Lake Winnebago spearer brings in whopping 177-pound sturgeon

VAN DYNE, Wis. (WLUK) -- Tuesday was another slow day for sturgeon spearing, but the day still brought quite the success for one fisherman.

James Gishkowsky speared a massive 177-pound, 79.9-inch (that's 6-foot-8 for you) female sturgeon from Lake Winnebago Tuesday. This is the seventh-largest fish ever speared throughout the system.

The monstrous fish was an F4 fish, meaning it was full of eggs and would have spawned this year. Those eggs probably weigh in at about 20 to 30 pounds in total.

Gishkowsky said he's only ever seen three sturgeon before snagging this one. His previous biggest sturgeon weighed in at 96 pounds -- nearly half of his new biggest.

Gishkowsky says he had to call in reinforcements to help him hoist the fish out of the hole.

"It's a rush when you get something like this. It's a once in a lifetime," he said.

Sturgeon spearing will continue Wednesday on both the Upriver Lakes and the Lake Winnebago System -- despite lakes Poygan, Winneconne and Butte des Morts being just three fish away from one of the trigger harvest caps.

Tuesday was the slowest day of sturgeon spearing yet this season, with only 72 fish being harvested throughout the Lake Winnebago System.

Click here to see the full totals.

The Upriver Lakes only had 14 fish speared -- three adult females and 11 males. If just three more adult females are speared Wednesday, that would trigger the 90% cap, making Thursday the final day of spearing.

Lake Winnebago had 58 fish speared Tuesday -- five juvenile females, 27 adult females and 26 males.

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Because of the warm weather and rain, the Neenah registration station will be closed Wednesday. DNR officials ask impacted spearers to register their fish at the next closest station; click here to view station locations.

Spearing runs until Feb. 26 unless harvest caps are met sooner.