Planning on sturgeon spearing this winter? Deadline to obtain license is October 31st

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is reminding sturgeon spearers interested in the Lake Winnebago 2026 sturgeon spearing season that they need to purchase their license before October 31, 2025.

There’s no limit to the number of licenses available for Lake Winnebago, and both residents and nonresidents can purchase a license through the Go Wild system or at any license sales location.

All license holders must be a minimum of 12 years old. However, military personnel home on leave during the spearing season and youth who will turn 12 between November 1 and the last day of the 2026 spearing season do not need to purchase their license by the October 31 deadline.

The Upriver Lakes of Poygan, Butte des Morts and Winneconne are managed by a preference point system and lottery that’s limited to 500 spearers. Successful Upriver Lakes tag applicants have already been authorized for the 2026 season and have until the start of the spearing season to purchase a license. Those upriver Lakes tag applicants cannot purchase a tag for Lake Winnebago.

The DNR says the Winnebago lake sturgeon population continues to be one of the healthiest populations in the world, supporting the spearing season, but protecting and maintaining this special opportunity has and continues to require a lot of time and resources. Sturgeon spearing license sales help fund the necessary management activities on the Winnebago System, such as staffing the registration stations during the spearing season and the work during the spawning season to gather data to set the sustainable harvest caps. The license sales also fund the large acoustic tagging project in the Winnebago System, which tracks lake sturgeon movement throughout the system and helps ensure all Winnebago lake sturgeon management decisions are made using the latest science.

The 2026 sturgeon spearing season opens February 14, and will run for a maximum of 16 days or until any of the predetermined harvest caps are met.

Additional season information can be found on the DNR’s Sturgeon Spearing webpage here.