Fon Du Lac, Wis. (WFRV) – As sturgeon spearing season approaches many are exploring the history of the season. One Wisconsin man says his love for the season drove fueled him to leave his mark on the Sturgeon Season. 
 
“I heard so much about sturgeon fishing cause Lake Winnebago is the only place where people really fished sturgeon you know cause there were no sturgeons in other lakes,” said Bill Casper Founder of Sturgeons for Tomorrow.  

 92-year-old Bill Casper’s love for Sturgeon spearing began when he was just 8 years old. Casper says he couldn’t wait to get his hands on the fish.  

“I just had to see what was going on out on that lake so that’s what I did, I was 14 when I got my first one,” stated Casper 

 In the 1970’s Casper noticed the amount of prehistoric fish was decreasing, shortly after he founded sturgeons for tomorrow and began harvesting the fish. The organization now has multiple chapters around the state. Casper says he hopes more chapters are created. 

“We have four around Lake Winnebago and way in the upper river lakes, they started a chapter a number of years ago and there’s five around this system where we are,” explained Casper 

While Casper is recognized as a sturgeon legend, he commends the work of spearers and members of his organization for advancing the fish.  

“Every banquet we had fundraising banquets we have given the DNR over a million dollars from our banquets all our money goes to sturgeon, we’ve been at it 40 something years 50 years almost,” stated Casper.  

The Department of Natural Resources says sturgeon registration stations will be available for spearers this season.