![]() ![]() In addition, sturgeon, like salmon, need fast-running water to reproduce, and as waterways got dammed and their habitats disturbed, they have died off, and in Ontario are even considered endangered. The largest specimen on record, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, weighed 310 pounds.Ĭhiotti said that a couple centuries ago, sturgeon were so common, with more than a million of them in the Great Lakes region, that they were considered nuisance fish, and would be discarded from fishing nets.Īt some point, folks figured out these fish tasted good, and their eggs did, too.Īnd commercial fisheries began to harvesting them. It also, the experts said, was probably in the Detroit River to spawn. "But, to be 7-foot long and 240 pounds, the fish was likely 100 years old or older, and I think that's a minimum estimate, but I didn't want to get too crazy." "We don't know the exact age of the fish," Chiotti said. But, they added, that's a conservative guess. The scientists estimate that the fish hatched in the Detroit River sometime in the 1920s, when Detroit was the fourth-largest city in America. But this one was so big, that they laid it down in the boat, and snapped an image with the 5-foot-6 Johnson lying next to it so anyone who sees it can immediately understand the scale of it. Normally, they'd all take a photo holding the fish. "And just for reference, the largest fish Jenny and I have seen was 123 pounds." ![]() "It took all three of us to heave her over the side of the boat," Wigren said, adding that all three of them weren't sure they'd be able to land the fish. Johnson added that when she looked into the water, the fish's shadow was so huge, she just thought, "oh my God."įive or six minutes and a few failed attempts later to net the fish, they finally got it. ![]() "Jason said, 'There's a fish coming up,' and Jenny looked over, and she said, 'Big fish! Big fish!' I moved to the back of the boat, grabbed the net." "The fish started to surface," Wigren said, recounting the story. Johnson was driving the 26-foot-long boat. The first three lines came up empty, but then, just before noon, Fischer, who was the newest to the crew, said he felt something on the line, a slight tug - and maybe, he said aloud, it was a fish. Until then, they had only managed to catch a 5-gallon bucket. The three scientists - Paige Wigren, Jennifer Johnson, and Jason Fischer - were on the Detroit River last Thursday, and had been fishing for a while, they said. What is less known, however, is the story of how it was caught. Within minutes, the photo posted to social media Friday started going viral. Fish and Wildlife biological science tech, is next to it for scale. It tipped the scales at 240 pounds, and was 6-foot-10 long. and estimated to be at least 100 years old, was caught last week in the lower Detroit River. A fish, one of the biggest lake sturgeon ever recorded in the U.S. ![]()
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