February 20, 2021 – Fond du Lac, WI – Friday, Feb. 19, was the seventh day of the 2021 sturgeon spearing season. Today, 108 fish were harvested on the Winnebago System, with 88 speared on Lake Winnebago and 20 speared on the Upriver Lakes.
Owen Tesson speared this gigantic 130.2 pound (73.1 inches) F2 female on day 7 of the 2021 sturgeon spearing season. Owen’s fish was harvested on Lake Winnebago and registered at the Oshkosh registration station. / Photo Credit: Wisconsin DNR
The Lake Winnebago harvest decreased slightly from yesterday. Of the 88 fish speared on Lake Winnebago today, 18 were juvenile females, 37 were adult females, and 33 were males. This brings the season harvest totals for Lake Winnebago to 163 juvenile females, 438 adult females, and 362 males. We have officially reached the 50% mark for the system-wide and Lake Winnebago caps for adult females.
That said, we do not expect the Lake Winnebago or system-wide caps to be triggered in the coming days. The Stockbridge Harbor station led the way on Lake Winnebago again today with 24 fish registered.
Today’s Upriver Lakes harvest pushed season totals over the 90% trigger for male lake sturgeon. As a result, the Upriver Lakes season will close on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, at 1 p.m.
The Upriver Lakes season totals have increased to 42 juvenile females, 75 adult females, and 230 males. The Boom Bay registration station was the busiest station on the Upriver Lakes today, registering ten fish. The 347 sturgeon harvested so far on the Upriver Lakes has surpassed the 2014 total (341). Additionally, it is now the highest Upriver Lakes harvest since the lottery system began in 2007.
Click here for the full day 7 harvest breakdown.
Today, the largest fish harvested on the Winnebago System was the 130.2 pound (73.1 inches) F2 female speared by Owen Tesson. Owen’s fish was the only sturgeon to triple digits at the registration scales today.
We also continue to see impressively large males harvested this season, including the longest male on record speared today by Steve Marciniak. Steve’s 94.6 pound (73.0 inches) M2 was brought into the Oshkosh registration station. This incredible fish was previously tagged by Wisconsin DNR staff in the spring of 2002. At that time, it measured 62.1 inches.
Congratulations to all those who have harvested a fish through the first seven days of the 2021 season, and good luck to those still pursuing their harvest