Huge Lake Sturgeon Has Been Lurking In The Detroit River

Why, that one's just a minnow! Meet Acipenser Transmontanus, better known as the White Sturgeon, which inhabits the mighty Columbia River and the Snake River drainages. White Sturgeon up to 20 FEET and weighing more than 1000 POUNDS have been caught in the past, and while there is a small catch and release fishery for the "monsters of the river" up just below the Bonneville Dam, they are protected and you cannot take them out of the water, let alone kill one (which gets you felony jail time and a massive fine). Believe it or not, fishing for the monsters is not especially damaging to the fish; after they rest up in the water for 5-10 minutes, they'll move off with a slow sweep of their tail and then mosey off to head back down to the river bottom looking for something else to eat; they are one of the most super hardy fish I have ever seen. Current WA/OR regs only allow the retention of 2 White Sturgeon per year in the Columbia River, and they can only be in the 38" - 54" slot limit from the nose to the inner point of the tail fork below the Bonneville Dam, and 43" - 54" above the Dam. Under-sized White Sturgeon are called "shakers" and over-sized ones are called "river pigs". The largest one I have personally caught was a 9' footer while fishing for slot size keepers. If you can catch a legal slot size Sturgeon, the meat is one of the best tasting firm-flesh white meat fish available, on par with Halibut or Cobia. If you can get it smoked, why that stuff is gold, pure gold I tell ya! PS: That's a stock pic off the internet, it's not me.

Wow thats one big fish.

That fish has been through a lot over the years shipmate PO1 William "Chip" Nagel