100 Year Old, 212 lb Sturgeon Caught yesterday

010 Sturgeon Season - Day 1 News Release Published: February 13, 2010 by the Northeast Region

Contact(s): Ron Bruch, DNR Senior Sturgeon Biologist, 920-424-3059

Tom Turner, DNR Public Affairs Manager, 920-662-5122

Winnebago sturgeon spearers harvest 656 on opening day

Winnebago & Up River Lakes Report for Saturday, February 13, 2010

OSHKOSH, Wis. – It was a record smashing day on Lake Winnebago today for the start of the 2010 sturgeon spearing season. Fish biologists working on the Winnebago Pool of lakes have been handling fish in their spring spawning surveys in excess of 200 pounds for several years now, and finally one of these large super-trophies has shown up in the spear harvest. Ron Grishaber of Appleton registered a 212.2 pound, 84.2" sturgeon this morning at the Harrison Registration Station, west of the village of Sherwood.

Another record - the largest male sturgeon ever registered in the spear harvest -- 116.8 pounds, 71 inches -- was brought in to the Winneconne registration station at Critters.

Also a record number of fish greater than or equal to 100 pounds were registered today – 34. Thirty-one of these were taken from Lake Winnebago and 3 were taken on the Upriver Lakes.

Commenting on the number of very large fish in the Winnebago Pool population, Bruch says his team has seen it increasing over the last 15 years due to regulations developed by DNR fisheries staff and the Winnebago Citizens Sturgeon Advisory Committee. These regulations were implemented in the 1990's and were designed to decrease the annual exploitation of adult female sturgeon (which are the largest fish in the stock, but the most vulnerable to overharvest). Another reason for these regulations was due to large hatches of sturgeon over a 20-30 year period in the early 1900s that are now entering the super-trophy size in their life. Lake sturgeon, especially females, are believed to be able to live for 150 years or more. The 212 lb record breaker harvested today has not been aged yet, but it likely in excess of 100 years old.