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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 16, 2025
Contact: Margaret Stadig, DNR Winnebago System Sturgeon Biologist
Margare...@wisconsin.gov or 920-410-8670
Purchase Your Sturgeon Spearing License By Oct. 31
 Spearers must buy a license by Oct. 31 if they wish to harvest a sturgeon from Lake Winnebago during the 2026 sturgeon spearing season. / Photo Credit: Jenna Ingbretson
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds all spearers interested in harvesting a lake sturgeon from Lake Winnebago during the 2026 sturgeon spearing season to purchase their license before Oct. 31, 2025.
There are an unlimited number of licenses available for Lake Winnebago, and both residents and nonresidents can purchase a license through the Go Wild system or at any license sales location.
All license holders must be a minimum of 12 years old. However, military personnel home on leave during the spearing season and youth who will turn 12 between Nov. 1, 2025, and the last day of the 2026 spearing season do not need to purchase their license by the Oct. 31 deadline.
The Upriver Lakes fishery (lakes Poygan, Butte des Morts and Winneconne) is managed by a preference point system and lottery that is limited to 500 permitted spearers. Successful Upriver Lakes tag applicants have already been authorized for the 2026 season and have until the start of the spearing season to purchase a license. Successful Upriver Lakes tag applicants cannot purchase a tag for Lake Winnebago.
The Winnebago lake sturgeon population continues to be one of the healthiest populations in the world, supporting the spearing season, but protecting and maintaining this special opportunity has and continues to require a lot of time and resources. Sturgeon spearing license sales help fund the necessary management activities on the Winnebago System, such as staffing the registration stations during the spearing season and the work during the spawning season to gather data to set the sustainable harvest caps. The license sales also fund the large acoustic tagging project in the Winnebago System, which tracks lake sturgeon movement throughout the system and helps ensure all Winnebago lake sturgeon management decisions are made using the latest science.
The 2026 sturgeon spearing season will open on Feb. 14, 2026, and will run for a maximum of 16 days or until any of the predetermined harvest caps are met.
Additional season information can be found on the DNR’s Sturgeon Spearing webpage.
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