Mild weather not helping sturgeon preps

OSHKOSH - Setting your sights on spearing a sturgeon this season?

You may want to think twice about driving your vehicle on Lake Winnebago ice – if the mild temperatures continue.

It's almost warm when the sun decides to shine here at Lake Winnebago in Oshkosh.

There are now less than two weeks on the calendar before sturgeon spearers can go out on the lake.

But the ice conditions aren’t the greatest for a season that brings millions of dollars into the region.

With the mild weather and inconsistent temperatures Northeast Wisconsin’s experienced so far this winter, it’s not a good combination to make ice.

So while many people might enjoy the milder temperatures, Scott Engel doesn’t.

"You keep expecting to have that bitter cold coming and we just had that short little snap," said Engel, president of the Otter Street Fishing Club in Oshkosh.

Engel says the mild weather hasn't made the ice thick enough to drive on.

He adds, normally the club would already have installed its car bridges spanning the lake's ice cracks.

But as of right now, nothing has been done because he says the lake ice is too inconsistent.

"There still are going to be those types of cracks that they have to get across and we will now be doing something different,” said Engel. “Where we have a lot lighter, smaller bridges for ATVs and snowmobiles.”

If you’ve ever had your car, truck – really anything – fall through frozen ice in Northeastern Wisconsin, you’ve probably met Don Herman.

Herman knows a lot about ice on lakes, because he’s been pulling people's cars and trucks out of them for more than 30 years.

"Right here, we have 12 inches of ice,” said Herman, showing Lake Winnebago’s ice thickness 50 yards from shore.

“But if you walk just over here, (the ice will) go to six (inches),” said Herman, walking just 20 feet further into the lake.

Herman, also a member of the Otter Street Fishing Club, is in charge of building the lighter ATV and snowmobile bridges.

He says though the lake is mostly covered in ice, spearers shouldn't try driving out onto the ice - if the weather stays like it is.

"There's a lot of cracks on the lake. A lot,” said Herman. “When we flew over [the lake], there's a lot of cracks (in it) because there's not a lot of ice. It moves around a lot. You got to be careful."

Thousands are expected to turn out for sturgeon season this year.

The DNR says a record 12, 680 sturgeon licenses were sold this year, compared to last year’s previous record of 12,423.

Sturgeon season is a big money maker for Wisconsin.

In the Lake Winnebago and upper lakes region alone, it reels in around $3.5 million each year.

With that being said, the DNR says it expects spearers will head out onto the ice to take part in their annual traditions, no matter the ice thickness.

"Sturgeon spearers know how to do it right,” said Ron Bruch, the DNR fisheries biologist in Oshkosh. “They're going to be out there in full force opening weekend."

So when it comes to getting out onto and around the dicey patches of ice, veteran spearers - like Greg Golliher - say they'll make do with their snowmobiles or ATVs.

"Little more work, we enjoy that too. It ain't going to be that big of a deal,” said Golliher.