Article published May 29, 2009
FOLLOW THE FISH
Spawning sturgeon typifies good karma
Jim Boase, left, and Jim McFee, both of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, heft a sturgeon captured at the Fighting Island spawning reef.
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Spawning by lake sturgeon in Canadian waters of the Detroit River has been confirmed for the first time in 30 years, boosting hopes for continued recovery of this rare, ancient species in the river and adjoining waters of western Lake Erie.
The spawning is occurring on a reef built last fall at the head of Fighting Island, across from Wyandotte, Mich., under an American-Canadian partnership. Sturgeon, considered an indicator of ecosystem health, are estimated at just one percent of their former numbers in the Detroit River.
The species fell victim to pollution, damming of their spawning streams, commercial netting, and such myriad developments as coastal wetlands losses, armoring of shorelines, dredging, and channelization. Lake sturgeon provided a lucrative commercial fishery for caviar and smoked fish in the 1800s, and Lake Erie led the way on the Great Lakes. But, by the early 1900s, it was all but over.
Sturgeon trace to the age of the dinosaurs, may grow to more than six feet and weigh more than 200 pounds. They can live more than a century, have bony plates instead of scales, shark-like tails, pointed snouts, and four long barbels to locate prey in front of a downturned, suction-like mouth. The upper body is olive to gray, graduating to yellow or milky white.
A lake sturgeon fry hatched at the spawning reef.
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"This is outstanding news," summed John Hartig, manager of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge on Grosse Ile. Sturgeon are listed as threatened in Michigan and Ontario and endangered in Ohio waters of the Great Lakes.
As a bonus, fisheries biologists have found that walleye and lake whitefish also are spawning on the Fighting Island reef.Down on Lake Erie, the Ohio Division of Wildlife continues to monitor sturgeon reports. "We generally get about 15 reports a year, generally coinciding with the peak of yellow perch fishing," said Christopher Vandergoot, an Ohio biologist at the Lake Erie Fisheries Research Station at Sandusky.
"Most reports come from the islands area as well around Niagara Reef. We would like folks to give us a specific capture location (latitude and longitude), depth of water, time of day, if they were fishing or if the just spotted one (alive or dead), as well as the date."
Call the station at 419-625-8062. Sturgeon must be released immediately - after measuring and a photograph.
About a decade ago Michigan began a rehabilitation and monitoring project with an eye to keeping the population stable and to maintain a limited sport fishery on Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River.
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Walleye fishing has been good in the western basin, the Ohio Division of Wildlife said. The best fishing continues to be around the island complex, including north of North Bass Island, between South Bass Island and Kelleys Island, and north of Kelleys Island Shoal. Farther west the fishing has been good between Green Island and the Camp Perry Firing Range, north of West Sister Island, and around the chart area marked Gravel Pit just east of the Toledo Ship Channel. The key has been finding clear to slightly stained water, given winds earlier in the week that muddied inshore waters. Yellow perch fishing has been best off Cedar Point and around Kelleys Island.
The Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit takes to Lake Erie from Sandusky today and tomorrow, with Sunday set aside as a weather day. Tournament weigh-ins are public and are set for 3:45 to 5 p.m. at the Shelby Street Boat Launch in Sandusky. For details visit masterswalleyecircuit.com, or call 877-893-7947.
White bass action continues to be fair to good on the Maumee and Sandusky rivers, though the Sandusky is a mite high and muddy from a downpour at midweek.
Contact Steve Pollick at:
spollick@theblade.com
or 419-724-6068.
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