Cayuga sturgeon

[dawsonscreek]

I think in the future there could possibly end up being an opportunity for legal catch and release fishing for these fish; but the management of said fishing would need to be highly regulated. A male lake sturgeon is not sexually mature until he is 9-13 years old; females do not reach sexual maturity until they are 14-26 years old. Once mature, the female only spawns every 4-5 years; males can spawn every other year. Point being, it takes a long time for these fish to reproduce and develop a diversity of age classes and a fishable population. Some of the fish stocked in the 90's are just coming of age. If a fishery ever did open for these fish in the Finger Lakes Region it would need to be managed and protected big time. They spawn in shallow water and are quite vulnerable at this time, and as you probably know, sturgeon eggs go for big bucks! Therein lies the temptation for poachers to screw everything up. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for these fish and the lakes. By 2016 I'll have a degree that can land me a job in DEC fisheries, so maybe i'll end up working with these awesome fish in this awesome region of this not so awesome state, a kid can dream I guess!!

 

-Jeff

Edited October 9, 2014 by dawsonscreek

[fathobbit0074]

H

Edited October 9, 2014 by fathobbit0074

[justtracytrolling]

I was looking for the rule on handling fish that have a closed season.  Im pretty sure you arent supposed to handle or take them out of water for pictures.  If you can you shouldnt be able to...  If a species is closed for angling I certainly think we should leave em in the water and its definitely not ok to target closed species.

[ERABBIT]

Now that there is fed money involved maybe the laws will get much tougher  and when someone get's arrested  for catching them I hope they don't get there knickers twisted up when they get a big fine or jail time.....

[fathobbit0074]

There is an open season on them out west. They're. Not federally protected. They catch monsters out in Oregon on the Colombia

[fathobbit0074]

Also they have a big season in Cali in sac town. Only protected in ny

[ERABBIT]

fathobbit0074 I was staying with the topic "Cayuga sturgeon" , your post with pic's just blew my mind.....sorry didn't realize and you didn't say that these pictures were not from Cayuga.....the reason I put the feds in was from earlier posts with the fed helping with the stocking.........as far as N.Y. goed from the DEC site :

 

Lake Sturgeon Fact Sheet

Lake Sturgeon
Acipenser fulvescens

New York Status: Threatened 

[fathobbit0074]

No there not from cay but Onieda is connected to cay through canal. Onieda is slit shallower and all guys I know that have hooked them were all. Walleye guys bottom fishing in spring I know of a handful caught out of Onieda. My wife got friends in Oregon I'm dying to visit N I will get a guided trip out there they get. 10' n up to 1 k lbs

[Bigfoot]

The west coast sturgeon are NOT lake sturgeon.

[ERABBIT]

The west coast sturgeon are NOT lake sturgeon.

From poking around I did most states are the same as N.Y. with the lake ones.....

[quality time]

It would be helpful if the DEC put some press releases out to educate fisherman on what to do if they hook one. It will happen more and more as the numbers increase.

[Bigfoot]

According to an article in Tuesdays Syracuse.com:

"Lake Sturgeon are listed as a threatened species this state. There is no open season to fish for them. Possession is prohibited. Those that unintentionally hook one should:

1)Avoid bringing the fish into the boat if possible

2)Use pliers to remove the hook.

3)Always support the fish horizontally. Do not hold sturgeon in a vertical position by the head, gills or tails, even for taking pictures.

4)Never touch the eyes or gills.

5)Minimize time out of the water

Source DEC"

[ifishy]

going by the ariticles the goal of the stocking program is to get them off of the threatened list.  If that were accomplihed that would open them up to angling i think it would be irrisponsible to not have some sort of managment plan in place for that with a closed season and possibly catch and release only fishing.  in areas outside of NY there are places where you can keep these fish and in some waters you can spear fish them through the ice.  a viable fishery could be promoted and generate money for the state and dont think they wont jump on that opportunity.    i dont think anybody is advocating targeting them at the moment or really anytime soon but personally i have a lot of optimisim that  I will be able to target them sometime in my life time.  it may be 20 years from now or longer but things are looking up and the environmental improvements that go along with there restoration will only benefit the other fish we love to target a well

[quality time]

This is not about money.

[salmonboy41]

This is not about money.

At the end of the day its ALWAYS about money

[ifishy]

in this case i think its okay that it is about money the result is imporved environment and healthier more dirverse thereby more stable ecosystems  and if there is money coming out of it there is reason to put money into it to keep it healthy.

[Nautitroller]

Well said ifishy, I also believe that nature will balance itself out no matter what we do, even if it means removing us! In the case of the sturgeon, people reintroducing this fish into the lake ecosystem will probably stand the test of time because it fits with the balance of nature. Its all good IMO! We have eminent domain over the animal, fish kingdom as long as we are good stewards it (nature) will keep us around.

Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[ERABBIT]

[chuck527]

ERABBIT,

Funny you posted that. I took that picture. The guy in the pic was actually the photographer the DEC sent on the boat.

[ERABBIT]

Good pic. !!!! It sounds like the next few years will be very important for them.

[quality time]

Thanks Ed!

[Sweet Caroline]

People go nuts snagging salmon when they see them in skinny water. I can only imagine what they would do if they see a sturgeon! Witnessed it today on a small trib. Some school kids chasing and snagging salmon in skinny water. I doubt they would care if those were sturgeon.  

[ifishy]

i think the sturgeon tend to spawn in the deeper parts of the river (may be wrong) and that will hopefully prevent them from being seen and snagged by the less aware.  i will say there tendancy to breech gives them away.  I will continue to shy away for them from now but maintain my dream that i can one day fish them with my grandkids heck 20 years i might well have a couple greatgrand kids to take fishing

[st.croix.boy]

Awesome that they're coming back around. I agree pal shouldn't fish for them, but I'm not going to give someone a hard time for hooking one accidentally and deciding to fight it until they or the fish wins. THAT is a bucket list fish.