Sooooooo…… Where did it come from? Lake Minnetonka? Legally/ethically was it ok to lasso the tail, and haul it on shore by the kids? Thoughts…
https://kstp.com/news/monster-sturgeon-pulled-out-of-minnehaha-creek-by-2-young-boys/5434318/?cat=12196
Well they are from Edina so I would imagine their dad paid someone to stock it in the creek for the boys
Screw the rods for now on. I’ll tie a lasso from 550 paracord
“One of the kids had been scouting the sturgeon for 3 weeks.”
Haha
Good that a 14 & 12 year old were outside.
Good they were able to “think” how to catch the fish.
Good they were able & wanted to return the fish.
While it would be easy to pass judgement we need to remember we were kids once also. We would all have done the same thing, or at least tried to. I see nothing wrong here. Had it been a adult the outcome might be different.
Good that a 14 & 12 year old were outside.
Good they were able to “think” how to catch the fish.
Good they were able & wanted to return the fish.While it would be easy to pass judgement we need to remember we were kids once also. We would all have done the same thing, or at least tried to. I see nothing wrong here. Had it been a adult the outcome might be different.
I am in agreement with this. The difference now is there wouldnt have been a video circulating social media for all the negatives to lambaste us. At their age we did equally “questionable” things, but in the end if this gets these kids to bolster their love for the outdoors then that is great! I mean, that is a huge fish and they released it.
I wonder where that fish came from? Tonka?
Jeff, here is the answer to your question. It came from Gray’s Bay in Lake Minnetonka!
I watched the news footage on TV this morning and I couldn’t help but think the video is just more fuel for the anti-fishing fanatics. They see this kinda thing and likely associate the word “fishing” with “cruel” and “pointless”. Of course, lassoing a big fish and dragging it out of the water like that is not fishing, and we all understand that, but there are those that won’t see the difference.
Perhaps one photo of the fish and kids would have been better for the news to have shared, rather than the raw video.
There maybe some of us that used a 22 rifle to have a northern dinner in their younger days. So I’ve heard.
Where did it come from? No one will ever know. The easy answer is that it was stocked unintentionally or illegally.
Legally/ethically was it ok to lasso the tail, and haul it on shore by the kids?
No but kids will be kids. With the DNR now involved I’m not going to worry about it.
There have been large sturgeon spotted in Minnetonka.
If you have a problem with this, you really need to start examining yourself and your mentality. You don’t have to get outraged and look for the negative in everything, it’s really unhealthy for you (Not any previous commenter, just in general for anyone else reading). These are kids and the fish was returned healthy to the water. Super cool for them, and a memory they will share forever!
I have so many questions, manly related to how it ended up there? Are there more? Is a there a small breeding stock in Tonka no one knew about? Why is it so dark, almost black? I could keep going 
Why is it so dark, almost black?
I’d be willing to bet it’s from uv exposure in shallow water. When you put minnows in a bucket with a lid for a long time they start to lighten in color.
Awesome experience for those kids!
Not at all concerned with the ethics, although usually these “kids will be kids” stories happen when the parents aren’t hovering with an iphone taking video. Perhaps the DNR had a little convo with the parents but no reason for pitchfork nation to come out.
I just hope there isn’t any kind of blow back towards the kids on social media. I don’t want them hammered by the ignorant on-line people, that wouldn’t be fair or right. Although it seems it’s more important to be “seen” on facebook than to use common sense with a issue. I guess we should be wondering if it was dad who tipped the media also. I’m thinking he needed to get his little video watched. 
Time will tell I guess.
I’m with most of you – I think it’s great. When I was their age I was doing the exact same thing. I’ll bet pulling that fish out by the tail was less harmful than a hook and a prolonged fight.
And, I’m with you BK – a .22 makes a great fishing rod. I don’t know how many times we shot carp and rough fish. Skipping bullets across the lake wasn’t a great idea, though.
