
Sara Stathas / Reuters
Sturgeons lie on blue plastic tarps covering the pool table and surrounding floors at Woodeye's Bar in Winneconne, Wisconsin on Saturday. Opening day of sturgeon fishing in Wisconsin is a day of celebration and socialization within the communities around Lake Winnebago. Woodeye's Bar in Winneconne, on the north end of the Lake Winnebago, rolls out the "red carpet" for the catches of the day.

Sara Stathas / Reuters
Fishermen arrive for opening day of sturgeon fishing season in the cold at 12 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 11 degrees Celsius) for opening day of sturgeon fishing season on Lake Winnebago in Pipe, Wisconsin on Saturday.

Sara Stathas / Reuters
Dan Loftus, a chiropractor from Germantown, Wisconsin, sits patiently in his ice-fishing shack on Lake Winnebago.

Sara Stathas / Reuters
Randy Becker, 56, from Brillion, Wisconsin, brings his 40 lb (18 kg) sturgeon to the Stockbridge weighing station before cut off time to register a catch on the eastern shore of Lake Winnebego.
"It gets in your blood," said Bill McAloon, a director of the conservation group Sturgeon For Tomorrow. "For the communities around here, this is a much-awaited time."
The season will run through Feb. 26 or until harvest caps are reached, whichever comes first.