The New 9:45 Thread..

[fish/hunt4ever]

Well another day of working long hours with nothing to show for it, but maybe figured out some issues while the exhaust fan was being installed and I could not run the machine, they got that done around 5 tonight so I put all the run on tonight to see if it runs better for tomorrow. Well have a great Thursday night and a good Friday everyone stay safe in these storms and various temperature swings.

[IFF]

Good morning Eddie 59 on the hill and will cool down to a high for today of 45 with some rain moving in.  Will be a shopping morning is about all that’s on my planner. 

Marv how long is the spearing season on Lake Winnebago. ?

[hunts2long]

26* and still dark. It was 36* and raining at about 9:30 last night. Glad I got the driveway cleaned up yesterday. Salt truck just when by the house.

The wife has to re-take a covid test today. We had to cancel the procedure she was having on Wed. because she took one of her meds. on Tuesday that she wasn't suppose to. They are doing it this coming Wed. but I had to move my Dr's appt. until later in March. We must be getting OLD.

WS, thanks for the update.

Drifter, hope you are feeling better.

Have a good day and stay well....h2l

[Whopper Stopper]

Marv how long is the spearing season on Lake Winnebago. ?

It runs a maximum of 16 days (Feb. 26) or until any of the predetermined harvest caps have been met.

              WS

[ICE WANDERER]

             Good morning Bud, ER's,
                           It's 19* and windy here on my hill.
                           Bud........Happy shopping.
                           Fish........It's always something with have to have a clean room, nothing can run when repairs are being done.
                           Marv.......Those Sturgeon are impressive. I see you had more snow moving in your area. Hasn't there been enough.
                           Wally......WE got about 8" but being heavy it settled to about 5" by days end, then last evening we got some freezing rain.
                           Eddie......Jon and I went to Paradox Lake on Wednesday, the lake trout and salmon weren't biting but the smelt were.
                           Dave.......I hope you are feeling better.
                           Zcm........I know it can take a long time to get everything straightened out, I've been there.
                           Yesterday I left early to do my snow removal job for my son, all went well. When I got home and was dong my driveway my blower
              stopped driving, so that's on the menu today.
                           I hope everyone has a good Friday either at work or out. Stay Safe and Healthy.

              IW

[masoneddie]

Good Morning Bud, Morning Everyone,
  Strong NW winds blowing steady 20-30mph with snow showers, 27* and dropping throughout the day.

  Bud…don’t forget your blinders for the shopping today, that new toilet may come in handy later!!    Glad the install went well for you! 
  FH4…good luck with todays run, hopefully the bugs are now out of the system!     Heading home tonight or are you staying another week?
  Marv…wow, that father and son team put together an impressive day…What a beast!  Thanks again for sharing the results!    Hope the winds calmed down before you headed back out on the snow removal. You’ve sure seen your share of snow this season! Glad you have plenty of options available to figure out the right load you can handle, enjoy the practice sessions! 
  Dave…ughh, sorry to read about the setback again! Hope the meds helped and best wishes hooking with a new Dr.    I’ve noticed a few more wind turbines installed in my area…have you given that a thought?
  Tom…I have a sister who lives in the Brooklyn Michigan area, mentioned yesterday how bad things were out there with the ice storm. Hope you took your time with the snow removal and didn’t lose power!   
  H2..glad the blower worked well for you yesterday.    Had some issues with mine again packing up constantly with that wet snow. Best wishes to your wife with the Covid test today.   
  Jeff…glad you both got into some Smelt anyway, nice!  Good luck with the snowblower repair, hopefully it’s just an adjustment for the drive! 
  Z..best wishes getting that mess cleared up soon, sounds like you’re making some progress…but what a PITA! 

  Not much on the planner with today’s weather, sure wish we didn’t get the snow yesterday…could be making ice with the single digit temps coming tonight. Power has flickered a few times but still holding on. Good day for a slow cooked crockpot meal..will have to check the freezer, lol.  Cawfee’s on…
  Have a great day all, be safe, best of luck to those fishing! 

