Reuben Hoelzel
People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin's Love Affair with an Ancient Fish
People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin’s Love Affair with an Ancient Fish showcases the cultural and scientific history of an iconic Wisconsin fish, the lake sturgeon. Throughout the process of writing the book, the authors interviewed community activists, sturgeon-spearing enthusiasts, spear and decoy craftsmen, and scientific researchers associated with the Lake Winnebago sturgeon population. Because of the cultural, social, economic, and scientific knowledge captured in these interviews, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Wisconsin Water Library preserved the audio files as a collection of oral histories. This collection, People of the Sturgeon, encapsulates perspectives on lake sturgeon as they are reflected in the book. The People of the Sturgeon collection includes interviews with outdoorsmen, scientists, and craftsmen associated with the Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin, lake sturgeon population.
The collection was compiled by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Wisconsin Water Library. Audio courtesy of the Oshkosh Public Museum. Recordings were collected as part of the research for People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin's Love Affair with an Ancient Fish published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Madison, Wisconsin.
National Capital Contracting
On December 29, 2006, Eugene Herubin interviewed Reuben Hoelzel for the People of the Sturgeon: Wisconsin's Love Affair with an Ancient Fish project. Reuben Hoelzel, born in 1916, was the eldest of eight siblings. He grew up helping out on the family's farm, including milking cows, tending to crops, and maintaining the land. Hoelzel provides a detailed account of his early life, including his introduction to sturgeon spearing at the age of sixteen. He describes the labor-intensive process of preparing for sturgeon spearing, such as chiseling holes in thick ice using tools he fashioned from scrap materials. Hoelzel reflects on the evolution of spearing techniques, the development of homemade decoys, and the community practices surrounding fishing and farming during his youth. He also recounts the hardships of rural life during the Great Depression, emphasizing the self-sufficiency of farm life, where families raised and processed much of their own food. Hoelzel remembers when sturgeon spearing was an economic necessity and meals with sturgeon were large feasts. He also discusses passing on the tradition to his children, how to clean and cook sturgeon, and decoy painting.
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