Saturday, February 9, 2013

Foggy Morning Above & Below

Opening morning of the 2013 Lake Winnebago System Sturgeon Spearing Season was a foggy one, on both sides of the ice.  Anglers were greeted with thick fog that covered the lake this morning, making for hazardous travel for spearers.  A GPS was essential to navigate the fog and find your shack this morning.  Once in the shack, many spearers have reported that the clarity they had yesterday had worsened overnight.  Most spearers are reporting 4-8 feet of water clartity, with the clearest areas having 9-10 feet of visibility.

A good tip to help improve visibility in your hole this season is to clear the snow surrounding your shack.  This allows sunlight to penetrate through the ice better, lightening things up and improving how far you can see. 

With rain forecasted to hit the Lake Winnebago area on Sunday, spearers need to keep in mind the effects the rain will have on ice conditions.  Generally rain causes high traffic areas like main roads and landings to deteriorate quickly.  Once the water on top of the ice finds somewhere to drain into the lake, that area will quickly begin to erode causing danger.  Plowed roads also tend to flood quickly when rain falls on snow covered ice, since the rain melts the snow on both sides of the road.  Play it safe and avoid these problem areas on Sunday if we get a good amount of rain!

The coming rain will also most likely further hinder water clarity, which is quickly making the 2013 Spearing Season a tough go for spearers.

If you are lucky enough to get a Sturgeon, please head over to the message board and post your pictures and a brief story!

Good luck to all spearers, and remember safety first!

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