OT - Any WI Sturgeon Spearers?

Anyone on here spear sturgeon that wouldn't mind answering a rookie's questions? I looked for some stuff online, but if you thought trappers were a small subset of outdoorsmen, sturgeon spearers are even fewer and further between. I only know one guy who has sat in a spear house before, and that was last year and it was his first and only year doing it, so he's about the same shade of green that I am. There isn't a Spearer Ed course a guy can go to.

I've got my tag and spear already, so I'm halfway there. Now I'm looking for a shack. I had originally thought I could get by with my 2-man flip over portable shack this first year, but I don't think that is going to work. My buddy made due with a hub style hunting blind last year, but it was less than ideal. And I don't have a hunting blind.

Question 1: Where do you like to have the tip of your spear in relation to the water, all the way out of the water, whole head underwater, or somewhere in between? I'm in search of a permanent shack to buy for use spearing and want to know what I should be looking for in regards to ceiling height. My spear handle is 7'6", plus another 10-12" for the head. Is that length necessary, or could I trim it down if need be?

Question 2: How necessary is a gaff? Could a guy get by hoisting one up by the spearhead, or is it worth the extra cost to have that extra insurance getting one out of the hole on a sub-par hit?

Question 3: How does a guy go about scouting? Besides going out and checking clarity, what's a good way to scoop the bottom, and what are guys looking for, dead shad, worms? I'm planning to have someone cut me in rather than cutting my own hole with an auger and a spud (did this for my buddy last year, and it worked OK, but not ideal). Do most guys that cut holes offer advice on a likely spot, or just cut the hole and it's up to you to tell them where to go?

I considered renting a shack, but at around $100/day, I could buy my own shack after a few days and do what I want with it. Kind of like renting vs buying a house.

If anyone from the Green Bay or Fox Cities area wouldn't mind a greenhorn coming over with a 6-pack to talk sturgeon one evening, I'd bring the beer. Feel free to PM me.

Just like trapping I'm not trying to horn in on anyone's secret spot, or take advantage of their hard work, just hoping to shorten the learning curve as much as possible. Any information is appreciated, or if there are links to other forums or articles I've missed, I'll gladly read up.

I can't answer your questions but I'm sure someone here can. I'd maybe take a drive down the west side of Lake Winnebago one afternoon and make a few pit stops at some of the taverns right off the lake, chat with a few people. I lived/ worked in that area years back & I remember surgeon spearing being a big deal. They'd be weighing them & bragging it up at a few taverns.

Thanks WIgray, I helped out at one of the sturgeon weigh-in stations on the east side of the lake a couple years ago. Got to learn a lot about the process after the harvest, but didn't think to ask the successful spearers for advice since this is a more recent interest.

Well, a buddy of mine summed it up pretty well a number of years ago. He said it was like trying to shoot ducks staring up a chimney.
If you have a shanty to block out the light, a good spear and do not fall asleep and tumble into the hole you have a reasonable chance to get one
every 5 years or so.
After harpooning one you will have an opportunity to fillet the meat off the critter, which, when fried tastes something like an old boot but not quite as tender.
You can also smoke the meat so it tastes like an old smoked boot but not as tender.
After going through this process you will realize that you did not bring enough beer for the trip, re-organize and prepare for next year.
By all means buy a good looking decoy to suspend below your operation. I have no idea if the sturgeon have an interest in it but it will give you a focal point and wish you had not spent the $20.
In a normal winter, when the ice is not real thick, bring an old chainsaw which you have borrowed from a friend with at least a 24" bar and make sure he says it usually starts in a couple pulls.
After that, things will fall into place.

Zim

There are a lot of sturgeon spering videos on YouTube. I think you can find out quite a bit if you look through them.

I've watched quite a few, including the Frozen Chosen documentary, but a lot of the videos are 5 minutes of staring down an ice hole followed by 2 minutes of chaos and cursing while they wrangle one up the hole. Not many specifics on tactics like some videos.

Thanks for the encouragement, Zim! I figure it'll be like deer hunting, but you only get to stare down one shooting lane, and it's always first or last light so you can only kinda see stuff. Shooting ducks looking up a chimney is a good analogy! I don't have too much invested yet, and I'm hoping whatever I find for an ice shack can serve dual purpose as a hunting blind for me and my wife and/or daughter when she gets a but older (no, I don't want to buy a hub blind).

Good Luck to ya.

Zim

I found a shack with a 7' or so ceiling, so that's no longer a concern. Now I have a few months to tinker with it and get it set up just how I want it. Watched a few more videos last night and picked up on some more ideas I missed before.

I would still be interested in picking someone's brain if someone is nearby and wouldn't mind sharing some information and answering some questions. But I think I've got a good enough start to at least give it a go.

I will update after the season in February if I have any luck.

Do you need to draw a tag or do you just buy one?

