Monitoring for Invasive Round Goby Best Done By Just Fishing

We’re in the midst of another Wisconsin spring where recreational activities on our waterways are plentiful! The sun is shining and we’re dusting off our fishing gear and planning for warm days ahead. But if you’re in need of another reason to go fishing, we’ve got great news. We need your help searching for a particular fish this year.

In June 2025, the invasive round goby was caught in Lake Winnebago near Oshkosh. Several additional findings of the fish occured throughout the end of last year. But given the large number of predatory fish in the lake as well as the lake morphology, there’s a real question of what happened over the winter to the goby. Are they spreading to other portions of the lake? Are the walleye and other predatory fish eating them and keeping the goby numbers in check? These are the questions we are trying to solve. But do to that, we have to find the goby. And the easiest way to find it? Go fishing.

Round goby eat all sorts of food and love to go after bait on hooks. So when you’re fishing on Lake Winnebago for other species of fish (bass, walleye, perch, etc.), you might end up catching a round goby. If you do, please report it using the Round Goby Reporting Tool from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WI DNR).

There’s a known large population of round goby in Little Lake Butte des Morts but only a small number were seen in Lake Winnebago in 2025. So only report a round goby if you caught it fishing in Lake WInnebago or upriver of Oshkosh.

Want to learn more about the round goby? Read all about it in some of our other blog posts HERE and HERE!

Photo Credit: WI DNR, Amanda Smith, Patrick Swawinski

Questions? Comments? Contact Chris Acy, the AIS Coordinator covering Brown, Outagamie, Fond du Lac, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties at (920) 460-3674 or chris@fwwa.org!

Follow the Fox Wolf Watershed Alliance on our Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance Facebook page or @fox_wolf_watershed_alliance on Instagram! You can also sign-up for email updates at fwwa.org.

The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance is an independent nonprofit organization that identifies and advocates effective policies and actions that protect, restore, and sustain water resources in the Fox-Wolf River Basin.

Reporting invasive species is a first step in containing their spread. Maintaining and restoring our waters and landscapes can reduce the impacts even when we don’t have other management options to an invasive species.