Video: 177-Pound Sturgeon Speared on Wisconsin’s Lake Winnebago

As stated on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website: “The Winnebago system is home to one of North America's largest lake sturgeon populations and hosts a unique winter spear fishery. Further, the system is one of only two locations where lake sturgeon can be harvested with a spear (Black Lake, Michigan is the other). The first modern sturgeon fishery took place in 1932. Although regulations have changed through time, the premise of using a spear to harvest a sturgeon through the ice has remained constant.”

In the Lake Winnebago region, sturgeon spearing is a tradition shared by generations of anglers. Family and friends gather on the ice and pursue sturgeon as a group. If someone is lucky — and skilled — enough to spear one, that angler’s success is celebrated and shared.

The sturgeon spearing season on the Lake Winnebago system begins on the second Saturday in February and lasts for 16 days, or until any of the sex-specific harvest caps have been reached. Spearers check this page of the Wisconsin DNR website for daily updates on the season. Cost of a sturgeon spearing license for Wisconsin residents is $20; nonresidents pay $65.

The YouTube video below from NBC 26 (northeast Wisconsin) details a massive female sturgeon speared on Feb. 14, 2023 by James Gishkowsky. It weighed 177.3 pounds and measured 79.9 inches in length. As the chart below shows, it’s the seventh largest sturgeon ever speared from the Lake Winnebago system.

The largest sturgeon ever speared on the Lake Winnebago system was a 212.2 pounder in 2010; it was 84.2 inches long. Interestingly, it’s not necessarily the longest sturgeon that weigh the most. For example, No. 15 on the all-time weight list is a 171 pounder, and it was 85.5 inches long. That fish was 1.3 inches longer than the heaviest sturgeon of all time on Lake Winnebago, but it weighed 41.2 pounds less.

Gishkowsky told a reporter from NBC 26, ““It started off just a normal day, I was out there, I was the only one on the ice. The fish swam past my cameras. I speared him in the spine, and then I pulled him up to see how big, and he was heavy, so once I saw him I got on the phone and said, ‘Shawn, I’m gonna need some help.’”

Click here to check out the 2-minute news video learn more about Gishkowsky’s monster sturgeon.