sturgeon

[bob]

I was fishing of west sister when all them little spikes were hitting last summer and I saw the skeleton of at least a 7 foot stergeon floating. Do you guys see that kind of ##### often out there?

[Walleye Express]

Bob.
I'm a Lake Huron/Saginaw Bay boy, but know a little about sturgeon. My grandpa remembered seeing piles of them being burned on the beach becuase they were considered a nusince and a hazard to white fish and walleye nets. Even though not on the indangered species list, their numbers were greatly reduced compared to what they were back then. Me and my dad both speared one on Black Lake back in 1973. This Lake, is one of the very few inland Michigan lakes that became home to sturgeon after the last ice age glacier retreated and trapped them there. They seem to be making a small comeback on all the Great Lakes along with the white fish on Saginaw Bay. Two have been caught in as many years on the Saginaw River itself. Several of the smaller rivers that dump into the Saginaw used to be spawning grounds for the sturgeon. They've been doing sturgeon spawning studies for a few years on the St Claire. They have no natural enemies except man and can live to be over 100 years old. It's my guess that this poor fellow died of natural causes. Capt: Dan.

[Tom B]

Sturgeon are a truly remarkable fish. They reach spawning maturity at 20-35 years of age, then spawn every 2-3 years. I have yet to catch one, but have fished for them while fishing cats.... I really look forward to catching one and will definatly release any and all takers.

Check out the current In Fish for a bit more info.

Tom B

[TK_551]

Tom,

It is a blast when you hook into a sturgeon. I have caught quite a few on the Wisconsin River while fishing for catfish. Great fighters. Try using a night crawler on a Lindy Rig about 6 inches off the bottom.

Tom
#551

[ANXIOUS]

i have seen pictures of two sturgeon. one washed ashore and the other was caught. both on the same lake, Rush Lake in east central minnesota. the pictures can be seen at rushmore campgrounds on west Rush Lake. the one that washed ashore dead was estimated to be about 225 pounds and the other one,the one that was caught on hook and line i believe weighed in the neighborhood of 150 pounds. please if anyone else knows about these two fish do come forward to back me up. isnt it strange that these monsters were in such a small inland lake? i had a huge fish on one day on west rush and i will never know what it was but it sure zipped the line off of my reel in a hurry,never even looked back!

[Kaz]

I have a lake home on Sturgeon Lake about 50 miles south of Duluth on I35, and have seen huge Sturgeon in that lake. One about 12 years ago one was caught and released, when it just layed in the shallows by the dock for about 5 hours before it slowly swam away. Land locked Sturgeon must be released, but those caught in a river system may be kept. One such was caught in the Moose Horn river at Moose Lake and was to of been a record. The one I saw was about 6 or 7 feet long and was UGGLY to say the least. I have caught several Sturgeon while fishing for Walleye on the Rainy River by Baudette MN. Their mouth is so tough it can crunch a lure without much effort. If you want to catch one, try the Rainy River....Good LUCK FISHING...Kaz

[Silentsixty]

While far from common, incidental catches of much smaller fish are showing up more frequently with perch anglers. More people targeting perch or more sturgeon present?? Ohio ONDR would like to be notified of any sightings/incidental catches. ODNR started a very small scale stocking program on L.Erie some time back, don't know status. Thought was there were/are plenty of zebra mussels to feed the little guys.

Any incidental catches must be released. I do know of a reliable report that a fish that was tagged in WI, showed up in Ohio portion of L. Erie. It was caught and released at several different locations on it's journey. Not sure if it's reliable, but I've heard scuba divers have seen some monsters off Kelly's.