2024 Sturgeon Spearing Season ends with only 10% of cap harvested

The 2024 sturgeon spearing season has come to a close on what was likely the warmest day ever in the history of the event. Temperatures on Sunday, February 25, 2024, reached 57 degrees and with the ice giving way to open water, what few spearers that were left used airboats to access spearing locations.

In total, 432 sturgeon were speared. Only 10% of the cap predetermined for the season. That number includes both Lake Winnebago and the upriver lakes of Poygan, Winneconne and Buttes des Morts.

Broken down, there were 71 juvenile females, 135 adult females and 226 males speared.

Consistently throughout the season, the southwest corner of Lake Winnebago had a majority of the spearers and ended up harvesting almost 50% of lake sturgeon for the entire system (225 of 425 lake sturgeon harvested).

The top two largest fish this year were harvested on the Upriver Lakes: a 148.0-pound female and a 125.7-pound female. This year, only 9 sturgeon over 100 pounds were harvested. On Lake Winnebago, the largest lake sturgeon harvested was a 113.6-pound female.

This season was challenging and difficult. This year will definitely be remembered, especially for those who put in the hard work to get out on the ice.