The Great Sturgeon

The Great Sturgeon of the Lakes Earl Plato
This article is basically about "the old days", nostalgia times. I had pulled a picture from my clipping file without a date on it. Always write down on the back the date and the source of your pictures and articles. Believe me, I am looking at a giant fish hanging shark-like or marlin-like from its rear fin facing head down. What is it? Hey, yesterday I found my notes in a different file! It says that it's a 158 pound, seven foot lake sturgeon found on a beach of Lake Erie, Erie County. That's right just across the lake! From the attire of the fellow posed next to the hanging giant I would say it was taken in the last 15-20 years. Elaine and I were on he Wisconsin River in July this year. We were on one of those famous amphibian ducks. We met some ishermen and he questions asked. “Yes, we’ve caught a few even a sturgeon.” Sturgeon? Yes. Back to my research. I am going back in time now and share some research and memories about, The Methuselah of the Great Lakes. In an interview some years back with John Miller, son of the late Niagara Peninsula naturalist, Bert Miller, I recorded these words, "My dad always had a boat to fish with at the old homestead at MIller's Creek. He would go out into the river with his nightline. It would be several 100 feet long with 35 to 40 hooks on it and anchored at each end. While it was still light out he would have to take good land bearings so that when he went out the next day he could locate the line. Next morning he would take a grappling hook and pull up the line. Hopefully there would be sturgeons on the giant hooks. The biggest sturgeon he ever caught was about 125 pounds. That would supplement his income a little bit for he would go over to Buffalo and sell it." Note: This was in the 1920's before the Peace Bridge was built (1927). How did he get to Buffalo or Black Rock? Was it by ferry boat or did he row? The lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) is our longest- lived freshwater fish. Lake sturgeon once flourished in the Great Lakes with fish up to 152 years old. My source was a State of new York Conservation magazine. By the turn of this century with market demand at its highest the fish was almost eliminated. Dam construction and the degradation of its habitat didn't help. Today as an endangered species this most ancient fish should eventually become plentiful again in Lake Erie and other Great Lakes as we pursue the pure waters program. I hope so.