Big Sturgeon Netted in Detroit River

Dang, I’m going to need a bigger rod!!

You’ll have to google it. The links aren’t working.

Big.

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Good thing he had his mask on so he didn’t give the fish covid!

Awesome

Nearly 7 feet long and 240 lb. Good for him.

WOW!
You don’t need a landing net, you need a saddle for that horse.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

You don’t need a landing net, you need a saddle for that horse

Great saying I’m definitely stealing for future use

It looks like one of those pics of a GI-Joe next to a small fish to make it look giant!

Greenhorn wrote:

It looks like one of those pics of a GI-Joe next to a small fish to make it look giant!

Lol, it does

That’s the fish I fantasize about! Agh. So cool to beasts like that still around.

Charlie Vaughan wrote:

That’s the fish I fantasize about! Agh. So cool to beasts like that still around.

Yes! They’re the reason I want harvest banned… these sturgeon have so much opportunity to get bigger if we let them!

Boy it’d be entertaining to land that one!!

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Yes! They’re the reason I want harvest banned… these sturgeon have so much opportunity to get bigger if we let them!

Why do people harvest them? I know there’s a limited harvest on the Rainy if the fish is within a specific size range, but what do they do with it? I can’t imagine they eat it, do they? I’ve always wondered what they did with the ones they speared every winter on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin too.

gimruis wrote:

Why do people harvest them?

Because they eat them.

Sturgeon have a history of being food since the depression. Prior to that, they were caviar, considered a nuisance, or pig food.

Book: People of the Sturgeon.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:</div>
Yes! They’re the reason I want harvest banned… these sturgeon have so much opportunity to get bigger if we let them!

Why do people harvest them? I know there’s a limited harvest on the Rainy if the fish is within a specific size range, but what do they do with it? I can’t imagine they eat it, do they? I’ve always wondered what they did with the ones they speared every winter on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin too.

People love to eat and smoke them. It grew very popular, st croix has a open season for them as well. First Saturday in September to September 30th. 1 keeper per season 60 inches minimum with a permit

I saw an old newspaper clipping of people fishing them in the St. Croix? with trot lines, probably in the early 1900s. They pulled in the trot line with a team of horses. Can anyone confirm?

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Because they eat them.

Sturgeon have a history of being food since the depression. Prior to that, they were caviar, considered a nuisance, or pig food.

Bearcat89 wrote:

People love to eat and smoke them.

Thanks, I was unaware of that. Prehistoric smoked filets huh.

The caviar part I had heard of. There is an episode of River Monsters in Russia on the Beluga Sturgeon and they have are almost extinct because of over harvest. Evidently the caviar has high value there.

gimruis wrote:

Thanks, I was unaware of that. Prehistoric smoked filets huh.

The caviar part I had heard of. There is an episode of River Monsters in Russia on the Beluga Sturgeon and they have are almost extinct because of over harvest. Evidently the caviar has high value there.

There’s a pretty disgusting history in the book i listed.
Prior to the depression in the US sturgeon were a nuisance. They were very abundant, and they were HUGE, like HUGE like you don’t ever see caught lately…HUGE! Fish would destroy the nets used to harvest other fish. They were pitch forked and tossed to the shore.

Europe decimated their sturgeon populations quickly due to caviar market. They realized in the US the bago system was loaded. Sturgeon were then shipped by the train car load from Bago for their caviar.

Sturgeon was the first species to be listed as illegal to fish by the DNR if i recall correctly. After that law, there was a large black market for the caviar. There’s some cat n mouse stories in that book from the CO’s and poachers. This was around the time of the great depression in the US.

During the depression, sturgeon started to be used as a food source despite the legality of targeting or harvesting the species.

It was the depression that started the culture of harvesting sturgeon as a food source. That never really faded out of existence, but it was drastically reduced thanks to the DNR.

The bago system especially has a tradition of harvest, but they also pride themselves in how much effort they invest in protecting the species during their vulnerable spawning periods. You can volunteer to stand guard at a stream and watch sturgeon spawn. So, to this day, there’s still poaching enough to require guarding by civilians overseen by the DNR.
You cannot fish for them in the bago system. You can only spear them. The spearing contest is a huge endeavor and is a culture thing that will never go. They fight for it tooth and nail.

