Is this the biggest monster of Lake Ontario?

[Pike Hunter]

Ottawa River Monster!

> FYI: This sturgeon is still alive, just worn out from the fight. They

> turned him loose after the photo.

>

>

> This Sturgeon was caught on the Ottawa River just below hull (a short

> distance south of gatineau , QC) two weeks ago. It weighed out at over

> 1,000 lbs and measured out at 11'1". It was 56" around the girth and took

> over 6 and a half hours, and 4 dozen beers, for the 4 guys taking turns at

> the reeling it in.

> Any Sturgeon OVER about five feet has to be released unharmed and cannot be

> removed from the water. They are brood / breeding stock and probably older

> than most of us.

I think I should change my LOU name to Sturgeon Hunter!

[GAMBLER]

This picture has been going around for a couple years now. This fish was not caught in the Ottawa River. I believe it was somewhere on the West coast (B.C. Canada maybe). This is just like that monster pike picture.

[gordy mohr]

Do not believe it boys, Ive seen this same picture before on another site, and last time they claimed it was caught of Kincardine Ont on Lake Huron. They also said it was caught on a blue and silver lure. As far as I know, sturgeon are bottom feeders and dont hit trolled lures. Also check out that boat in the background. Its a Customweld, very popular on the west coast in saltwater. so, as far as it being caught here, Id have to say no thats not true.

[stan]

The fish was caught on the Columbia River just north east of the Umatilla Oregon. It was a Sturgeon tournament that is held every September. All fish are released unharmed back to the river. But those are just facts, Your story sounds better. So go with it.

[tree top flyer]

The last few years these fish have been turning up again. Has any one else noticed this? #- 4 years ago there were a few dead ones we stumbled across up near henderson on the shore. In the genny ive ran into some kids studing the river 4 them. The guy at the tackle shop said a little kid showed up with one in a bucket and wouldnt throw it back. And once at the the genny boat launch last year. 2 guys asked us what the hell they had caught.(they did end up throwing it back.) My family has had a cottage on Big stoney 4 almost a century, my great grandfather had told us that the farm family up there used to spear them way back when they came in to spawn. Do they stock them? Has any one caught one?

[Pike Hunter]

What I like about this story is 4 dozen beers for the guys who fought the fish for hours. Now, I am gonna tell my friend from Canada that he should not be wasting his time looking for the sturgeon monster in his river.

[FISHINMAN]

Tree top flyer yes they have begun stocking them again in the genny as of a couple of years ago.

[LongLine]

DEC did "secretly" stock some in the Genny a few years ago. Seneca Zoo has a partnership in it. They appear to be doing well. Couple years ago, when DEC was checking Bass population off Webster, they netted one that was near 36" long.

They are a protected specie. I.E. don't fish for them nor keep one.

The GLFC has it in their objectives to restore the sturgeon population to lake Ontario as well as rehabilitate approximately 10 of their former breeding grounds.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[stan]

Do you guys know if you have both species there ? There is the white sturgeon and a green sturgeon. In California we have the Whites and Oregon and Washington have both

[BP Swing]

about 2-3 years ago several giant sturgeon estimated around 150-200 lbs were found dead and floating on lake Erie. It was when the bird disease (Botchalism ?) was going around. I guess biologists from the dec took a look at them and estimated they were well over 100 years old. I bet there is still some giants out in Lake O.

[Tim Bromund]

stan,

we have lake sturgeon and shortnose sturgeon out this way. Not sure on the size of the shortnose, but the lake sturgeon typically max out at 7-8 feet and in the high 200 lbs range. My biggest so far was a 5+ foot and 60 lbs or so lake sturgeon on a night crawler while walleye fishing on the Menominee River in Wisconsin. I've had bigger ones hooked but not landed. In most of the great lakes area, they are protected, but the population there in the Menominee is sufficient that they actually have an open season for them. I believe it is the month of September, 1 fish per season , 50" minimum size.

Their populations are also rebounding pretty significantly in both the Upper and Lower Niagara Rivers.

These species don't get anywhere near as large as those monsters out your way and in the Pacific Northwest.

Tim

ps, I had also seen a supposedly reliable report that the white sturgeon pictured in the OP was caught in the Frazer river in British Columbia.

[LongLine]

Stan - They stocked Lake Sturgeon - "Acipenser fulvescens," in the Genny. The ones Tim described. The Zoo says they had been present in the Great Lakes for over 10,000 years before they got wiped out.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[stan]

Back in the early 90s Fish and Game here , stocked a number of sturgeon from the Columbia river here in Shasta Lake, but a lot of them died they had some kind of virus . The ones we have now , came up river to spawn and where trapped behind the dam when it was finished . Our state record is 468 pounds caught in the Delta.

Ken or as we who know him call him Patch. Is one of the top guides for sturgeon in the north state here http://www.riverpirate.com/sturgeon_fishing.asp

http://www.lunkerhunter.com/fishing_for ... 263#p19263

Here are some pictures of fish our our members took with there fish

http://www.lunkerhunter.com/fishing_for ... f=18&t=974

[bringley]

They stocked sturgeon in the Genny 2x, 2001 and 2003 I think. The fish are doing well and the 36 inch mark sounds about right. A man on my street was working on the project (not any more thanks to patterson) and was telling me it takes the females about 18 years to reach maturity.