Leader Staff
Leader Photo by Lee Pulaski A sturgeon peeks its head out of the water at Sturgeon Park during spawning last year in the Wolf River. Sturgeon are currently spawning in the river around New London and could reach Shawano later this weekend or early next week if water temperatures rise.
Sturgeon could be spawning by the Shawano dam on the Wolf River by the end of the weekend — if water temperatures continue to rise.
The annual visit by the sturgeon is later than usual this year, but lovers of the large prehistoric fish might want to clear some time from their schedules next week.
Sturgeon began spawning Friday along the Wolf River Sturgeon Trail west of New London, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources sturgeon hotline, and at Bamboo Bend, west of Shiocton.
DNR biologists say water temperatures between 53 and 60 degrees are needed to draw the prehistoric fish up the Wolf River system from their home in lakes Winnebago, Butte des Morts, Winneconne and Poygan.
According to the United States Geological Survey, temperatures are rising above 50 degrees in the New London area, and with warmer temperatures expected in Shawano through the weekend, there could spawning activity along the banks of the Wolf in the next few days.
“It’s a sign spring is coming near and warmer temperatures,” Ryan Koenigs, of the Department of Natural Resources, said earlier this week.
Peak spawning usually takes place between April 15 and May 1, and it is usually a seven- to 10-day window.
Once the weather warms up, the DNR expects the fish will move in rapidly — and thousands of people will gather along the Wolf River to watch.
“It is so difficult to plan … because it is nature. There is no way of knowing when they will arrive,” said Nancy Smith, executive director of Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce.
The fish are easily visible from the river banks, drawing spectators to public areas along the Wolf, Fox and Embarrass rivers to watch not only the fish but also the DNR crews tagging them.
In Shawano, visitors descend each year on Sturgeon Park, next to the Mountain Bay Trail off River Street, to see the huge fish.
“This is really the only place in North America that you can see this number of sturgeon spawning in one location. It’s quite impressive,” Koenigs told the Leader last year.
Sturgeon will spawn in slightly cooler water if it takes too long to warm up, according to the DNR.
The later than usual start and cooler temperatures should not affect the survival rate of the sturgeon eggs taken by DNR crews, but the fish might be a little smaller going into the winter.
DNR crews collect eggs and sperm from the fish for restoration programs in Wisconsin — on the Menominee Indian Reservation, the upper Fox River and the Milwaukee and Kewaunee Rivers — and the Tennessee River System in Georgia and Tennessee.
The sturgeon is revered by the Menominee Nation. For generations, the fish used to travel to Keshena Falls for spawning. Once the Shawano dam was built in 1892, the sturgeon could no longer return to the reservation each spring.
ONLINE
You can see the sturgeon near the Shawano dam when they arrive via webcam at www.wolfrivercam.com/Shawano%20Dam.html.