[wallyworld]

Morning all,

Drifter......hope you feel better soon, this bug sure likes to hang on 

H2L.....sorry to hear about the mix up with meds/appointments 

WS.....hope MrsWS can work from home again today, safe travels if she HAS to show up 

IW.....any surface not treated is a skating rink here     watched the deer try to walk in the backyard yesterday, poor things kept slipping and sliding 

IFF.....safe travels to your daughter, is she still looking to find a home in TN 

FH4.....hope you have a productive day today   

Eddie.....hope you didn't need to do much shoveling yesterday 

TT......hope the clean up went well 

Another round of freezing rain last night, even some thunder and lightening    Today's weather treat will be the wind 

Have a good day. Stay safe, stay healthy.

[Whopper Stopper]

Good morning everyone

-12 at the moment, we may see +14 by mid afternoon. At least the wind has finally died down.....at least for now 

IW...Hope you can get your blower driving again We had enough snow a month ago, I can't imagine how tough things are for the deer around the shack

Eddie...A crock pot meal sounds awesome It sure would be fun to take in a sturgeon season, maybe if I hit the lottery I will head over there. Every year they talk about all the spearers that have gone 20-50 years without even seeing a fish....yet

WW...The wind sucks, the freezing rain is suckier. I long for the sound of lawn mowers My wife is sticking at home to finish her week.

Just waiting on some day light then I am going to finish up snow detail.

Hope everyone has a good Friday Stay safe and keep healthy.

         
                           WS

 

[wallyworld]

Good morning everyone
WW...The wind sucks, the freezing rain is suckier. I long for the sound of lawn mowers
          WS

 

OOOHHHH YEAH and the smell of fresh cut grass 

[mr.clean]

Good morning, cloudy sky winds blowing at 15-20 mph with higher gusts reading 40 on my balcony thermometer . I saw mostly rain from the recent storm. Some sad news locally early Thursday morning housefire in Monroe,NY. left a couple and their child dead .Police were first to respond and told by a neighbor the house was occupied they were unable to enter as structure was engulfed in flames. the fire department arrive joint mission put out fire find/rescue family once they were able to enter the house found the dead bodies. College Lacrosse season has started some Div.! teams have played 2-3 games already,Div.3 season started this week at colleges in my area. Depending on tomorrow's weather may attended the men's game at college in Newburgh.

I've been having some computer issues so taking it in to be looked over and repaired so maybe off-line for a few days.
Drifter sorry to hear about the medical set back may you get the referral and being feeling better quickly. Good to read you are getting the tax refund and it will pay for additional solar panels at the cabin.
Zcm-82 may the local river not have flooded it's banks . May you continue to make progress with the ID theft problem .
Eddie glad things went well with the new doctor and you received a handshake. May you not loose electric service today. enjoy the crock-pot meal.
Hunts2long good that you cleaned the driveway before winds and any rain arrived by you. Sorry to hear about the mix-up with your wife's medications may she test negative for covid and get to see her doctor .
Whopper Stopper may the winds be gone from your area so today's snow blowing is the last for a while /hopefully this Winter for you. nice that your have multiple load options with the .44 now to see which one suits your needs shoots tight groups and has manageable recoil . Quite the day of spearing for the father and son team .
Fish/hunt4ever I hope the exhaust fan work has helped get the numbers into range your company wants for the finished product. may your wife and children have things handled in relation to weather while you are away with work .
Ice Wanderer may the snow blower issue be a simple fix . glad you and Jon avoided the skunk on last fishing trip and got into some smelt .
Wallyworld hope you do not see any problems from everything being ice covered .
Tomturkey may you have your deck and driveway cleaned after this storm. hopefully you also will see no weather related problems.
IFF may you get the AR functioning properly. glad the toilet install went well for you.

