Small creature comforts make spearing comfortable

STOCKBRIDGE - Miles out on Lake Winnebago, near Stockbridge, the winds howl across the ice. But inside Nate and Celeste Leider's rented shack, all you hear is Garrison Keillor's radio show coming through the built in stereo system.

"They call this the Taj Mahal,” said Celeste confidently about the shack - comparable to a generous-sized college dormitory single. “They do! I'm not making that up!"

Indian, white marble mausoleum it is not, Leider says the wood-framed, insulated and thermostat controlled shack is a long cry from the one she remembers spearing in with her dad.

"In the 70s, it was, I remember it being really cold and boring, because I think we went all day,” said Leider reminiscing about the small, drafty shack, compared to her present digs. "We had six people in here a little bit ago.”

A short distance away from the Leiders is Brian Van Asten's shack.

"This furnace is nice cause it runs 24 hours a day," said Van Asten, while staring into the hole in the ice. "Usually we keep it about 70, 80 degrees in here, so, I've been in shorts before."

Though about half the size of the "Taj Mahal," Van Asten and his wife Colleen say, besides the furnace and spears – not much else is needed.

"It's got the card table, so you know, if the fishing ain't (sic) hot,” explained Van Asten, “then you can play some cards, have some beverages."

However, on shore, waiting to weigh and measure the sturgeon brought in is Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources biologist Kendall Kamke and his fish-kitsch filled registration shack.

"You like talking to people," said Kamke of his job registering the prehistoric fish and interacting with the spearers.

To say Kamke has swallowed the culture of sturgeon hook, line and sinker would probably be incorrect, as his hat is filled with several sturgeon spear pins and sturgeon.

"I said, well, I got some sturgeon junk, like pins or lapel things,” said Kamke. “So I just started tacking them on the hat."

Kamke says the homey interior decorating – like the outdoorsy hunting and fishing-themed curtains, chairs and camping stove and coffee pots – helps make the days more comfortable; especially if the season runs the full 16 days.

And hanging from the ceiling and sitting on shelves is his collection of sturgeon decoys, which has been growing since he started the interior design work in 2000.

"It's turned into kind of a sick little hobby of collecting them. I actually just put some name tags on them so I can remember who I had bought them from or who gave them to me,” said Kamke. “At least when I get senile, I can remember who made these decoys," he said, laughing.

And be a conversation starter for whoever may walk in and sit down; the digital recorder at the ready for a sturgeon story of someone's lifetime.