Winnebago Citizens Sturgeon Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes

Attached for your information are minutes from the September 28, 2010 meeting of the Winnebago Citizens Sturgeon Advisory Committee. This is the group I meet with annually and that I have been working with since 1992 to review the status of the Winnebago System lake sturgeon population and fishery, identify management issues, and to develop recommendations for addressing issues including any new needed regulations or changes in management actions. This is a great group - the people who had a major role in shaping the current sturgeon management program and harvest management system on Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes. In the minutes, I’ve included many of the slides from the power point presentation I used during the 9/28 SAC meeting, so the summary is packed full of information you can share with your fellow spearers and sturgeon folks.

I’ve also attached a copy of my "Sturgeon Gonad Staging Pocket Guide" for your information (This will help you interpret some of the charts in the meeting minutes).

License sales for 2011 seasonLake Winnebago: 11714 resident, 1 fourteen yr old, 218 non-resident; Upriver Lakes: 483 resident, 7 non-resident.
Grand Total 12423 (10860 in 2010)Tag Return Letters from the 2010 Spearing Season

All of you who speared a fish during the 2010 season that had a tag on it and/or had its finbone removed for age estimation will be getting your information letter this week or early next week. We finally finished ageing all of the fish and processing all of the tag returns so your letter is on its way and will have information on the tagging history of the fish (if it had a tag), and the size, sex, maturity, and estimated age of the fish.
I’ll be sending out the 2011 sturgeon regulation pamphlet in early January 2011. Opening day of the 2011 sturgeon spearing season is Saturday February 12 - only 87 shopping days left till the start of spearing season.Have a fun, safe, and successful deer season if you are heading out to the woods. I’m heading to camp tomorrow.