“Both men got into their canoes, and having rowed on the lake about twenty to thirty rods, they let down their anchors and threw out their lines . . . After five minutes his rod bent, and . . . one of the nicest fishes was lying in the bottom of the boat.”
The Settlers on Lake Winnebago, 1894

The Lake Winnebago system is a rich and fertile fishery. There is ample archaeological evidence in the museum’s archaeological collections to show that fish were a major part of the diet of prehistoric Native Americans. Excavation of village middens (places where refuse was thrown) has revealed mounds of fish bones. These early native fishermen caught their prey using nets, weirs, spears and primitive hooks. During the winter months, they speared fish through the ice. To read more about how Native Americans speared fish through the ice and for a brief history of ice spear fishing on the Fox River click here. During the spring spawning run, hundreds or perhaps thousands of fish were caught. Fish were smoked and dried to preserve them.

As the region was settled during the 19th century, fish provided a welcomed change of diet for many people. Although the Lake Winnebago system holds many different species of fish, walleye, white bass, perch and sturgeon were the preferred catch. Residents and immigrants considered the lake’s natural bounty as a blessing to be exploited. They literally caught fish by the barrel full, selling them locally and also packing them in salt or ice for shipment by rail to urban areas such as Milwaukee and Chicago. In 1893, O.H. Hampton, writing in the magazine Forest & Stream, said, “. . . during the month of October I took to Oshkosh . . . 400 barrels of fish from Poygan Lake, and this morning 21 barrels.” However, because fish spoiled easily in hot weather, it was difficult to preserve large catches and fish often went to waste.


When sturgeon moved up the river to spawn, people lined the banks and bridges, dropping large weighted hooks on heavy hand-held lines. When the sturgeon bumped against the line, they were snagged in the body and hauled to shore. For more information about sturgeon, please visit the Wisconsin DNR Web site at http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/sturgeon/factsheet. Sturgeon was valued for its meat, its eggs (caviar) and a high-quality gelatin called isinglass, which could be extracted from the sturgeon’s swim bladder.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, money was hard to come by for many people in Oshkosh and surrounding regions. For those out of work, it was often a challenge to put food on the table, but the lake and river offered a natural bounty. People lined up along the river during the spring white bass spawning run, filling stringers and buckets with the tasty fish. One Oshkosh lad, Joseph Boyce, recalled in a 1993 oral history, “We used to go up to Waukau [Creek] and spear carp. And we would smoke carp, and sell them for a nickel apiece.”

Although the practice was illegal, others caught fish with hook and line, mainly walleyes, and sold them to residents. “The guy that would deliver ice [for the ice box], you could have a fish deal with him,” said Hugh Carver in a 2001 oral history. “You’d leave him a note . . . And so he would leave you your three walleyes and you’d pay him.” The money from these illegal sales helped people make it through the tough times of the Depression..

Like the excess that occurred in logging the north woods or in market hunting for waterfowl, the fishery could not sustain such exploitation. The destruction of habitat through log drives, high water levels, turbid water, industrial and residential pollution, over fishing and excessive boat traffic all contributed to a declining fishery in the post World War II era. In the following years, a growing understanding that the Lake Winnebago system was a resource that was in trouble led to better regulation and enforcement. The system gradually began to recover.

Today, like many bodies of water in Wisconsin and neighboring states, invasive species have arrived in and are spreading throughout Lake Winnebago. This includes Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS), a deadly fish virus and an invasive species that is threatening Wisconsin's fish. Please visit the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Web site, http://www.dnr.state.wi.us for more information.

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