Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Sturgeon - Lake of the Woods

Did any of you guys hear of an 11 foot 1 inch Sturgeon being caught in Lake of the Woods, Ontario? I received an email from a friend that said it was caught 2 weeks ago. I weighed over 1,000 lbs and had a 56" girth. I just can't believe it. There is a picture with the email but I can't seem to get it posted here. Has anyone heard of this?

http://www.ifallsdailyjournal.com/news/opinion-columns/editors-desk-too-good-be-true-again-104

Yeah, what he said.



Last time I got that e-mail the sturgeon was caught in the "Missouri River, North Dakota"

that fish sure gets around.

Thanks, I didn't think it was real but wanted another opinion.

also important to note (from the same link):


"The information accompanying the photo also raised a few eyebrows among some viewers on the Web site. For example, the information says the fish took more than six and a half hours and only four dozen beers for the four guys taking turns at reeling it in. Several comments on the Web site wondered why it would take Canadians just four dozen beers over a period of more than six and a half hours. Apparently there is the belief that six hours of reeling would have required many more bottles of the sudsy stuff for our friends north of the border.


that should set off the BS detectors straight away, eh? (grin)

I am pretty sure the Ontario record lake sturgeon, which was netted, weighed either 305 or 310 pounds and was caught in Lake Erie. I have seen a photo of it and it was much longer than a man is tall.

I think there used to be some really big ones in Lake St. Clair as well.

I wonder if they will start to get really big by eating zebra mussels. There are alot more nutrients in the Great Lakes today than their used to be and I would think much of it must now be tried up in zebra mussels and being bottom feeders the sturgeon may eat them.

Please. No pictures.

Here's one from Lake Erie, around the late 40's. Caught by my family's fishing business, out of Erie. At least it's a Lake Sturgeon. I think we got the last one(over 6', if I remember correctly) around 1962.

This past Saturday, I was boating on the Suwanee River, and twice we saw large Sturgeon jumping.
Dang things get pretty big down here, some hitting 9 feet in length, and weighing over 200 pounds.

I've seen some pretty large ones, both on Lake St Croix, Lake Winnebogshish ( up by Walker) and on Lake of the Woods...

Have also seen some pretty big ones on the Mississippi...

A funny side story..
In the early 90s I was taking my daughters down a float trip in my canoe down the Mississippi, way north of Mpls, but below St Cloud..

It was a hot day, so I suggested for the girls to jump into the water and float near the canoe to cool off.. Just as they were getting ready to jump overboard into the water, and a large Lake Sturgeon surfaced right next to the canoe, within less than 2 feet from the gunnel..

It was probably just checking out what was floating by...

however all three of my daughters turn absolutely white, and the look of shock on their faces was priceless...

I told them that the fish wouldn't hurt them.. but I couldn't get them out of the canoe until we stopped at the pull out point... and then they wouldn't even step in Ankle Deep water..

That was the last time they would even go down the Mississippi in the Canoe...refused every offer dad made to go with him on a float down the river...

My son caught a 69" 74 pound sturgeon in the Sacramento river 2 years ago, female, pretty fat for her length. Sturgeon on the columbian river ( between Wash & Oregon) are much larger. Here is a snippet from a guide my BIL and FIL went with last year:
The Columbia river below Bonneville Dam is a major spawning location for the giant oversized white sturgeon. These monsters can grow to 20 feet in length and reach weights of up to 2000 lbs. The average however that sturgeon fisherman angling for sturgeon are able to catch and release is between 6 and 14 feet with weights of up to 1200 lbs. These big sturgeon spend most of there time in the open ocean and only return to the Columbia river to spawn.

Cool fish, we have had several hooked, jump showing us how big they are, then dive and roll, usually cutting the monofilament line on the sharp diamonds on their side and along their bellies.


I had one take down my son's line last spring, then it stopped after maybe running 30 seconds. My son said he must have snagged a log or something. I took the rod and held as much and as long of pressure on it for probably 5 minutes, started strumming the line and I finally was able to gain on it. We noticed the line angle ( river fishing out the fain tail) was slowly getting closer to us, ie it was coming our way and almost below the boat when the hook just came out. I suspect we didn't have the 2 9/0 hooks set very well, or it ripped the leathery skin or lips. It surely would have exceeded our 72" maximum slot limit.

Allen