Greenville, Wis. – Greenville brothers Jack, Riley, Sam and Evan O’Connell, all 21, went four-for-four spearing sturgeon on Poygan Lake this year. One of the sturgeons is among the heaviest ever seen from Lake Poygan.
The quadruplets were born on Christmas Day 2001. Sam and Riley are students at UW-Stout majoring in engineering/mechanical design. Evan and Jack work full time in construction and manufacturing in the Fox Valley.
Their father, Dennis, is an avid outdoorsman. He has been piercing sturgeon since childhood. When the brothers were little, they spent a lot of time with their dad on Lake Winnebago during sturgeon fishing season.
“I had a few with me when I speared the fish,” Dennis said.
Eventually, all four brothers purchased spearing licenses and became full participants in the sport on Lake Winnebago.
“I was about 13 when I started spearing,” Sam said. “I remember watching my dad and my uncles and sitting in the cabin with them.”
According to Dennis and Sam, Evan is “lucky.” He has impaled several sturgeons over the years. Last year Sam speared his first sturgeon. Riley topped one a few years ago, but Jack hadn’t topped one until this season.
Eight years ago, the quadruplets began as a group to apply for sturgeon tags in the upper lakes. They were inspired by the high success rate of spearing on Lake Poygan. Late last year, they got the news that they had been selected for tag.
Dennis spent a lot of time before this year’s sturgeon season looking for a place to set up.
“I spent four or five weekends there researching for them,” Dennis said. “We apply cameras, we will sit in a shed and look down drill holes. Poygan is great fun. You see lots of other fish – northerns, muskies and garfish.
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Dennis said he had three huts of his own, so he was one shy of the group.
“My dad volunteered at his cabin,” Dennis said. “He was sitting with Jack.”
Sam said that on opening day, his dad was busy going from hut to hut, giving encouragement and hoping he would be in one of the huts when the sturgeon was pierced.
Jack was the first brother to be reunited. Around 9 a.m. on opening day, he speared a 24-pound, 46.3-inch sturgeon.
Evan saw fish swimming early in the morning while waiting for the 7am season opener. After opening, a sturgeon illegally swam into its burrow.
Over the next few hours, a tiny sturgeon swam by several times. Jack wasn’t sure if it was the same sturgeon he had passed many times or a separate sturgeon.
At about 10 a.m. a 46.9-pound, 53.5-inch specimen swam through and Evan speared it. Riley speared his 15-pound, 40-inch spear a little later, leaving Sam as the only brother who didn’t throw a spear on opening day.
Sam moved to Evan’s cabin slow Saturday morning and went there on Sunday morning. Evan and Riley sat down next to him. It was Sam’s last day to wander around before going back to school, so as the hours passed he became restless.
Around 10 a.m. a sturgeon flew into the hole from under Sam’s feet. He knew he was gigantic when he threw the spear, but Sam didn’t know he was huge then. The sturgeon fled. Sam fought the immense fish for 10 minutes before he dropped it into the hole.
“Damn, this is huge,” Sam shouted. “Riley threw it into the middle of the fish. I grabbed his head and Evan grabbed his tail. It took the three of us to pull him out of the hole.
The sturgeon measured 76.1 inches and weighed 162.6 pounds. It is reported to be the fifth heaviest sturgeon ever pierced from Poygan. According to a Department of Natural Resources chart, the sturgeon was about 80 years senior.
The news about the great sturgeon quickly spread among their friends. A group of spearmen stationed nearby approached. One person had a photo of a huge sturgeon from the day before the season opened. There is no certainty, but there is a high probability that it was the same sturgeon that Sam speared.
The quadruplets’ older brother, Nicholas, was unable to join them, but when he heard about their success, he sent his congratulations.
Dennis missed Sam’s success because he was sitting on a Winnebago in his sturgeon shack. A week later he pierced a sturgeon there.
Sam’s sturgeon had about 50 pounds of roe, which the family processed into 40 pounds of caviar. They shared caviar with family and friends who were hanging out with them.
