Ben’s Rest of the Story

Last Friday FlatheadWI graciously handed the rod over to his nephew Ben…it was Ben’s turn.

With plenty of time to give Ben smack about who’s in control of the fish, we did get her in the boat.

53″
30 pounds on the digital

Little did I know, but this sturgeon was in my boat before!

Mr. Chris Hanson caught her back in ’07 when Rod Ramsell from the MNDNR was out tagging with us.

Link to 2007 Tagging Report<<

Here’s the email from Rod about Ben’s fish.

Congratulations on your catch and Thank-you for reporting your capture of a tagged Lake Sturgeon on the St. Croix River!

I was able to look up the history of your catch since getting your note yesterday morning. Here is the information we have on file about the Lake Sturgeon (tag number 87473) you recently caught. This fish was originally tagged on September 15, 2007 on the St. Croix River. At that time the fish was 1182 mm long (46.54″) and weighed 8789 grams (19.4 lbs). It also had a girth of 377 mm (14.84″). The length-versus-weight ratio of this fish was average for Lake Sturgeon in the St. Croix River. Yours is the first reported recapture of this fish since its initial tagging. According to the information you provided on your catch, this fish was recaptured in approximately the same location as the original capture site! The length that you reported for this fish is relatively consistent with our records, but indicates that this fish may have exhibited an above average rate of growth for St. Croix River Lake Sturgeon, provided the methods of length measurement used were the same. Our work to date has found that growth for Lake Sturgeon in the Lower St. Croix River is slow and they increase in length at an average rate of 1.1 inches per year.

Minnesota DNR Fisheries is currently tagging Lake Sturgeon on the St. Croix River and to date we have tagged over 1,000 different fish. Our Hinckley office has tagged over 500 fish in the Upper St. Croix (above the dam at Taylor’s Falls) and the East Metro office has tagged over 500 fish in the Lower St. Croix. The tagged Lake Sturgeon have ranged from 14.4 to 60.3 inches in length. By tagging these Lake Sturgeon we can monitor their age, growth rates, movements, population size, and the number of times they have been caught and released. This will enable us to better understand and manage this remarkable fish species in the St. Croix River into the future.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at any time and I’ll do my best to give you accurate and factual answers.
Thank-you again for contacting us about your capture of a tagged Lake Sturgeon. It is through the help of cooperating anglers such as yourself that we will learn more about these fish in the St. Croix River system in a shorter period of time.

Respectfully,

Rod Ramsell, Fisheries Specialist
Minnesota DNR Fisheries
East Metro Area Fisheries Office
1200 Warner Road
St. Paul, MN 55106

Waaaaaay cool! Did the fish come up and say “Awwwwww…not you again?”:-)

Cool – thanks for the info and I’ll get that forwarded to Ben as well.

Nice to see a solid growth rate there, pretty good sign!

I’m going to start CPRing um now that I know it works!!!
Thats cool that it came to your boat again.

CPR works! And not just on sturgeon. Great job, Brian!

Thanks John but no credit due here…I was just along.

Here’s another tag report that a member emailed to me…

Congratulations on your catch and Thank-you for reporting your capture of a tagged Lake Sturgeon on the St. Croix River!

I was just forwarded the report of your catch by other DNR staff. Here is the information we have on file about the Lake Sturgeon (tag number 87520) you recently caught. This fish was originally tagged on August 27, 2009. At that time the fish was 863 mm long (33.98”) and weighed 3175 grams (7.0 lbs). It also had a girth of 289 mm (11.38”). The length-versus-weight ratio of this fish was average for Lake Sturgeon in the St. Croix River. Yours is the first reported recapture of this fish since its initial tagging. According to the information you provided on your catch, this fish had relocated approximately 14.3 miles upstream from the original capture site! The length that you reported for this fish is relatively consistent with our records and reflects the slow growth of these fish in this river system. Our work to date has found that growth for Lake Sturgeon in the Lower St. Croix River is slow and they increase in length at an average rate of 1.1 inches per year.

Minnesota DNR Fisheries is currently tagging Lake Sturgeon on the St. Croix River and to date we have tagged over 1,000 different fish. Our Hinckley office has tagged over 500 fish in the Upper St. Croix (above the dam at Taylor’s Falls) and the East Metro office has tagged over 500 fish in the Lower St. Croix. The tagged Lake Sturgeon have ranged from 14.4 to 60.3 inches in length. By tagging these Lake Sturgeon we can monitor their age, growth rates, movements, population size, and the number of times they have been caught and released. This will enable us to better understand and manage this remarkable fish species in the St. Croix River into the future.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at any time and I’ll do my best to give you accurate and factual answers.

Thank-you again for contacting us about your capture of a tagged Lake Sturgeon. It is through the help of cooperating anglers such as yourself that we will learn more about these fish in the St. Croix River system in a shorter period of time.

Respectfully,

Rod Ramsell, Fisheries Specialist

Minnesota DNR Fisheries

East Metro Area Fisheries Office

1200 Warner Road

St. Paul, MN 55106

[email protected]

That was a fun day participating in the tagging study. The DNR really couldn’t keep up with all the fish being caught.

That’s pretty cool that you can catch a fish and 4 Years later its re-caught in the SAME spot, and let go again for someone else to enjoy. May be another 4 years before its caught again, thats pretty crazy!

Quote:

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May be another 4 years before its caught again, thats pretty crazy!

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At 58 inches!

Did you recognize him when he got into your boat?