Regulations include gear restrictions to spears or hook and line, minimum size of 36 inches and no use of artificial lights during the winter season. Participants were required to apply for a sturgeon tag, only one tag was issued per person, a maximum of 100 tags were issued, and harvested fish must be registered with the Menominee Department of Conservation.

The Menominee people once relied heavily on lake sturgeon as an important food source, and the importance of the lake sturgeon as a Menominee totem remains today. Lake sturgeon became extirpated from the Menominee Indian Reservation in northeast Wisconsin during the 1950s. Sturgeon have been absent from the diet of Menominee Tribal members since that time, with the exception of a small number of ceremonial fish provided to the tribe by the DNR each year since 1995.

The opening of the fishery is a result of the willingness of individuals to work together for the benefit of the resource and the people. The multi-agency team began stocking Legend Lake in 1994. Annual stocking rates and size of fish varied with availability. A total of 56,000 lake sturgeon have been stocked through 2004. Harvest success during the winter fishery was low, with no fish being harvested. Participants used the season to learn the habits of the fish and best use of the gear. In hopes of spreading knowledge, Menominee Department of Conservation searched unsuccessfully for living elders that had experience harvesting lake sturgeon before the fish became extirpated from the reservation. Hopes are high that the open water season in April is more productive.