LAKE WINNEBAGO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The 2025 sturgeon spearing season is over. By many accounts it was a success.
“This season seemed to be overall a really good season. We saw a lot of big fish. A lot of spearers were able to get out. That camaraderie was back,” said Margaret Stadig, DNR Sturgeon Biologist.
“I’m actually quite impressed with the number of fish that we ended up with, honestly. We had some obstacles to overcome this year. Unlike last year, with the bad ice, we had truly poor water clarity. So that was going to affect the season,” she said.
DNR Sturgeon Biologist Margaret Stadig says poor water clarity below the frozen surface coupled with relatively good conditions on the ice.
Over the course of the 16-day campaign, spearers in 2025 harvested 943 sturgeon. 326 came from the Upriver Lakes of Poygan, Winneconne, and Butte des Morts. 617 prehistoric fish were taken from Lake Winnebago. Across the system, 63 fish weighed 100 pounds, or more. Including season champion Hayley Herzig, who speared a 180.5 pound, 79.3 inch monster opening day on Lake Winnebago.
“We started pulling it up, and we saw the size of it. And that’s when we got a little panicky. When they pulled it up on the scale, and the weight popped up on the screen, we were all in, I was in disbelief,” said Hayley Herzig, Fond du Lac.
Herzig’s fish is the fourth-largest ever speared on Lake Winnebago.
“Likelihood this year, our spearers just got into the area where some of the big females were hanging out, and so we saw a decent number this year,” said Stadig.
And with the Lake Winnebago sturgeon off any endangered species listing, Margaret Stadig says many spearers are relieved.
“You could definitely feel right before the season, this kind of tension that finally melted away. People were excited. They had good ice. There wasn’t this listing looming. So because of that, I think there was a much more celebratory air this entire season, than there has been in a while. So it was very nice,” she said.
