Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Contributed Photo Wescott native Johnathan Schneider, left, poses with friends Nate Schweitzer, center, and Kevin Carstedt with the 115.2-pound sturgeon Schneider speared Feb. 15 on Lake Winnebago.
Contributed Photo John Schneider, left, of Wescott, poses with friend Rob Steffes and the 115.2-pound sturgeon Schneider speared Feb. 15 on Lake Winnebago.
For the past six years, Shawano native Johnathan Schneider had no success spearing sturgeon on Lake Winnebago.
On Feb. 15, his fortunes changed, as the 32-year-old town of Wescott resident tagged a 115.2-pound female sturgeon that measured 68.5 inches.
“It was kind of like surreal,” said Schneider, who had never thrown a spear before in his life. “Once we got it out, we couldn’t believe it could happen.”
Schneider was introduced to sturgeon spearing by his friend Ryan Milske and has been traveling to Lake Winnebago every year since. He has fished from his own shack for the past three seasons.
Schneider, one of 54 spearers to get a fish over 100 pounds so far this season, was joined on the ice Feb. 15 by friends Nate Schweitzer and Kevin Carstedt, who made the trek up from Milwaukee.
“After hours of looking down a hole, eating jerky and pretzels, we figured we were going to be witness to a traditional day of uneventful spearing,” Schweitzer said.
About 12:25 p.m., Schneider, who said he had recently rearranged the spear and other equipment around the heated hut, spotted the sturgeon. In his haste, he fumbled the spear but quickly sent it into the cloudy water.
“You have two seconds to decide if you’re going to pick the spear up and throw it or not,” Schneider said.
Schweitzer said he asked Schneider, “did you get one,” and the response was “grab the gaff.”
“I then shouted to the fellas and everyone went into action,” Schweitzer said. “Kevin began throwing everything not nailed down out of the shack onto the ice. John began untying the decoys and pipes.”
Rob Steffes, a friend of Schneider’s who stopped by minutes earlier, grabbed another spear.
Schneider had just one tine of the spear in the gill plate of the sturgeon, so Steffes pierced it with his.
“Luckily he was there,” Schneider said. “Because we needed that second spear to make sure we got it in. It didn’t fight a whole lot, luckily, because I had barely had it speared.”
Steffes exclaimed that Schneider had a large sturgeon on his spear, but Schneider didn’t want to get his hopes up before seeing it up close.
“The other guys were freaking out, especially the other guy with the spear,” Schneider said. “I had to keep telling him to shut up.”
With the help of his friends, Schneider was able to pull the fish straight out of the water, becoming part of the 9 percent of anglers who have successfully speared a sturgeon on the state’s largest inland lake.
“We then collectively began yelling and cheering,” Schweitzer said. “We were high-fiving and giving hugs like one of us had heard we were going to be a father for the first time. We must have been quite boisterous because the old-timers began coming over in their pick up trucks to see the catch.”
Schneider’s sturgeon was the second-largest fish of the day, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
With four days remaining in the season, 847 sturgeon have been speared this year.