Wednesday, February 8, 2012

First was the Best!

Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin plays host to a sturgeon spearing season every year.Here is my very first one and I have not been able to match it since.
It was 1995 at about 10:10 a.m.  and music from  the Jerry Schneider radio show was playing . After a 2 hour stint that morning and 6  previous  seasons   worth of looking down the hole  it  finally happened . A shadow appeared from the bottom of the lake and it lifted to meet my decoy.  I didn’t have much time to grab the spear and throw but I connected with a perfect mid body shot which drove three tines deep into the fish and then it was,” game on”.  The fish put up a nice battle  but I  was able to wrestled it out of the hole and  out the shack door. My first fish, a 86 lb beauty . I have speared several since but this one is etched inside forever!

3 comments:

  1. how do you prepare them and what kind of fish do they taste similar to?

    I would love to try some?

    Len

    ReplyDelete
  2. More, we need more information. That's a beauty!

    ReplyDelete
  3. They have a taste all their own. They have a texture of lobster and I pan fry and dip in butter. They are wrapped in red mud line ; We steak the fish out and begin the tedious process of removing the mud line. You get about 1/3 of the weight in steaks so a 90 lb-er nets you about 30 lbs of meat. Many people smoke the back foot or so.They are very rich and its hard eat a lot in one sitting. They spawn every 4-5 years . This fish in spawn would have went over 100 lbs. Its was in the 3rd year of development of eggs and the guessed it around 45 years old.This particular fish traveled over 70 miles to spawn .They are a cartilaginous fish.Very unique creature and we are fortunate to be able to harvest them. We also have a world renown fish biologist,Ron Bruchs, that keeps a great eye on them., Thanks

    ReplyDelete