MN largest fish doin well

[Lee Borgersen]

        Fisheries burgeon with big sturgeon

State's largest fish doing well despite turn-of-century issues
The largest fish that swims Minnesota waters is the lake sturgeon.

  ........ :fishing2:
The best place to catch this prehistoric-looking fish also is one of the state’s best walleye fisheries — Lake of the Woods and its connected flowage, the Rainy River.

While most conversations involving this body of water typically revolve around Minnesota’s most famous fish, the walleye, an increasing number of anglers have been coming here to catch the lake sturgeon.

Catching sturgeon always has been an option on this fishery along the Minnesota/Canada border. As far back as historical data provides, there’s record of a sturgeon population in the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods.

These fish were almost nonexistent at the turn of the century, the result of being over harvested and of extremely poor water quality. Commercial fishing for lake sturgeon greatly reduced their numbers and an inferior environment lead to poor spawning and reproductive conditions.

With limited numbers remained in the system, it looked as though lake sturgeon would one day be gone. But it’s because of this dismal history that the current status of the sturgeon population could be chalked up as one of Minnesota’s biggest success stories.

After decades of reduced harvest, improved water quality and intense management, the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods has become the best lake sturgeon fishery in the state, if not the entire country.

Catching sturgeon

Tom Heinrich is the large lake specialist for the Department of Natural Resources’ fisheries department in Baudette. He said most sturgeon catches were accidental a couple of decades ago, but they’ve become primary targets.

“Part of that is simply because there’s not many places you can fish for sturgeon,” he said. “In the early 1990s, sturgeon fishing was virtually nonexistent up here. That’s not the case now.”

The sturgeon season framework is broken into several periods that allow fishing on a catch-and-release basis, or the opportunity to keep one sturgeon per year. It’s worth checking the fishing regulations handbook for specific season dates.



The largest fish that swims Minnesota waters is the lake sturgeon, and the best place to catch them is Lake of the Woods and its connected flowage, the Rainy River.

                            Submitted photo:

[Boar]

Yupper thats awsome.