160- Lottery for the upriver lakes, but anyone can buy a tag for Winnebago assuming you remember to buy it in time. They don't allow you to buy a tag after Oct 31.

TLGuy- Most of the guys that spear religiously and are likely responsible for the bulk of the harvest are pretty tight lipped. Guys are looking for worms on the bottom and clear water. Likely will be this way this year with the downturn in the shad forage base of recent. That said, a lot of the guys spend a lot of hours scouting to find good spots based on history and like conditions. Others just tend to follow those that are successful. Lots of shacks will be responsible for multiple fish a year so the crowd doesn't necessarily mean more fish in that area.

I only put in for the lottery for the upriver lakes. Shallower water and easier to scout. Happy to help you should you draw an upriver tag some year. The season is always pretty short due to the high success rate up there.

I know there was some past threads on TMan about spearing. Might check those out if they still exist to see who was all contributing. They might even share a little more if you respectfully prod with an DM.

good luck!!
can someone explain the reason to spear them?
if they taste like Sh*T is there something else that makes you want to spear them?
walleye on ice i understand.

#Conservation- Created this enormous interest in protecting this prehistoric fish that remains threatened in many parts of the country/state. There was even a petition to have lake sturgeon added to the endangered species list this past year. Spearing them has created way more value on the fish in this area than any hook and line season could.

On a side note, it also doesn't taste bad if cooked properly. Guessing Patrice could whip up a few excellent dishes. That said, the fish do tend to have slightly different taste depending on diet. If you spear the right female fish, you also can get caviar- lots and lots of caviar.

I'm not what anyone would call an experienced sturgeon spearer, but I have gone 3-4 times up on Black Lake, in Cheboygan Co., Michigan. I saw one fish, and it was sub-legal, being less than 3 ft long. I did see a still-thrashing 104 pound, 72+ incher the guy I rented a shanty from speared. I was hooked. I caught one through the ice a few years ago. That was on Otsego, and was just barely legal at 53 inches. I thought the darn thing was tasty, both fried and smoked. A couple local friends of mine did the upstream lakes thing over by Winnebago. They rented a shack and saw 3-4 fish, each sticking small fish in the 40 lb range. That was some years ago.

I've got just the general Winnebago tag this year, but am up to a couple points for the upriver system. Hope to have a better idea what I'm doing by the time I finally draw one of those tags. I will take a look in the archives and see if I can find anything.

Not sure if you saw in any of the videos, but lots of guys use pipes on the bottom on Winnebago. They are especially beneficial if you are going to be out in the mud and dealing with lack of water clarity. Most are just white PVC pipe (or siding) that make a big cross. Helps you pick up the fish in deeper water and can also be used to determine size of the fish.

I want the rope that connects these pipes to have a quick disconnect. That way when you spear a fish, you can just relax. Let the fish swim around in circles and tire out. With the quick disconnect, I can keep him from wrapping up in this line.

I've seen the pipes/siding set up, and will definitely be doing something similar. I'm intrigued by your idea of the quick disconnect. Lots of the videos I've seen have shown the fish getting tangled in at least one rope, either the decoy or the pipe rope. What do you use for a disconnect?

A board about a foot long that has an eye screw in both ends. Allows me to wrap the the extra line around the board and I just hang the eye screw on a nail on side of shack. The end that connects to the pipe has one of those carabiners so I can just unclip from the pipes and wrap the rest of the rope up when I am done.

So rather than actually disconnecting, you have extra rope available for the sturgeon to get tangled in without resistance? I had an idea for sinking the pipes and leaving them down the hole without a rope attached, then being able to "fish" them out with a long pole when the time comes to remove them.

Sorry, that was kind of a poor explanation. You wouldn’t even need the wood, but it just allows you to easily move the rope from one side of the hole to the other as the fish makes a circle. You are preventing it from tangling as the fish swims around it in a circle. When you horse a fish right after you throw the spear and your lines are crossed, it pulls the fish towards your pipe rope and not up the hole. This just shortens the size of the circle the fish has to do before getting another twist in the line.

Fish tend to swim out to the side in a circular motion once you start pulling. If the pipe rope is tied off to the inside of the shack, each lap from the fish is a twist in the two lines. After you throw the spear, see which way the line goes before applying pressure. Adjust your pipe rope accordingly. As you get closer to landing your fish, you can just give the pipe rope a tug towards the opposite corner to clear it.

Most guys that haven’t speared one will just start pulling and screaming. I don’t blame you if you do. If you have a decent spear, the fish isn’t going to go any where (assuming you have your rope to the spear tied off ) Enjoy the moment. Not many folks can say they speared a dinosaur!

You lower the spear into the water before trying to spear the fish. That is what I do anyway, never speared a sturgeon though.

Here's the shack I picked up. It's pretty basic on the inside but I have a little over a month to get it customized to my liking. Once I get it all set, I'll post some more pictures if anyone is interested. Its approximately 5x7, so it's not huge, but big enough for 2 people and small enough to heat with a little propane heater.