Since the depression, sturgeon have been making a comeback from near extinction. I cannot imagine how many hundreds of years it will take to experience what was once. I do not think we’ll ever see it again. We’ve changed the ecosystems too much.

Now, in MN, logging killed the sturgeon fisheries. Rainy river and the St Croix were big logging rivers. Flotillas of logs and mills on the shore filled the rivers with sawdust. Dams built eliminated the passage of sturgeon to their spawning grounds. There was a period where these rivers were incredibly polluted as well.

Things are looking up, but with a little knowledge of history, you’d be hard-pressed to convince me we will ever see their potential again. DNR wants every species to be harvestable. That is how they manage the sturgeon also. Not to get it back to what it once was. Is what it is. I accept it, but doesn’t mean i like it and i do take opportunities like this to educate those uninterested in learning for themselves.

I have a love/hate relationship with the DNR.

I broke my buddies heart yesterday. He commented to me “I just want to know that my lake can have the ability to produce big walleye”. I said, “THE DNR DOESN’T”. The DNR will publicly broadcast which lakes are on the boom, so they can be busted. This IS their plan. To create fisheries that can be harvested, and then replenished. Once you realize this, you’ll accept that you as an individual have no impact on the 5 year plan of a typical mn fishery that cannot sustain such activity.
When a fleet of boats show up to decimate the walleyes, crappies, whatever on whatever lake, the DNR is nothing BUT EXCITED. They’ll help the lake rebound to a level that can then be exploited and busted again, and round and round we go. Is what it is. I’ve been calling the walleye “The harvest fish” for years. That’s how it is managed. That’s how all species in MN are managed.

Thanks for the information on the sturgeon. I figured they were targeted as food a long time ago but I honestly did not know why they would still be harvested today. I have never been sturgeon fishing but I know the sturgeon population in the Rainy River is an incredible success story. Its been labeled as the best inland lake sturgeon fishery in the country by some. The issue is that they take so long to grow to maturity to the point where they can naturally reproduce. So any significant harvest affects things for a very long time, as does habitat destruction/alteration. Its definitely on my bucket list to head up there one spring and target them (without the intention to harvest one).

I too think that we will never get them back to the population that they once were, but they’ve already made a significant rebound to the point where we can at least have a limited season for them.

gimruis wrote:

but they’ve already made a significant rebound to the point where we can at least have a limited season for them.

You speak like the DNR.

Once you get to a point where you can harvest, you harvest. Goal reached.

Sturgeon were so plentiful in Lake of the Woods they were stacked like cordwood to dry. Then they were used as fuel for the steamboats that ferried mail and supplies on the lake. I’ve seen pictures somewhere, maybe a LOTW historical site. There was a picture of a real giant too!

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

You speak like the DNR.

I used to work for them in the mid 2000’s.

I had deep fried sturgeon nuggets a few years ago from a speared Winnebago sturgeon from a neighbor. That was pretty much the best fish nugget I ever ate. Texture was real close to lobster.

Smoked Shovel-nose sturgeon and Silver Carp in the freezer now waiting fro the Saturday snack.

I think we may see Sturgeon reach their growth potential on Rainy in our lifetimes, not sure what the biggest in the system is now, but it’s definitely north of 80″. The DNR estimates a 70″ Sturgeon is 51 years old, so another 51 years (I hope to make it that long) would be enough time to at least know what the max growth is or not. The way the regulations are set, and the growing population in the river there’s a more than realistic chance many of the behemoths keep growing. I would like to see the DNR get rid of the over 75″ option, it’s not like you’re missing out by C&R those fish and keep a 45-50″ with your tag. I’d like to keep one once, just to try it. There was a good video on Meateater or Hunting Public about the Bago, and a company there that processed the eggs for caviar. I’ve hear they are great eating cooked like a tuna steak or smoked.

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/areas/fisheries/baudette/lksweight.pdf

I can’t believe ANYTHING from Detroit could live that long.

My MIL liked to fry up sturgeon steaks. They looked like a fresh tuna steak, same color and texture. I liked them smoked, kind of reminded me of smoked catfish but not as white. Haven’t eaten any in many years. Some Sawyer county lakes had evidence of Sturgeon up to 170#. Still some big sturgeon at Jim Falls.