From an outdoor recreation standpoint there are not many things in Wisconsin that I have not done. Today I am going to tell you the one thing that I have never done but I have always wanted to do: Spear sturgeon on Lake Winnebago.

Spearing can sometimes take on a negative connotation but on Lake Winnebago, it takes on a celebratory life of its own. It really should be called the Sturgeon Festival because that is exactly what it is. For 16 days it is an event that captivates the east side of our state. When the day’s sturgeon harvest numbers lead off the local nightly news, you know it’s a big deal. 

My guide for the outing is Dan Sturgeon. That’s not his real last name but it’s how I have him programmed into my phone. It feels a little like Dan and I are going on a blind fishing date in that we have never met. Connecting with Dan is a result of someone who knows someone who knows that Dan likes to go after sturgeon, and that I have always wanted to. It’s a perfect match made for the ‘Bago.

My spearing experience is very limited. Oh, I’ve speared fish before, but they were carp on the Mississippi River, and I did it with Grandpa Wally’s carp spear. Back in Grandpa Wally’s day, every household up and down the river had a carp spear for the early summer carp spawning season. In that area, at that time, carp were not bottom feeders - they were food. I used that old spear a few times and I am proud to display it in the Dave Cave. It’s a tie to Grandpa Wally and also symbol of simpler times. I can tell you that I speared my last carp just before I bought my very first archery bow and learned that I could use it to shoot carp too.  

To offset my lack of knowledge with sturgeon spearing I did what I always do when I need a crash course on something: I YouTube it. I watched videos and learned that the secret to finding sturgeon is to find the red worms that burrow into the mud. Find the red worms, and you find the sturgeon.  

I also learned that pinpointing the length, age, and weight of a sturgeon can be tricky business. Every site I visited seemed to have different information. If I use an aggregate sort of method combing data, a 70-inch sturgeon can weigh over 100 pounds and be well over 50 years old.  

The last fun fact that I have regarding sturgeon on Lake Winnebago is that at last count, according to the Wisconsin DNR, over 3,000 spearing shacks were counted on the lake. Historically, the harvest numbers have remained fairly consistent with a success rate of around 5%. So, with such long odds and such little experience, how do I plan to approach this first-time sturgeon spearing? That is easy, I'm going to rely on BEGINNER’S LUCK!

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