Everyone take care. hopefully i will not have a long absence from Ice Shanty .
 Steve

[hunts2long]

My driveway is a skating rink.

All the lines are in and waiting for some SAP weather....h2l

[Whopper Stopper]

Good afternoon everyone 

Here are the results from day 14 of the 2023 Winnebago spearing season.
         
                    WS



Feb. 24, 2023 Harvest Update

As the snow passes and the sun comes out, spearers are starting to take to the ice again.  It was another slow day with 11 fish harvested on Lake Winnebago – no juvenile females, 5 adult females and 6 males. In total, 115 juvenile females have been harvested, 481 adult females, and 442 males on Lake Winnebago. Southwest Winnebago had four fish registered, the highest on the lake today. The big fish for the day was an 87.6 lbs., 72.8 inch M2 male speared by Aaron Muche.

Although a cold weather spell brought lots of snow, spring is just around the corner. As spearing season wraps up, many of the sturgeon ready to spawn this year are going to look towards the Upriver Lakes and the Wolf River to prepare for their migration. Just like many of us, lake sturgeon are looking to warmer weather in the spring. That warmer weather isn’t the only thing that triggers them to begin their migration upriver to their spawning grounds, higher water flows in the spring from rain and winter run-off are also major triggers.

For those who are still enjoying the winter and spearing season, good luck this weekend. Be safe!









Telemetry Part 2

We have tracked Sturgeon 33932 for nearly a decade using the network of acoustic telemetry receivers. She was first captured in September 2013 on the Wolf River north of Leeman, measuring just under four and a half feet and likely 25 years old. She was then tagged and transferred over the Shawano Dam to Keshena Falls.

By August 2014, she had not only swam below the Shawano Dam but had made her way back to the area north of Leeman, where she was initially caught. After only one month, she left Leeman …  and never returned! In fact, over the next eight years, she never traveled north of Shiocton. She spends most of her year in Lake Winneconne, but she swam her way up to Shiocton during the springs of 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2022.

We have found that many sturgeon make almost annual runs up the Wolf River during the spring, just like Sturgeon 33932. It’s likely that not all the fish that run up the river annually are spawning, particularly females. But these data reveal exciting information, and we hope to learn more from our telemetry data in the future. We last tracked Sturgeon 33932 to Lake Winneconne in June 2022. We look forward to seeing where she heads next! 

[fish/hunt4ever]

Well after a week of fighting and several emails and a few calls I think progress has been made. Once I connected my phone to the computer so that we could get help to remote in amd see what was going on and play with some things found that a syringe was not working since a column was plugged a bit, so flipped the column over and back in operation. Then valves were not lined up correctly so got that fixed and set things up for the run. Only problem is 10 minutes 30 seconds per sample. Hopefully got a bit shaved off that and will see how that sample list works for calibration. Wife and kids have handled the cold weather just fine, been spoiling the other cat and getting ready for a expo tomorrow. We'll time for some relaxation and get ready for another day in the office and some note taking making sure the weekend crew gets all the work done. Have a great end to Friday and a good start to the weekend.

[ICE WANDERER]

            Good morning ER's,
                      It's -4* here on my hill.
                      Eddie........Yeah...Th is snow sure was an insulator, I snow blew a the path around my house with my son's snow blower and
             there was slush at grass level. So I can imagine the lakes didn't get the cold penetrating throgh the snow layer.
                      Wally........That ice layer sure raised havoc with my deer here as well. A friend stopped over yesterday and his dog and the dog was not
             breaking through the ice layer. I can only imagine the predator's chasing the deer down.
                      Marv.........I bet there is a lot of snow at "The Shack", I hope the deer have their path pretty well packed down. It's good that Jo could
             finish her week out at home.
                      Steve........That's too bad about the house fire in Monroe.
                      Dave.........You sure have had a battle with what's going around, hopefully you can shake it.
                      Fish..........Hopefull y everything can get up and running for the weekend crew.
                      Bud..........I'm glad the toilet install went well, can't do without one of those too long.
                      Yesterday I didn't get to look at my snow blower, I will do it this morning, problem is if I need a new belt the shop is 35 miles away to get a replacement.
                      I hope everyone has a good Saturday either work or out. Stay Safe and Healthy.
              IW

   

[masoneddie]

Good Morning Jeff, Morning Everyone,
  Fairly calm and 7* on the Hill this am, some snow moving in late morning, high of 22 today.