Update, apparently the DNR is going to net the fish and release in the Mississippi River.
I kinda figured that fish would have a very uncertain fate come winter time and not able to navigate where it came from.
But let the conversation now change to transporting and introducing fish from another body of water. LOL
I love the story and feel happy for those boys. Good on them!
As a side note, I feel somewhat vindicated by the video of the Grays Bay Sturgeon. Years ago while musky fishing around Big Isl, I saw a massive slate gray fish with cream colored underbelly breach from the water. The fish looked to be a Sturgeon of probably 70-80lbs, but everyone I spoke with about it said there were no Sturgeon in Tonka. Musta been a carp they’d say. No, I’ve seen the same thing many times on the Flambeau River, WI. It was a Sturgeon! This was 25 years ago.
Then, an employee of Thorne Bros told me a story about walleye fishing off of Spirit Isl and hooking a fish that he had on for an hour and a half, swimming from Spirit all the way to Diamond Reef, where he followed it with the trolling motor before the line fatigued and broke. He never got it up off the bottom and felt he had hooked a large Sturgeon. This was probably 20+ years ago.
Now we know for certain they exist in Tonka (and Minnehaha Creek), have been in there for at least two decades, and probably more than just one individual fish.
But let the conversation now change to transporting and introducing fish from another body of water. LOL
I’m sure it came from the river anyway. Little known fact, Sturgeon are super good at climbing waterfalls.
I’m sure it came from the river anyway. Little known fact, Sturgeon are super good at climbing waterfalls.
Minnehaha Creek? I know in the Spring that gets pretty high, but IDK how it could accomplish that feat at the typical drop. Makes me wonder if there is an underground flow that it may have passed up. Or its just from Tonka.
If you have a problem with this, you really need to start examining yourself and your mentality. You don’t have to get outraged and look for the negative in everything, it’s really unhealthy for you
X2
Update, apparently the DNR is going to net the fish and release in the Mississippi River.
Not sure how they are going to do that. Doesn’t it have to stay out of the water for 5 days or be washed with 104 degree water.
i just read on either channel 4 or 5’s website the DNR is going to move it to the sippi!!!!!!!!!!
Minnehaha Creek? I know in the Spring that gets pretty high, but IDK how it could accomplish that feat at the typical drop. Makes me wonder if there is an underground flow that it may have passed up. Or its just from Tonka.
I was kidding 
It had to have come from tonka.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
If you have a problem with this, you really need to start examining yourself and your mentality. You don’t have to get outraged and look for the negative in everything, it’s really unhealthy for youX3
Awesome story. Something they’ll always look back on. That must’ve been quite the sight to see when they first spotted it swimming.
Made me think of catfish hunter on grumpy old men
I was kidding
It had to have come from tonka.
Oh, now I see it. You used the sarcasm font. My bad LOL
Imagine telling that story when some of us were 12-14, with no video for proof. Nobody would believe you! I think it was pretty dang cool.
Meanwhile some of their friends were at home, playing video games….on their phones….
Imagine telling that story when some of us were 12-14, with no video for proof. Nobody would believe you! I think it was pretty dang cool.
Meanwhile some of their friends were at home, playing video games….on their phones….
It reminds me of a time when I was 17-18 years old (late 90’s).
I was out bass fishing with a buddy on Loveless Lake in Centuria, WI.
We were in my little red 1970’s tri-hull working the weed edge plucking off a few bass.
All of the sudden, with 1000% certainty, a big lake sturgeon swam right by the boat (45-50″).
The water was clear, it was only two feet down and absolutely unmistakable. It wasn’t a carp, or a muskie, or a pike. I knew my fish then and I know my fish now lol
No doubt it was planted by a bucket biologist from the nearby St. Croix river, but the question was how long had it been in the lake????
Had it survived for years? It was far too big to fit into a cooler. I imagine it was planted when it was much smaller, years or even decades before.
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It had to have come from tonka.
