Leader Staff
Leader Photo by Tim Ryan Crowds gather on the shores at Shawano dam Saturday at Sturgeon Park to get a glimpse of sturgeon spawning on what was the peak day of activity this season.
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski A pair of sturgeon connect near some rocks on the Wolf River shoreline at Sturgeon Park. Thousands of people visited Shawano over the weekend to witness the sturgeon spawning.
The shores of Sturgeon Park were burgeoning Saturday and Sunday 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 — and nearly 250 more Sunday.
“There was little to no activity (Monday) though,” Koenigs said, “so it looks like they are pretty well done.”
Typically, the DNR handles 1,500 fish during its entire spring tagging operation, Koenigs said.
The largest fish tagged below the Shawano dam this year was 77.7 inches, about 10 inches shy of the record set in 2012, when an 87.5-inch, 240-pound fish was netted.
The DNR commended the thousands of people who went to the dam during the weekend rush.
“For the most part, they were respectful and allowed us to do our jobs,” Koenigs said.
The spawning season was shorter and more intense than most years. Warm, sunny weather helped heat up the proceedings, according to the DNR.
Koenigs said the weekend 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 gathered 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 about 15 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. “They were critical. Without them, we would not have tagged as many as we did. They made up half of our workforce.”
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.