DNR handles 700 sturgeon on peak day

The shores of Sturgeon Park were burgeoning Saturday with the crowds that turned out to see the annual ritual of the spawning run of the star attraction for which the park was named, but it would be hard to tell whether the crowds or the sturgeon came in greater numbers.

Fins flapping wildly in the rushing waters of the Shawano dam might have provided a close-enough view for most sight-seers, but for those closer to water’s edge, the fish swimming in the shallow, rocky waters were close enough to touch.

Three DNR crews handled 700 fish Saturday,

“A very productive day,” DNR biologist Ryan Koenigs said.

Typically, the DNR handles 1,500 fish during its entire spring tagging operation, he said.

Koenigs said it was especially productive because crews also collected and fertilized eggs for multiple sturgeon restoration projects.

“That slowed us down compared to just collecting and tagging fish,” he said.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services personnel will gather eggs for Georgia-based Warmwater Springs, which stocks sturgeon in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama waters, and the Genoa National Fish Hatchery, which raises sturgeon to be distributed onto the Legend Lake complex on the Menominee Indian Reservation every other year, as well as other estuaries.

DNR crews were joined by fishery students from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point who volunteered to assist in the tagging operation.

“That increased our numbers and made the operation more efficient," Koenigs said.

Crews were back on scene Sunday, but Saturday was the peak day for this year’s spawning season, he said.

On Friday, crews tagged about 400 fish in New London and Shiocton, including Sturgeon Trail and Bamboo Bend.

On Thursday, the DNR tagged 52 fish at Sturgeon Trail, seven fish at the Manawa dam on the Little Wolf River and 12 fish at the Clintonville dam on the Pigeon River.