April 25, 2019 – Outagamie Co., WI – The sturgeon are spawning up the Wolf River. If you’ve never been up north in Shiocton, New London or Shawano to witness the event it’s worth the day trip. The post and photo below are from Ryan Koenigs Senior Fisheries Biologist / Winnebago System Sturgeon Biologist with the Wisconsin DNR.
4/21/08
We had two crews out tagging lake sturgeon on the Wolf River system on Wednesday with activity centered in the New London and Shiocton areas. One crew captured and collected data from 66 fish at the Sturgeon Trail in New London, one fish downstream of River Trail Park in New London and 14 fish at Pfeifer Park in New London. The other crew worked at Bamboo Bend in Shiocton handling a total of 79 fish.
Spawning intensity decreased at the Sturgeon Trail on Wednesday relative to Tuesday, but I do anticipate some fish will still be visible at this location. I also anticipate fish will still be active at Bamboo Bend on Thursday, however, I wouldn’t wait too long to make plans to come see fish spawn at either of these locations.
The most intense spawning appears to be taking place in the Leeman area, but unfortunately there are no publicly accessible spawning sites in this area of the river.
From reports I received, it appears there are more fish staging below the Shawano Paper Mill Dam, but spawning at this location is likely still a day or more away. I plan to scout a number of spawning sites further upriver Thursday afternoon and will send out a more detailed report Thursday night.
I hope you are able to get out and enjoy the 2019 sturgeon spawning run!