Spearing Dinosaurs Pt. 1 | Ep. 5 | Fur Hat Ice Tour

Janis hops the state line over to Wisconsin and travels to Lake Winnebago for the annual lake sturgeon spearing season. Lake sturgeon are ancient and incredible fish, and the communities around Lake Winnebago have long revered and relied on these fish.

For generations, people around here have spent their winters trying to spear 100+ pound swimming dinosaurs through the ice. 50 years ago, the sturgeon were disappearing, and a coalition of sturgeon spearers started working together with biologists and fisheries managers to try and bring back this population. They succeeded.

Today the sturgeon in the lake are healthy, and thousands of spearers head out every year to try their luck at spearing a sturgeon, but the truth is that this is a difficult game; on an average year only 5% of spearers fill their tags. Local angler Jake Andrews is one of the few who consistently gets sturgeon almost every season.

In this episode Janis hooks up with Jake and his crew to prep for the season opener. Janis meets local legend Mary Lou Schneider who has been hand carving sturgeon decoys for over 60 years. Finally, Janis checks out the local Sturgeon Spectacular festival in Fond du Lac, where he learns that while some people are excited about to go out and try to harvest a sturgeon, others are just happy for a good excuse to party.

#fueledbynature #MeatEater

Presented by @EskimoIceFishingGear

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[hughten]

I'm grinning ear to ear watching a show about dudes sitting in a box staring through another box for chance of 3 seconds worth of excitement throwing a glorified garden tool at a prehistoric fish. Awesome video.

[KesselRunLX]

This may just be the most unique tradition and form of ice fishing in the United States. Proud to call the Lake Winnebago system my home fishery! Thanks for these episodes Janis!

[xekorf]

I’m really glad to see the discussion with the biologist. Coming from Manitoba, where sturgeon are catch and release only, it seemed foreign to me that people would not only catch and keep them, but spear them!

But after learning about the responsible fishery management and the obvious adherence to the rules by the community, I must say that this video changed my mind. I was ready to be all indignant about spearing a 100 year old fish, but I feel different now. Thanks for the education.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m not about to start lobbying to spear fish for sturgeon in Manitoba anytime soon — our populations could not support that. But at this lake, it seems sustainable.

[_WM]

I’ve never set foot in the upper Midwest but I’m fascinated by the culture up there. It’s cool to see these communities come together around hunting and fishing

[Booduh]

Gotta love the mention of the treasure trove that is St. Vinnies. The spawning events make it incredibly easy to harvest Sturgeon. The respect of the Wisconsin People have made a very big difference.

[orenjones]

Oh man. I grew up a by a small town on a lake in Northern Wisconsin. A while back I moved to North Carolina. This episode just brought it all back, the accents, the snow, the beer, the packers hats; I love it and I can't wait for the opportunity to get home. Part 2 is gonna be awesome.

[bradkees]

As a lake Winnebago spearer, having to miss 2 seasons by no fault of my own since age 14 when I was legal to spear, now 41 going into the very near 2021 season, I can't love this enough!! And our sturgeon biologist Ryan Koenigs in the video, I grew up just a few miles from their family, know them all pretty well lol. He's done an amazing job with managing our population. In 2010, my uncle speared a 165lb sturgeon, was then #8 on record. Now, he's not even top 20. Record is 212lbs

[taylorheintz]

Fond du Lac is my home town and I still learned something from this episode... super cool

[Blaine.W.A]

The picture on your guys’ IG has had me EAGERLY awaiting this episode. Time to slay some dragons!

[whyidontknow]

I love living in Wisconsin. We have fish celebrations, half the kids are gone from school on deer opener, they teach us how to snowshoe in phy Ed, and we have drive your tractor to school day.

[masonme]

this could possibly be the ultimate test of Papa Yanis' game conjuring abilities

[demonslaye]

I'm very much so excited to see more Meat Eater episodes related to fishing.

[buckfan]

Please do a ‘Das Gun’ mini-series. Buy a standard pump shotgun and take it across America pursuing game. Think ‘Das Boat’ concept except instead of passing off boat, it is passing off a Remington 870 or Mossberg 500.

[mattvittal]

This series is fantastic. Thank you for putting it together. I’m really enjoying each episode.

[abramfrank]

Loving the fur hat series so far!! Keep em coming

[kulr]

"Go on down to St Vinneys!" Grew up around Fond du Lac and can confirm it was a olac to go ♥️

[JoshSDshot]

As a guy who lives in fon du lac county Wisconsin this episode is the best lol if they come this year i gotta have a beer with the eagle!!!!

[cadena.sarauer]

I am from Neenah Wi this brings back so many memories from Jim and Linda’s to the lake to the sturgeon love this keep it up.

[jordanjensen]

Glad to see local Wisconsin content from Meateater!

[michaelbayerl]

Stihl MS461 is my all time favorite chainsaw! Awesome machine!