SHAWANO, Wis. — Laura Geiger isn’t exactly sure how many times she and her family have traveled to the Wolf River in Shawano to see the spawning sturgeon. 

“We’ve been many, many years. We were just talking about that,” Geiger said.  "I don’t think I can count how many years I’ve been here.”

What You Need To Know

  • Sturgeon began spawning in the Winnebago system on Wednesday, April 7

  • People travel for miles to watch the springtime phenomenon

  • The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says the sturgeon are moving fast this year, possibly because of the rapidly warming water temperatures
  •  
  • Point 4 goes here

Despite seeing the springtime phenomenon many times, she and her family keep coming back.

“They are just so neat,” Geiger said. "It’s different every time.”

Her nine-year-old daughter, Natalie, agreed. 

“If they come up on the rocks and they spash at their faces, and they splash this way, they come up at my legs and splash up at my feet and legs,” said Natalie Geiger. 

The Geigers aren’t the only ones who are amazed at the sturgeon’s show. 

People travel for miles to catch a glimpse. 

“This is unique,” said Aaron O’Connell, Sturgeon Habitat Biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. "There’s other places in the world where lake sturgeon will spawn, but the winnebago system here kind of has the luxury of spawning fish in location s where people can get merely feet away and actually watch the spawning event.”

O’Connell and the DNR have been working hard tagging fish, counting the number of male and female sturgeon in the system, and do other research. 

He said so far in the spawning season, the sturgeon have been active and are moving fast. 

“Potentially, the rapid increase in water temperatures could have contributed to it, but for us it’s hard to predict how long that run is going to be,” O’Connell said. "We just keep monitoring these sites and when they show up and start spawning, we go and handle them.”

While the DNR has its work cut out for them this weekend, for people like Lynn. Zaffrann, who just want to watch, getting the perfect photo or video is the ultimate goal. 

“Did you get a good picture,” Spectrum News 1’s Andrew Havranek asked.

“I think I did,” Zaffrann said. "We’ll see!”

To find the best places to watch the sturgeon spawning this weekend, click here. 

You can also watch live feeds here.