-30 pounds of eggs. F6 females are fish that spawned last season (spring of 2022).
Male stages are similar, with M1 males not ready to spawn, while M2 males were ready to spawn in spring 2023. Congrats James. That fish is incredible.
Because of the warm weather and the concern about ice conditions after the expected rain tonight, we are temporarily closing the Neenah registration station. We will continue to keep you posted on what stations are opened or closed. If you’d planned on registering your fish there, please head to the next closest registration station. Locations can be found in the sturgeon spearing regulation packet or on the DNR’s sturgeon spearing webpage.
A list of the largest sturgeon caught on the Lake Winnebago system, 1941 to present.
The largest fish speared over 170 pounds on the Lake Winnebago system since 1941.
