The early morning air temperature was only 15 degrees on Feb. 8, when Hayley Herzig, her boyfriend, Charlie Loehr, and his cousin, Ben Loehr, stepped out of their truck and onto the rock-solid surface of Lake Winnebago. They’d parked on the north shore near Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and they headed straight for a wooden ice shanty where they waited for the lake’s short spearing season to begin.
“We got there early, before the season opened at 7 a.m.,” Herzig tells Outdoor Life. “It was pretty tight inside the shanty with three of us, and all our spearing gear and clothing. But when legal spearing began, we were ready.”
Herzig says Charlie and Ben are experienced Winnebago spearfishermen. They had scouted the area well before the opener, drilling test holes through the 18-inch-thick lake ice and dropping sonar devices to check for hot spots.
“They found a good place in 13 feet of water before the season,” says Herzig. “So right there we cut a 2-foot by 4-foot large hole in the ice with a chainsaw, because you need a big opening for spearing. Then the shanty was pulled over the hole, and we were all set for opening day.”
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As part of their preparation, Herzig says they used separate lines to lower an underwater camera and a LiveScope transducer to the bottom of the lake.The group also hung a white coffee mug from a third line to act as a decoy and draw sturgeon in.
“Winnebago is off color this year, so we really needed the camera and sonar to let us know when a sturgeon passed under the shanty,” explains Herzig, a nursing student from Fond du Lac. “The sonar was most helpful, and with experience it’s easy to tell what a sturgeon looks like on a sonar screen compared to a big pike or other fish.”
At 7:05 a.m. that morning, just five minutes into the spearing season, Ben spotted a large sturgeon as it passed under their shanty.
“I couldn’t see the fish but we knew it was there, so I threw my 5-prong spear straight down and barbed it in the tail,” Herzig says. “It was a lucky shot.”
With the spear in the fish’s tail, it pulled hard against the rope. The three anglers battled the big sturgeon for about 10 minutes and finally pulled it near the hole. They only saw the fish for a moment, but it was enough time for Charlie to throw a single-prong spear into the middle.
“It put up real fight, against two harpoons with heavy ropes attached,” Herzig said. “It fought us for another 10 minutes, then finally tired and we pulled it to the ice hole. That was a little scary – with the big flopping fish, all our gear inside the shanty, wearing heavy clothing, and all of us struggling to get it out of the water and not fall in.”
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They called their friend Justin Kraus, who was nearby in another shanty. With Kraus’ help, they managed to lift the fish out of the hole and onto the ice. Loading the giant sturgeon into the truck bed was a challenge, too, says Herzig.
After spending the rest of their morning in the shanty, they took the fish to be weighed, as required by the DNR, before 1 p.m. They went to the official weigh station at Wendt’s on the Lake, a lakeshore restaurant that also serves as a gathering place during spearing season.
After confirming Herzig’s fish as a female lake sturgeon, DNR personnel recorded a weight of 180.5 pounds, with a 79.3-inch length. While short of the Winnebago Lake sturgeon record of 212.2 pounds, Herzig’s fish is still a giant for the well-known fishery.
“They told me it’s the fourth largest sturgeon taken in the Winnebago watershed. I’ve been doing this for five years, mostly with my dad who’s been spearing sturgeon for 15 years. But this is my first one I’ve ever gotten.”
Anglers can buy a Winnebago sturgeon spearing license well in advance of the season, with each angler allowed only one fish. The season lasts for 16 days or until a specific harvest cap is reached, and the Wisconsin DNR says 290 sturgeon were speared during opening weekend — with Herzig’s being the largest. There were also more than 3,000 ice shanties out on the lake over the weekend, according to the agency.
Herzig says they’ll filet her big lake sturgeon, and then either smoke the meat or cut it into pieces for frying. She says the meat is great eating. And although her spearing season is over for the year, she’s already planning to go back out with Charlie, Ben, and her dad, all of whom still have licenses.
“It’s been really exciting,” she says. “I was so lucky to get my sturgeon, and I’d love to do it again and help the others get one.”
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