  Jeff…yes that slush on the bottom of the iced over snow was a real PITA with my snowblower as well. Hope your snowblower just needs an adjustment to the cable…good luck!! 
  FH4…glad you discovered one of the issues and made some progress yesterday! Hope today goes well with better results on the samples. Good news on the family keeping up with everything…
  Marv…thanks for the sturgeon update and another interesting read on the tracking!  Is that a new line of dresses by Striker Ice the young ladies are promoting?    Hope the snow removal went well yesterday, the deer sure are having a rough ride this season out there.
  H2..hope it’s a good productive season for the new sugar shack!   
  Steve..dress warm for the lacrosse game if you’re heading there today, good luck to your team!   
  Wally…like your area everything here is coated in ice, trees sounded like glass chimes hitting each other yesterday, lol.
Won’t be too long now before the Spring weather arrives..or did we have that already?? 
  I-45…haven’t heard much from you lately, hope all is well with you and your family.   

  Went out to start my truck yesterday and warm it up, turned the ignition and nothing. Lights were bright, everything else worked fine but it wouldn’t crank at all, not even the clicking noise you would normally hear with a low battery. 
  Hooked the battery charger up for a few hours, still nothing. Did some research on troubleshooting it, appears to be a bad Neutral Safety Switch located on the transmission. No gear indicator light goes on when shifting from Park through all the gears and no reverse lights when put in R. I did try a a method of starting it I saw on a YouTube video that actually worked. Turn ignition on, put foot on brake, shift to neutral, turn key to start…it worked and confirmed the problem.
  Glad this happened here and not up on the Sacandaga Reservoir after the drawing, lol. So, that may be on today’s agenda or at least getting the new part anyway.  Cawfee’s on…
  Have a great day all, be safe, best of luck to those fishing!

[hunts2long]

4* and some clouds.

WS, great information with the report.

Eddie, glad you got the truck running. One of the Jeeps I had got locked-up in park. There was a small slot that I had to put the key into to free it up. Only happened once. I see that the 3 day Food-N-Fuel contest has been cancelled for next weekend.

Sun came out enough yesterday for me to get most of the ice/snow cleared down to blacktop.

The wife wanted a fish fry last night for Lent. The local Topps has one, we usually split it (only fish I eat), well we are going to have to find some place else to get a fish fry, it wasn't very good. Not many places to go without driving 15/20 miles.

Hope everyone has a good day and be well...h2l

[wallyworld]

Morning all,

Eddie.....always something with vehicles    glad you were able to you tube a solution 

WS.....love reading all the sturgeon facts and notes, thanks again for all your reports 

H2L.....sorry the fish fry was a disappointment 

IW......hope the repair goes well today  looks like more snow on the way for Monday night 

MrC.....thoughts and prayers to the first responders to the fatal fire, never an easy time for those folks 

Have a 1st birthday party today for a great nephew 

Have a good day. Stay safe, stay healthy.

[IFF]

Good morning. Getting 100% of the forecasters 50% of rain showers, but looking more like rain not showers   

Question for the regulars here Have any of you watched all of the over 700 episodes of Star Trek

Wow that gun scrubber stuff sure make’s clean cloth turn black in a hurry.

Will have to catch up with the thread sometime later today

Good luck if you out 

[Whopper Stopper]

Question for the regulars here Have any of you watched all of the over 700 episodes of Star Trek

I have yet to watch my first episode

        WS

[Whopper Stopper]

Good afternoon everyone 

Here are the results from day 15 of the 2023 Winnebago spearing season.

