We originally signed up to guard sturgeon on April 15,with two alternate dates. When the weather turned warm, we received an e-mail from the Department of Natural Resources, asking us to move up to April 8. But the sturgeon had their own timetable, which is based on the temperature in the Lake Winnebago/Wolf River system. When the water temperature reaches 53 degrees F., the massive fish start moving upstream to spawn.
The weather kept getting warmer and warmer, as did the water temperature. Gary kept a careful eye on the reports the DNR put out so it was no big surprise when we were contacted to go to the Sturgeon Camp near Shiocton yesterday.
Sturgeon exist all over the northern hemisphere, but they've been fished practically out of existence in most places for their eggs, which are served as caviar. The same thing nearly happened in the United States. When Russian caviar became more rare, German immigrants realized they could use the giants that swam the Great Lakes. They took thirteen thousand fish out of the lakes a year.
However, by 1915, Wisconsin realized that the sturgeon could be fished out of existence and placed a moratorium on fishing them except for a closed spring season. Poaching continued to be a problem, but these days the fish are protected by a cadre of volunteers who guard the spawning sites. Almost a hundred years after the first protections, the Wolf River system has the only healthy population of sturgeon in the world. These days, you are likely to find visitors from foreign countries who are studying the Wisconsin system.
Our sturgeon are huge, the females often six feet or longer. Some of them are likely as old as a hundred years. The smaller sturgeon are usually male. As a species, they have been around for around 150 million years, according to fossil records. They were on earth before the dinosaurs, survived them and continued to swim and spawn. They are older than we were, and should we manage to kill ourselves off, they would probably continue on as if we were never here.
We began two hours early to look at some of the other natural areas. We started at Van Patten Road to look at the ducks and geese, but things were quiet there. We went on to the Deer Creek State Wildlife Area. We heard sandhill cranes but thought we had come up blank for critters until we realized later we had picked up some wood ticks, three for him, two for me. (Except that I just discovered a third firmly affixed to my scalp in my hair an hour ago.)
At Koepke Park, we watched the walleye fishermen and women maneuvering their boats around the landing. They were not doing well at all, because the walleye season usually ends with the sturgeon run.
Finally we came to the Sturgeon Camp and our little adventure began.
The weather kept getting warmer and warmer, as did the water temperature. Gary kept a careful eye on the reports the DNR put out so it was no big surprise when we were contacted to go to the Sturgeon Camp near Shiocton yesterday.
Sturgeon exist all over the northern hemisphere, but they've been fished practically out of existence in most places for their eggs, which are served as caviar. The same thing nearly happened in the United States. When Russian caviar became more rare, German immigrants realized they could use the giants that swam the Great Lakes. They took thirteen thousand fish out of the lakes a year.
However, by 1915, Wisconsin realized that the sturgeon could be fished out of existence and placed a moratorium on fishing them except for a closed spring season. Poaching continued to be a problem, but these days the fish are protected by a cadre of volunteers who guard the spawning sites. Almost a hundred years after the first protections, the Wolf River system has the only healthy population of sturgeon in the world. These days, you are likely to find visitors from foreign countries who are studying the Wisconsin system.
Our sturgeon are huge, the females often six feet or longer. Some of them are likely as old as a hundred years. The smaller sturgeon are usually male. As a species, they have been around for around 150 million years, according to fossil records. They were on earth before the dinosaurs, survived them and continued to swim and spawn. They are older than we were, and should we manage to kill ourselves off, they would probably continue on as if we were never here.
We began two hours early to look at some of the other natural areas. We started at Van Patten Road to look at the ducks and geese, but things were quiet there. We went on to the Deer Creek State Wildlife Area. We heard sandhill cranes but thought we had come up blank for critters until we realized later we had picked up some wood ticks, three for him, two for me. (Except that I just discovered a third firmly affixed to my scalp in my hair an hour ago.)
At Koepke Park, we watched the walleye fishermen and women maneuvering their boats around the landing. They were not doing well at all, because the walleye season usually ends with the sturgeon run.
Finally we came to the Sturgeon Camp and our little adventure began.
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