Wisconsin's 16-day sturgeon spearing season ended Sunday, with 1,426 fish taken, 26 on the last day.
The season's length is determined by whether certain harvest "caps" are met, or 16 days, whichever comes first. The harvest cap system began in 1999, and the average season length under it has been 11 days. (Spearing is allowed between 6:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.)
The shortest season was four days in 2008.
Spearing license sales rose again, with 12,423 issued for the 2011 season, compared to 10,860 a year ago. The season began with 4,321 sparing shanties on Lake Winnebago. That number fell by about half when warm weather and melting ice occurred the week of Feb. 13.
Meanwhile, fish over 100 pounds continue to make up a larger percentage of the harvest. This year the percentage of those fish, measured against the total take, was 7.5 percent.
Wisconsin DNR sturgeon expert Ron Bruch said, "At this point the percentage of 100 pound plus fish in the harvest appears to be truly reflective of what is actually in the population. We have been watching the trend of more trophy size fish growing not only in our harvest, but also in the spawning stock – both females and males – for over 15 years."
