My biggest so far!

[Royal Whaler]

Waited till after the rain on Sunday and anchored up for a night of sturgeon fishing on the North Channel. Spur of the moment decision ment I was alone. First a sheepshead and then at 9:45 PM I set the hook on a sturgeon. It took me a half hour before getting it into the boat. I marveled at how lucky I was because it took ten tries before he was finally landed. The hook came out rather easy which showed me how fortunate I had been. He measured 62 1/2 inches and of course I had no scale big enough to weigh it. A couple pictures and he was sent back to where he came from. Thanks DNR for developing such a thrilling new fishery for us. :)

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/533/sturg1.JPG

[fish eater]

Wow what a cool fish! Any Sturge aficionados here have any kind of ballpark guess on how old that fish might be? Congrats on the catch! Pretty cool stuff.:)

[ahartz]

ssswweeetttt...nice fish and SOLO to boot. nice job. always always have a camera!!...andy

[MSTRB8R]

Great job! That's a hard fish to land solo. I took my girlfriend out last night and only managed four sheephead and four cats. Hooked up with one nice sturgeon, but he came off after only a quick glimpse. It was her first time out so i'm just glad we caught something. I think she's hooked. Hope we see that 70" mark this year. And yes, the DNR is doing a great job with this species. They are currently tagging and some fish have tracking devices in them. Hopefully this will help them crack down on the poachers and also gather more information to help us learn a little more about these fish.

[MSUICEMAN]

someone told me that at about 55" a sturgeon is guesstimated at about 55 y/o. if that is correct,that is one hell of an old fish. i haven't gotten out this year yet for the big uglies, hoping I will before the end of the season.

congrats on the awesome fish!

[PaulD]

Nice Fish. I would guess between 50 and 60 years old. :fish:

[MSTRB8R]

My friend has a chart that shows age to size ratio. A 55" fish is estemated to be 25 years old and a 70" sturgeon is about 45 years old. I'm glad you brought that up because I to was under the impression that a fish of that size was much older. This is off of Wisconsin DNR chart. I would imagine that the "keeper-sized" fish are anywhere from 16-21 years old. I will try to get the link to a chart and post it tomorrow.

[waterfoul]

At the Wolf Lake hatcher they have several large ones in their show pond. One estimated at well over 100 lbs... and is thought to be about 50 years old or so... but they don't know how long it is exactly but I'd guess well over 60" just from looking at it.

[MSTRB8R]

I would imagine that a lot of that depends on the forage they have available. I'm sure the growth process slows with age also. A fish in a controlled environment may be fed very well and gain a lot of weight, but may not be quite as long as a fish of the same species in a lake or river.:confused: I honestly have no idea. I have a friend who has been doing some tagging and may know a little bit more. I'll inquire next time I talk to him.