                WS




Feb. 25, 2023 Harvest Update

Many spearers took to the ice to enjoy the last two days of the season. It was nice to see families and friends taking advantage of the last weekend of this spearing season. Today, 29 fish were harvested on Lake Winnebago with 3 juvenile females, 15 adult females and 11 males. Pipe continues to put up big registration numbers, with more fish registered today (18 fish) than the other shacks combined.   

Two fish today were registered over 100 pounds. Both came from the Pipe registration shack, including the fish speared by Alex Wilkens at 101.6 lbs. (a 66.5 inch, F2 female).

With so many big fish registered this year, many might have noticed that these larger individuals look slightly different from younger Lake Sturgeon in the population. When sturgeon are young, they have sharp scutes along their bodies that are modified scales used for protection. As sturgeon grow to larger sizes, such as the 100-pound fish we see during the spearing season, they do not need the protection from these scutes. These scutes will then wear down, and either fall off or, as the lake sturgeon gets larger, the skin will envelop the scute. While other species of sturgeon, such as Atlantic and Gulf sturgeon, have scutes, these sturgeon will keep the scutes for their lifetime. Unlike Lake Sturgeon, these species have to contend with large predators such as sharks even after they grow to big sizes. 

There is only one more day for the 2023 sturgeon spearing season for anyone who has not yet filled their harvest tag for Lake Winnebago.








Telemetry Part 3

We have tracked Sturgeon 21147 for six years. This male was captured, tagged and released in the spring of 2016 on the Fox River in Princeton. Measuring just under four and a half feet long, he was probably close to 25 years old when he was tagged.

Soon after tagging, in May 2016, he left Princeton and entered Lake Butte des Morts where he stayed for nearly two years. By March 2018, he left Lake Butte des Morts heading back up the Fox River. Males typically spawn every two to three years, so it’s likely that he made his spawning run in 2018.

During this time, he spent three weeks in Eureka before returning to Princeton in late April 2018. It is also not uncommon for sturgeon to spawn at multiple locations. This means he might have spawned at both Eureka and possibly again in Princeton. He left Princeton in May 2018 and swam back to the Upriver Lakes later that month.

However, this time 21147 did not stay in Lake Butte de Morts but entered Lake Winneconne. He stayed there for nearly three years. In March 2021, he once again returned to the Fox River, heading towards Princeton. Only this time, Princeton was not his final stop. Three days after arriving in Princeton, 21147 was detected below Lake Puckaway. He was not detected again for over two weeks. It’s unclear whether he entered Lake Puckaway or remained in the river, but it’s exciting to see 21147 expand his horizons.

While many sturgeon return to the same spawning site annually, there are a few sturgeon, like 21147, that visit multiple different sites within a river system between years. We last tracked 21147 to Lake Butte des Morts in May 2021 and are excited to see what else we learn from this fish.

[fish/hunt4ever]

Well another day down and some data being collected and gone through. Seen some news from the home state of some of the drifting snow blocking in a couple of towns. Well hope everyone is having a good day and getting ready to have a great Sunday. Another work day here but it is 7 day pay. Have a good one and stay safe in the storms rolling through.
https://wakeupwyo.com/digging-out-the-one-road-to-hanna-wyoming/

[hunts2long]

13* and cloudy. We got about 2 inches of light fluffy snow yesterday.

WS, good report, enjoy the tracking info.

Talked to my brother yesterday, the lines still have to be flushed and taps still have to be put in the trees.

Not much planned for today, be safe....h2l

[masoneddie]

Good Morning H2, Morning Everyone,
  Fairly calm 15* this am, high of 38 forecasted.

