Sturgeon Spawning

From Sturgeon Spawning

What ARE these people watching????

In the car, cameras in tow, I was going to check out what is making the headlines here in Northeast Wisconsin right now... sturgeon spawning!! I've lived here 25 years and never observed this annual event!

That was yesterday... I got as far as the gas station by my house (2 miles - I live in the country) and it started raining and even though it is very warm today... yesterday was cold! And the rain pushed me over the edge. Knowing that it wasn't a one day event, I put it off until today when the temperature passed 80 degrees.

What I discovered was like a small town picnic... kids running around.... dogs on leashes.... harley riders....people sitting at a picnic table eating lunch! It was amazing and it was a Friday afternoon! what happens on weekends!! Of course, the fact that today is supposed to be the only nice day could have had something to do with the turnout! I know it affected me! Kids would yell.. there's one! Look Mom! I clicked away with my camera and put them all in a slide show so enjoy the pictures of these prehistoric fish!

Here are some facts:

• The DNR says in any given spring about 20,000 sturgeon from the Lake Winnebago system come in to spawn. That is just about half of the adult sturgeon population.
  


• The average female sturgeon lays more than 400,000 eggs. Of that, only about eight will become fish.
  


• Sturgeon are Wisconsin's largest and longest-lived fish. Females live longer than males; 97% of all sturgeon over 30 years old are females.


• Males arrive at the spawning sites ahead of the females, cruising in groups of eight or more, often so close to the surface that their tails, backs, or snouts are out of the water.
  


• A female sturgeon reaches sexual maturity when she is 24 to 26 years old and about 55 inches long, and will spawn once every four, five, or six years thereafter.

Lots more info here at the DNR website: http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/sturgeon/sturgeon_spawning.html