Spearers hoping for better luck upriver

WINNECONNE - Mark Danke is in high demand.

"We enjoy it, we all get together," said the Winneconne man as he cut sturgeon spearing holes on Lake Winnebago.

The annual ritual of cutting-in, preparing holes for sturgeon spearing, was in full swing Friday. For Danke it's a family affair, with a handful of relatives setting their shanties just feet apart.

"It makes life a lot easier when you've got someone on each end of the pole, helping cut the hole," said Danke.

Thousands of spearers performed the same ritual on Lake Winnebago and upriver lakes like Poygan since Thursday. Spearers say conditions now are far better than they were just a few weeks ago and they say the key now will be water clarity.

"I don't know, it's going to be an iffy thing. I think the biggest thing will be the weather. If we get rain like they are talking about on Sunday, I don't know how the conditions will hold up," said Mitch Gebheim of Oshkosh.

More than 12,000 spearing licenses were sold for Lake Winnebago and the upriver lakes, but Jim Gehrke of Paynes Point Hook and Spear Club says he doesn't expect anywhere close to that many spearers on the lakes.

"Sturgeon spearers get excited no matter what happens, but I would say this year is probably one of the gloomier ones as far as conditions. The conditions are really tough out there right now and I expect it to be a really long season."

Still it's not drowning the enthusiasm of these eager spearers.

"I'll sit here, I've sat here before...many years," said Gebheim.

How long and how successful they will be remains to be seen.

Sturgeon spearing season can run a maximum of 16 days. The season has gone the maximum number of days five times since harvest caps were put in place in 1999.