Well it’s all over for the 2014 sturgeon spearing season, and I’m sure many spearers are already looking forward to 2015. A total of 89 spearers harvested fish on the final day of the season, bringing the season total on Lake Winnebago to 1,513 fish. 95 of these fish (6.3%) tipped the scales at 100 pounds or larger, which is the most fish over 100 pounds ever registered in a season.
The largest fish harvested today was registered at Jerry’s Bar by Sheri Rasmussen and tipped the scales at 137.2 pounds, measuring 72.5”. As of the time of sending this report out, I did not have a photo of this fish for inclusion in the report. The 2nd largest fish of today was a 129.2 pound, 71.8” fish that Robert Granger registered at our Harrison Town Hall station (photo attached).
As you may have noticed in the emails I have sent out in the last 24 hours, I take a great deal of interest in the social aspects of sturgeon spearing and really enjoy hearing, and sharing, stories from successful sturgeon spearers. Following my report yesterday about Allan Kraemer’s 42 year wait for a fish, I received an email from another spearer who knew of someone who had waited for a long time before harvesting his first fish on Lake Winnebago. As the story goes, Gale “Buckshot” Zietlow has been spearing for 55 years and has never harvested a fish from Lake Winnebago (he had speared two on the Upriver Lakes in that time). That all changed on Tuesday February 11, when Gale saw a 73 pound fish swim through the hole and threw the spear. Gale, along with his son Greg, are pictured below with Gale’s fish. If you know of any other great stories from the 2014 spearing season, please pass them along because I would love to hear them.
Our crew will start wrapping up the season tomorrow. I plan to send out some more information tomorrow about how this season stacks up to seasons past. Otherwise, thank you everyone for making this a very safe, successful and memorable season!
