Last Saturday Mike and I hooked into this beautiful Lake Sturgeon. I was out of breath by lifting her over the side of the boat when I noticed the MN DNR tag (tag number 81326). I thought there’s only one fish I know of that’s close to this size that has a tag in it. But being in a hurry to measure, photo and get her back into the water, I quickly forgot about that thought. Then just last night I was talking to someone over the phone about tags and remembered the tag didn’t start with an “F”…which is the tags the Lake City DNR office uses…and I said to myself Hmmm.
Tonight I get this PM from Boon posing the question…Bk do you think that 60 incher is the same fish that my friend John and I caught a few years back?
Reminding me…I made a dash to the reports forum….and goose bumps formed on my arms. It was!
John and myself on Oct 11th 2006
Ryan’s brother-in-law caught her 11/1/2007. She was 58″ then.
Mike and My Girl Nov 21st 2009.
Here’s a portion of the DNR info from John’s capture in 06.
Quote:
Here is the information you requested about the Lake
Sturgeon (tag number 81326) that you recently caught. This fish was
originally tagged on September 22, 2005 in the narrows of the St. Croix
River at the mouth of the Kinnickinnic River (St. Croix River mile 6.5).
At that time, the fish measured 1455 millimeters (57.28″) in length and
weighed 21.365 kilograms (47.1 pounds) on a digital scale. The girth was
541 millimeters (21.3″) at the time of initial tagging. The fish was
reported recaptured by an angler on April 24, 2006 at river mile 5.5 of
the St. Croix River. The length and weight that he estimated and
reported was 60.0 inches in length and 60.0 pounds. Obviously, this was
a bit of exaggeration from the actual size of the fish. The next record
we have of this fish is your reported capture on October 11, 2006. The
length and girth that you reported is consistent with the size we
recorded at the time of initial capture and tagging of this fish. I
suspect that your spring scale may be underestimating the weights of
your fish unless the fish exhibited very poor condition at the time of
your capture. … that this fish has relocated at
present approximately 21.2 miles downstream from the site of the initial capture and tagging.Thank you for leaving the tag in the fish when you
released it. This will enable us to learn more from this fish when it is recaptured in the future.If you have any further questions, please feel free to
contact me at any time!Sincerely,
Rod Ramsell, Fisheries Specialist
Minnesota DNR, East Metro Fisheries
1200 Warner Road
St. Paul, MN 55106
651-772-7960
[email protected]
But there’s more!
I’m having difficulty finding the post…but she was caught on 11/1/2007 in Mr. Ralph Wiggum’s boat!
What a great testiment to catch photo and release…but this does open the doors to more questions.
Why did she stop after 21 miles?
Why didn’t she move on at least down to the lake? Maybe she has?
Maybe she swam through the locks and is still trying to get back up?
Maybe there are less Lake Sturgeon than we think there are in the St Croix and Mississippi Rivers…we’re just catching the same ones over and over again?
Too many questions!
I’m just really happy that she continues to show up and hope she lives a long life pumping out millions of eggs!
The Fisherman never leads in the Sturgeon Dance! 
To quote Bret “I luv ya man” 