  FH4..good luck with today’s events at the plant! Thanks for sharing the link..some amazing pictures! Hopefully the winds are declining and they can get the roads opened up soon out there! 
  Marv.. thanks again for sharing the updates!    Hope today sees a good harvest for the last day of the sturgeon season! Really appreciate your sharing this with us again…it’s become a 9:45 tradition here! 
  Bud…believe I’ve seen most of the original Star Trek episodes, lost interest with the newer versions. Hope the gun scrubber product is doing the trick!   
  Wally…Happy be-lated 1st Birthday to your Great Nephew!!    Hope the weather didn’t interrupt your plans yesterday. 
  H2…best of luck to you and the team this evening!    Tough to find a good fish fry around my area as well. I’ll stop at Ted’s in the Albany area on occasion, Price Chopper does a pretty decent job sometimes. Bob & Rons in Albany was probably the best I ever had..but like everything else, all good things came to end.
  Jeff…hope you had success getting your snowblower up and running!   

  Looks like about another 3-4” of snow waiting for me this morning. Just getting ready to clear that up. Not much on the planner yet, may mess around with my truck later, son has a heated garage I can use.  Cawfee’s on!
  Have a great day all, be safe, best of luck to those fishing!
 

[wallyworld]

Morning all,

FH4....that extra $$ will help with the new boat 

WS....very interesting to see how much those fish travel 

H2L.....hope the lanes treat you well tonight 

Eddie.....the party was in Boonville and travel sure was tricky, we took the truck instead of the car    saw several spin outs and one 2 car crash on the ride home 

IW.....guessing you're on snow detail this morning 

IFF.....hope the rain has stopped 

We got about 5" of snow yesterday, sure made the roads slicker than snot    guess the towns/counties/state all decided to not bother clearing/sanding the roads until after dinner since we came home around 4:30 and none of the roads had been touched yet   
One positive note, the snow has made walking easier, no more skates needed 

Have a good day. Stay safe, stay healthy.

[ICE WANDERER]

                  Good morning H2l, Eddie, ER's,
                              It's 7* and mostly cloudy here on my hill.
                              H2l.........How many taps does your brother run? I hope you have a good night on the lanes tonight.
                              Eddie......It's nice that your son has a heated garage so you can use to work in.  I hope the repair goes well. I spent
                  many hours laying on a tarp under a truck it the winter. Oh, I got a text from Jon, people were fishing at Million Dollar Beach yesterday.
                  We are going to give it a try tomorrow.
                              Marv.......Thank you for the Sturgeon reports.
                              Wally.......Like you and Eddie, a good coating of ice was awaiting me yesterday morning as well. I hope the birthday celebration was
                  fun for all. Your post came in while I was typing. No snow removal today we only got an inch or 2.
                               Fish........You're really getting hammered with snow at your home.
                               I went a got a new belt for my snow blower and the guy gave me good tip on how to make it easier to change the belt. The old belt sure
                  needed to be replaced. But when i got it changed out, It still didn't drive. Under further investigation the axel shaft and drive gear are bad. So it
                  going to the shop for them to fix. Luckily I have my son's snow blower here I can use till I get mine repaired.
                               I hope everyone has a good Sunday either at work or out. Stay Safe and Healthy.

                  IW
                               

[Whopper Stopper]

Good Sunday morning everyone

+14 on our way to some grilling weather If the guessers are right we may crack 32 by the afternoon. Rain moving in for tonight and tomorrow.

h2l...Best wishes to you for a few Turkeys tonight

Eddie...Good luck working on your truck, can't beat a warm place to twist a wrench.   I am interested also in seeing how the last day of the sturgeon season goes. Our game fish season ends today, first year I can remember that I never made it out even once due to the crazy weather

WW...Glad the ride to the Birthday party went without any problems We must have the same guy calling the shots here when it comes to snow plowing

IW...Sorry to read the blower fix was a little deeper than just the belt replacement . I hope the shop can get it up and going in a timely manner for you Good deal having your son's blower for a backup

The s-i-l had wanted to go over to the range this morning but not sure if that will happen or not due to the temps.