Just a quick update for anyone who's interested. I sat in my shack Saturday and Sunday and didn't see any sturgeon. Water clarity wasnt that great on Saturday, but improved on Sunday and I could see almost all the way to the bottom in 17 feet of water. My major excitement for the day yesterday was when this gar swam through just below the ice.



The current population estimate for the lake and surrounding connected bodies of water is somewhere around 40,000 fish, and the state has a harvest cap that allows for up to 5% of the total population to be harvested in a given year. The season can last up to 16 days if the cap isn't reached before then, in which case the season closes early. This year with below average water clarity on much of the lake, its expected the season will last the full 16 days. I plan to get after it again this weekend and next weekend if needed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka2V2a7tARs

I've speared nothern, carp and suckers and though it was a blast. Can't immaging a moose of a fish like that crusing through the hole! Think I would throw the spear in self defence! I have a friend who was lucky enough to get drawn this year. Hope both of you have good luck!

End of season (for me) update for the few of you that might take the time to read it. I decided to call it a wrap yesterday after 5 total days of spearing. I was able to draw blood, unfortunately it my own, not a sturgeon's. While trying to retrieve a decoy that broke the line and fell to the depths of Lady Bago, I jabbed my left palm pretty good with the piece of rusty wire I was using as a make-shift retrieval tool. I decided to go to urgent care to get a tetanus booster just in case. I'm really hoping if doesn't get infected, though I know puncture wounds have a high rate of infection due to the nature of the wound being deeper than it is wide.

I've decided to sell my permanent ice shanty and upgrade (in my mind anyway) to a large portable hub shack. I've ordered an Eskimo 949i which has 61 sq ft of fishable space, where I my permanent shack only had around 26. Next year I'll have a bigger hole and more room to move around if someone wants to sit with me. I found a buyer for my shack in less than a couple hours and had the Eskimo ordered later that day. Hauling the ice shack on a trailer was a white knuckle experience I don't want to have to repeat. The portable shack will be bigger overall, but should fit in the bed of my pickup or on the hitch hauler. I also don't have to store it outside year round, and will be easier to use early and late season ice fishing when ice isn't solid enough for vehicle traffic. I'll have to get creative for hanging the spear and decoys, but there is enough info out there from others that spear from portable hub shacks I should be able to manage.

Even though I didn't spear a sturgeon, or even see one, I'd consider this a successful first season. I learned a lot about what I'll do differently next year from a new device for dredging the bottom for scouting to a new way to lighten up the bottom of the lake to make the fish stand out that doesn't require a system of ropes. I had no problem with sitting and standing over an empty hole for 6 hours each day, now we'll have to see if I can do it year after year!

The season doesn't officially close until the 24th, and I do have to go back to the lake to hand off the keys of my old shack and try to fish up that decoy that's still on the bottom. One thing I'm going to do differently next year is use some thicker line for my decoys!

I don't spear and never have. I do know many persons that do.All the way from the many generations of die hard sturgeon spearers to to those that spend a cay or two.

This year conditions in many ways are not good. Water clarity is an issue in many areas, some very, very poor and thus much lower harvest and the full 16 day season is most likely.
Many are having some real issues with their shanties. With the big snow and wind many had 2-3 foot of snow build up around their shanties and if in a large cluster the extra snow weight caused the ice to sink and water came up and with the cold temps it froze the shanties right into the ice. Some who want to move off the lake spent over an hour just chiseling the ice to freeze up the shanties. Really different out on Bago this year. Some perch are being caught but no one seems to be finding the white bass.

Bryce

I'll be spending some time chiseling my shack out of the ice to load it up and sell it on Sunday. Clarity wasnt too bad where were at, we could see out sturgeon star on the bottom in 17 fow every day except opening day. Didn't help us see the sturgeon that weren't there. Next year we'll take a little different approach to scouting, but it is what it is.

In my experience, the spear hangs with the head submerged in the water. I’ve gone for the last 7 seasons and speared my first on Poygan last year. It was 60” and 41 lbs. I trimmed all the red meat (fat) off the filets and it was delicious. I liked it best pan fried in butter with garlic and lemon pepper. It has a consistency of chicken thigh or boneless pork rib. I saw my first fish on Winnebago this year, I threw and missed. It is a very cool experience unique to Wisconsin and on a much smaller scale in Michigan. I don’t live in the Fox valley area, so I rent a shack from a guide that is out on the ice every day. The ice conditions out there can be dangerous if you don’t know where you’re going. IMO it’s money well spent. Yes, you need a gaff as there are fish over 200 lbs in the system. Also, as far as the resource goes, the population is booming because of- not in spite of the heavily regulated season set by DNR biologists . There are more larger fish being harvested lately indicating a robust population of lake sturgeon. Sturgeon are even being transplanted out of the Winnebago system into tributaries leading into Lake Michigan to re-establish a population out there. Good luck!