It’s always a time to celebrate
Sturgeon season a love affair for Muche family
VAN DYNE – From the time she was a toddler, Michelle Muche of Van Dyne knew her Feb. 13 birthday was just before Valentine's Day.
But only in 1995 when she met her husband-to-be Paul Muche did she learn it was also aligned with a unique piece of Wisconsin life – sturgeon spearing season on the Winnebago System.
"(Sturgeon season) is bigger than anything," said Paul Muche, 50. "It's Fourth of July, Christmas and Mardi Gras all in one."
This year Michelle's birthday fell on opening day of the annual sturgeon fishery. And it wasn't just any number. She turned 50.
To mark the occasion, Paul Muche had fireworks set off at 5:30 a.m. at their home on Lake Winnebago. Arcs of orange, red and yellow illuminated a snow-filled sky in the black of predawn.
"That was very fun," Michelle said as she accepted well-wishes from about 20 family members and friends. "Now the only thing that could top that on my birthday would be to get a sturgeon."
One thing was certain: She'd be joined in the attempt by a large group of relatives, including her four sons, and friends.
At about 6 a.m. Paul Muche led a conga line of vehicles north to the Asylum Bay boat landing in Oshkosh and then out onto plowed roads on the ice.
Paul and his brother Stuart, also of Van Dyne, had organized preseason scouting forays onto the big lake and chosen locations to set 20 shanties.
The spearing parties then split up and took their positions inside the heated, insulated shacks. Decoys were lowered into the water, ice was cleared from the refrigerator-sized holes. And at 7 a.m., the legal start time of the season, spears were hung at the ready.
Then began the process of looking down into the green, glowing water, waiting for a submarine with fins to appear.
Michelle was joined in her shanty by her friend Victoria Raddatz of Van Dyne and Karen Rediske, Paul's aunt, of Mayville. A radio played country music and the propane burner took the bite out of the air.
Michelle grew up in Ripon in a family that enjoyed the outdoors, including ice fishing, but knew nothing about spear fishing for sturgeon.
That all changed when she met Paul in 1995. She accepted his offer that winter to find out what "this sturgeon spearing thing is all about."
"When I told my mother, she said 'You're doing what?'" Michelle recalled. "But it didn't take long to really like it. The thing I like best is the camaraderie."
Paul and Michelle's four sons – Mayson (age 22), Evan (19), Alex (17) and Eli (12) – were also sitting in shacks on Winnebago. Two of them were joined by their girlfriends.
Assorted friends, all of whom met the Muches through spearing, were also in the vicinity.
"(Sturgeon spearing is) social, it's a big part of who we are," said Paul Muche. "And it's part of a great conservation success story."
In most of the world, sturgeon species have been decimated by overfishing, primarily to extract the eggs to make caviar.
In Wisconsin, too, the lake sturgeon suffered from unregulated harvest and poaching through the early 1900s. Officials with the Wisconsin Conservation Commission closed the season to help sturgeon recover.
Then beginning in 1931 the commission and its successor, the Department of Natural Resources, used protective regulations and collaborative management with local sportsmen to bring the sturgeon population back to robust health.
The sturgeon population in the Winnebago System (lakes Butte des Morts, Poygan, Winnebago and Winneconne) is estimated at 19,000 adult females and 24,000 adult males, as well as an undetermined number of juvenile fish, according to DNR reports.
A system of protective harvest caps allows an annual harvest but prevents more than 5% of the stock from being taken in any year.
The result is a stable sturgeon population with more big, old fish than at any time in the last century, according to DNR fisheries biologists.
Money raised from sales of sturgeon spearing licenses is ear-marked to stay local and help manage the fishery. About 12,000 licenses were sold this year, on par with recent history.
And local clubs such as Sturgeon For Tomorrow and Shadows on the Wolf contribute funds and volunteers to assist the DNR in bettering the fishery.
In spawning areas where poachers once took sturgeon from the shallows in spring, Sturgeon Guard volunteers now stand watch to protect the fish. And school groups come to view nature on full display.
There is no other fishery like it in the world.
Sturgeon spearing is a sport of contrasts: The cold air outside, the warmth of a propane flame inside; the blinding white of snow on the lake, the dark interior of the shanty; long hours without action, the heart-stopping sight of a 5foot fish that suddenly appears beneath the hole.
Michelle Muche has participated in the spearing season each year since 1995, even squeezing in time when she had infants. She has speared four sturgeon over the years, including one in 2019 on Lake Winneconne.
While many Americans don't take part in procuring their own protein, it's part-and-parcel for most sturgeon spearers.
Paul Muche prepares the fish either by deep-frying or smoking them.
"It's become such a family activity," Michelle said. "I couldn't think of February without it now."
The shanty-sitting portion of her 50th birthday celebration was marked by great company and conversation. But without a sturgeon sighting.
But seven others in Muche group did land sturgeon on Saturday, including Paul's 83-year-old father, Don, of Van Dyne and Craig "Chopper" Kelliher of Hartford.
Water clarity was better than average on Winnebago, with most spearers able to see the bottom in 12 feet of water. The conditions bode well for spearers in coming days.
"We've got lots of things to be thankful for," Paul said. "Being able to get our family together for this is at the top of the list."