STURGEON STICKING TIME

It's opening day of Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) spearing season in Wisconsin. YES, Martha, I said SPEARING season.  It's the only legal way of harvesting this fish. They are said to be delicious....but I have never tasted any.  
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Many people hope to get a female (they're larger) and they have a ton of eggs....fresh-water caviar.  I've had caviar.  Nothing to get excited about....except for the cost of it.  If you'd like to sample some with out the expense, do this:  Get a handfull of very fine sand, sprinkle it liberally with  lots of table salt (sodium chloride), add a few goldfish that have been processed through a blender (for the slime factor) and you pretty much have what caviar tastes like.  I'll take a hot dog despite knowing what's in it.
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This fish is about half the size of a BIG one....it's about almost as tall as a man and weighs 50+ pounds....approx 23 kilos.  They are known to grow to 8 feet (2.4m) in length and weigh up to 300 (136kg) pounds.  They can live 100 years or more.
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This lake and the two upper lakes in the chain contain the world's largest population of Lake Sturgeon. The "hunt" is highly regulated with a quota for males and females.  The season lasts 16 days or until the harvest quotas are met....that might happen in one day.  Despite the worst ice conditions in the history of the event people are finding ways to get out there.  The lake is typically covered with automobiles...but there are open areas of water out there and only a few inches of ice.  The brave are taking only 4-wheelers and snowmobiles out there and many are walking out.
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Spearing is done through a large hole sawed in the ice that has a large tent or "shack" over it.  It's dark inside and light shining through the ice outside makes the fish visible through the hole...if the water is clear enough which isn't always the case.  Basically, it's a waiting game with a lot of luck.  You stay in one place and hope a legal sized fish swims under your hole.  Some people "fish" a lifetime and never get one.  Others just get lucky.
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After getting the fish, it has to be transported to a registration site, where DNR technicians weigh, measure for length (see EXTRA), check to see if it's been chipped and it has to be sexed.....strict limit on the numbers of males and females that can be safely harvested.
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And it can be very dangerous.  The spear head is attached to a large pole, several meters long, and has a rope attached to that.  After spearing the fish, the spear head is supposed to disconnect from the pole but remain attached to the rope where a couple of big guys can pull the fish out of the water and out onto the ice.
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It doesn't always work out that way.  Imagine sticking a 100 pound fish and the pole doesn't come free and there you are dodging a thrashing pole inside your shack.  It could easily knock you out or send you to the dentist.  Even if the pole does disconnect, there's a 100 pound fish that could pull you into the hole in the ice.  What if the rope gets caught around your foot and you get pulled in?  All sorts of hazards in this sport.  It's hard enough to do sober...imagine doing this drunk.  It gets boring waiting for a fish to swim by....this is Wisconsin and there's beer and booze in that shack as well as darkness.  Did I mention cigars?
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BEST IN LARGE.