Sturgeon Spearing is a WI tradition and the entire Fox Valley area explodes with excitement during opening weekend. It really is a sub culture you should witness at least once in your life. Silver shacks dot the lake and the landscape looks like a bunch of space ships that landed on the moon. Some shacks are painted in colorful patterns and are placed along the ice roads like cottages on a snowy trail. As you access the ice, there are often vendors selling hand crafted decoys, which look as if they were meant for hanging in your home as art, and not to be sent into the water to attract a fish.
Those of us that planned ahead purchased out spearing tags fro the DNR prior to Oct 31st. We now hold permits for the big weekend and just have to count down the days.
Our group will gather on Friday for the optional hole cutting ceremony. Watching the pros cut huge holes in the ice with special ice saws is pretty cool. They then push the giant block that was cut out under the ice to keep it out of the way. Afterwards we will get together at a local pub to hear stories of years past.
On Saturday we will meet at the launch and drive our vehicles out over the frozen water, crossing ice bridges as we go. We will be following our guide who will be leading us to his warmed up shacks that will be our little dark caves for the weekend. The darkness of the shacks allow us to see deep into the abyss. The spears are hanging ready to launch if needed. We will provide heating spearing shacks, the spears, cut the hole in the ice and give you a ride out to the shack if you don’t have a vehicle that can make the trip.
The season starts at 7:00 am Saturday morning and closes each day at 1:00 p.m. On Sunday we get to try again and repeat the same thing. The experience is thrilling. The DNR closely regulates the harvest and each fish harvested is counted. When the harvest caps are met, the season is over. If you want to participate in this event, you MUST HAVE purchased your spearing tag prior to Oct 31st.
When you register for this event, you will be given a spot in a shack for both Saturday and Sunday. If you spear one, you are done as your tag is filled. The vendor of the shacks required both Saturday and Sunday be reserved on opening weekend.
To register, CLICK HERE.