The Detroit River fish is a lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens), and while it is believed to be one of the largest ever caught in the U.S., there are much bigger fish swimming in rivers around the world. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the planet’s largest freshwater fish is the beluga sturgeon (Huso huso), living between Europe and Asia in the Black, Azov and Caspian seas, and the rivers feeding them.
Thursday, June 10, 2021
Love me some smoked sturgeon
It took three biologists to haul a 240-pound (109 kilograms) fish out of the Detroit River in Michigan last month. The nearly 7-foot-long (2.1 meters) “monster’ sturgeon,” caught and released by the Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, could be more than 100 years old. It’s a mightily impressive catch for sure, but is it the biggest freshwater fish in the world?
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The trouble with smoked sturgeon is they just won't stay lit.
ReplyDeleteAnd the rolling papers smell like that...
DeleteI'm a little confused as to why Alpena fish and wild life folks are at the Detroit river which is about 250 miles from Alpena. I read, years ago, that sturgeon spawn at the north end of Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit river.
ReplyDeleteAs to being the biggest fish, I've seen bigger sturgeon in fisheries on the Columbia river on the west coast. One was so big I thought it was a log lying on the bottom of the fish tank- until it moved.
2012, we were at the mouth of the Umpqua near Reedsport, Oregon.
ReplyDelete.
Me and my neighbor Sam in his 26' cabin-cruiser with a bunch of neighborhood kids.
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I snagged a 30# tuna in that brackish water.
Not biting, snagged.
What was a pelagic doing in mostly fresh water?
You tell me.
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We hauled as fast as we could to get it aboard.
As it came over the gunnals, Sam and I heard a yuge 'SLAP!, we thought one of the kids fell in.
Nope.
That was a sturgeon... about as long as our boat.
The head was a good 3'-4' across.
I could fit my shoulders in that mouth.
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That afternoon, we pulled out.
At the ramp, fish-game was idling, waiting to tell us he saw the whole thing from above on the bluff.
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He said that fish could be six-hundred years old, it could be two-thousand years old.
We don't know.
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Secrets of muddy water.