You are all welcome for the sturgeon reports. I will post the last one this afternoon. Often they send out a recap of the season a few days after the close, if they do I will be sure to post it.

Hope you all have a good Sunday Stay safe and keep healthy.

                WS

[tomturkey]

25* to start the day. Raqudacky needs to move back to Holland. Their start to the day has been in the mid 40s that last few days?? While every place else had been in the 20's!

WS Your posts on the sturgeon season had been a learning experience. There was a segment on www.michignaoutofdoors tv.com this week about hook and line fishing for sturgeon on a lake in Michigan. I did not know that this opportunity existed. They did not catch one but the guy had a video of catching one last year. There was also a Q/A segment with the DNR big game specialist. I wonder if he is related to the former turkey specialist with the DNR. That guy totally lied to me about a change in the turkey regulations being discussed. I was told by a DNR biologist at a Turkey Festival on Saturday. I called the guy on Monday. It came out in the newspaper that week that it had been discussed but turned down.

ww  It was the same when we went north yesterday. The county north of us normally does a great job on the roads. Not yesterday. I had quite a bunch of cars behind me. at least no one was getting crazy with their driving. I did see one accident. I was too busy watching traffic to determine what happened.

Iw I hope the fix on your snow blower does not break the bank. I awoke yesterday to 4 inches off nice light snow to blow.  I spent  quite a while busting the ice off of the roof of my Escape so it did ot fly off hitting a car behind me.

Friday I stopped at my sons in Grand Rapids. The ice on top of the snow was so bad he could not shovel his sidewalks. There are still a lot of places without power n parts of the southern part of the state. A fireman was killed by a falling power line the other night. he was buy a downed powerline when another limb came down hitting him with a live wire.

[wallyworld]

WS…..This one’s for you 

[Whopper Stopper]

WS…..This one’s for you 

 

         WS

[Whopper Stopper]

Good afternoon everyone 

Here are the results from day 16 ( The final day) of the 2023 Winnebago spearing season.

                WS



Feb. 26, 2023 Harvest Update

This is it; today wrapped up the 2023 sturgeon spearing season! The last day continued to prove to be exciting on Lake Winnebago with cold weather and sunshine. On this final day of the season, 53 Lake Sturgeon were harvested (4 juvenile females, 29 adult females and 20 males). Josh Ausloos speared the final "biggest fish of the day" for this season, a 106.9 pound, 75.4 inch, F1 female registered at the Pipe registration station.

This season was one for the books, with a variety of weather patterns packed into a short 16 days: warm weather, rain and a winter storm. It has not made it the easiest season for spearers to navigate. On opening weekend, only about 3,000 ice shanties were counted. This is half of what was counted in 2022. But for those that found safe ice, the fish were there and seemed to be plentiful. For the season, 1,405 fish were harvested on the entire Winnebago system (155 juvenile females, 599 adult females and 651 males). For comparison, 1,519 fish were harvested in 2022 when ice conditions were ideal.

The southeast corner of Lake Winnebago saw the highest harvest for the season. The Pipe registration station took the lead in number of fish registered opening weekend with 124 fish and has consistently had the highest registration numbers throughout the season with final count of 399 fish. The Southwest Winnebago and Stockbridge registration stations both had the next most fish registered at just about 200 fish each.

There were plenty of big fish to see this season, with 46 fish over 100 pounds for the season (9 fish from the Upriver Lakes and 37 fish from Lake Winnebago). The largest fish this season was a 177.3 pound, 79.9 inch, F4 female that was speared on Lake Winnebago and registered at the Southwest Winnebago registration station.

We hope every spearer had a great season. It was great seeing everyone back at the regular registration stations; we enjoyed being able to celebrate with you and hear your spearing stories.

Congrats to everyone who successfully speared a fish. We can’t wait to see everyone out on the ice next year.







This is from last year but still fun to watch....