sturgeon DNR tags

[cat977]

Thought I heard once there was a website to type in the Dnr tag number to find out the history of the fish finally got my first sturgeon and it was taged just wondering where to go for the info.

[blakeb]

its on the dnrs website some place

[pushbutton]

Do not know about the website, but Mr. Phil would be a good starting point. Congrats on your first dinosaur.....

Phil Talmage

Area Fisheries Supervisor

204 Main Street East

Baudette, MN 56623

tel.: 218-634-2522

[Silver Scale]

Here's the DNR website url.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/tagged_fish_reporting/index.html

They will email you with the fish history within a few days of you reporting it.

[cat977]

thanks silverscale

[WallEYES]

Congrats...I also got a 52 incher with a yellow tag on it...thanks for the info

[shortfatguy]

I caught a 57.5 incher on sunday with a yellow tag too. I filled out the info on the dnr site and I am waiting to hear back.

[WallEYES]

I have recieved a letter from the DNR and will post this here for all to review...very interesting information....Dear Dave:

Your arms are tired? Experienced sturgeon anglers keep a bottle of Gatorade with them to stay fresh after a long battle!

Thank you for returning the tag number from the sturgeon you caught. I have attached the information we collected at the time of tagging. Each line of data on the tag return sheet represents a capture event. If you have two lines of data, your fish has been reported twice, etc. If your sturgeon was not aged when it was tagged, the attached chart will give you an approximate age, based on your fish’s length. The English and metric lengths are provided on the tag return page. Many anglers are curious as to what their sturgeon weighed. The attached chart also gives an estimated weight (pounds), based on the length (inches) and girth (inches) of your sturgeon.

As of the date of this letter, we have tagged 6,080 lake sturgeon, 3,087 longer than the 45 inch minimum size limit, at the time they were tagged. The longest sturgeon we have tagged was 71.3 inches long, but weight was not recorded for this fish. This fish was tagged on the Rainy River, near the mouth of the Littlefork River, in 2004. The heaviest sturgeon we have tagged and weighed was 77.9 pounds but only 65.7 inches long. This fish came from the Littlefork River in 2000. The largest sturgeon we have sampled was caught off of Pine Island in September of 2007. This fish was 73 inches long and estimated to weigh 120 pounds. Unfortunately we were not set up to tag this fish, so it was released without a tag.

We have found that in the Lake of the Woods-Rainy River system, male lake sturgeon begin to reproduce when they reach 17 years of age, while female sturgeon do not mature until they are about 26 years old. After maturing, males spawn only every two to three years while females spawn every four to nine years.

Intense commercial exploitation during the late 1800s and early 1900s decimated the once abundant sturgeon population. After the decline of the commercial fishery the sturgeon population was unable to rebound due to water pollution in the Rainy River, the primary spawning area. Water pollution prevented the sturgeon from spawning successfully most years, however sturgeon are an extremely long-lived species. Enough individuals managed to survive and reproduction was enough to maintain a small population. With the passage of the Clean Water Act and it’s amendments in the late 1960’s and early 1970s, the sturgeon population started to grow and reproduction is successful in most years. Population estimates for the number of sturgeon longer than 40 inches in the Lake of the Woods - Rainy River system were made in 1990 and again in 2004. The sturgeon population grew from about 16,000 individuals to about 60,000 individuals during this period. Today, the Lake of the Woods-Rainy River system is one of the few areas in the country that has a lake sturgeon population that is healthy enough to support a fishery.

I hope you find this information useful and interesting. Thanks again for the return of the tag. Cooperation from anglers, such as yourself, is an essential part of this tagging study. If you would like more information about fish management activities in the Baudette management area, please check out our web site at: http://www.state.mn.us/areas/fisheries/baudette/index.html.

Sincerely,

Tom

Tom Heinrich

Large Lake Specialist

MN-DNR Fisheries

204 Main St E

Baudette MN 56623