You'll land it much quicker when you are mobile and it reduces the fish time which is always best for the sturgeon. Congratulations, you've caught yourself a sturgeon.
Smaller Sturgeon Handling - If you want a quick photo, you can do so for fish under 1. Handling of large sturgeon - keep the sturgeon in the water at all times.
If you want a photo, do so quickly. Jump into the water near the shore. I'd recommend hip waders. Keep the sturgeon's head in the water at all times. You can have multiple people hold the fish, but the head should stay low and let the water support the Sturgeons weight.
Point your fish into the current, holding it near the tail and supporting it as necessary. It should start to swim away. As soon as it is ready, let go and watch it swim away. You are ready for your next one! Sturgeon have been observed swimming upside down on their backs. Research suggests this might be to feed on insects on the surface of the water. Given the location of the sturgeon mouth, that is the only way it could feed at the surface.
In the aquarium, sturgeon like to swim through the filter air bubbles, perhaps cleaning their gills. You may also see sturgeon lying on top of each other in tanks. Unlike other fish such as trout , sturgeon tend to have their own unique personalities and behaviours.
These behaviours may be feeding strategies or just playfulness. Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens are descendants of a prehistoric fish, and look much the same as fossils from the Upper Cretaceous Period million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The age of a sturgeon cannot be determined externally.
Much like a tree, you can tell how old it is by counting the growth rings on the bones of its pectoral fins. Back to top How they look From their prehistoric days, sturgeon have an outer armour of bony plates, a skeleton made of cartilage, and a shark-like tail. Scutes have little hooked spurs that make the young sturgeon hard-to-swallow and unappealing, protecting them from predators like walleye and pike. Young sturgeon often have black blotches on their sides, back, and snout to help them camouflage with the lake or river bottom.
These blotches will lighten or disappear when they are about 60 cm long — too large for most natural predators. Much of Gulf sturgeon behavior, including spawning and the fall migration from the river to the Gulf, takes place at the bottom of the river, in dark tannic tea-colored water, or nocturnally at night. Fingerlings are nocturnal, rarely venturing into shallow water along the riverbank in the daytime, or into the clear waters of spring outflows.
In addition, anglers rarely catch larger sturgeon on fishing gear because Gulf sturgeon generally do not feed in the river.
Are Gulf sturgeon found in the smaller tributaries of the Suwannee River? Almost all sturgeon species are adapted to live primarily in large rivers. They generally do not go into small streams and tributaries, or do so only briefly for spawning. Although abundant in the lower and middle Suwannee River, Gulf sturgeon are also occasionally found in the upper Suwannee, Santa Fe and Alapaha rivers, and venture only a short distance up the larger Withlacoochee River a tributary of the Suwannee.
In the Suwannee, adults are rarely found above the point where the Withlacoochee River joins the Suwannee River, except during the spawning season. Can Gulf sturgeon be harvested? Gulf sturgeon are protected by Florida law and listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. They are protected from fishing or other harvest. It is illegal to keep or injure a Gulf sturgeon.
Why are Gulf sturgeon protected? Gulf sturgeon have been federally listed as a threatened species since and protected by Florida law since These protections were needed to counter the effects of habitat loss caused by river damming and commercial harvesting. Development, surface mining and declining water quality continue to threaten Gulf sturgeon today.
Dams on some rivers cut off access to upriver spawning grounds, preventing reproduction. Would releasing hatchery-raised sturgeon help the Gulf sturgeon population? The Suwannee River has a large, healthy, naturally-reproducing Gulf sturgeon population. Currently, it is not necessary to consider stock enhancement to maintain or supplement the wild population.
Scientists estimate there are approximately 10, adult Gulf sturgeon that make the Suwannee their summer home, with far fewer numbers in the six other major rivers where Gulf sturgeon are known to spawn. The Suwannee River, which flows from the Okefenokee Swamp in southeastern Georgia down through northern Florida, is one of the most pristine rivers in the country - it has no dams which prevent sturgeons from moving up- and downstream. These fish use almost the entire length of the river to complete their complicated life history.
The sturgeon spawning grounds on the Suwannee are miles upstream from the mouth. Unlike salmon, which die after spawning in freshwater, sturgeon -- which can live to be plus years old -- spend summer in the river, then swim back down the river to winter in the Gulf. During the winter, sturgeon return to the eastern Gulf of Mexico where they feed heartily.
They typically do not eat while they are in the river -- losing somewhere around 20 percent of their body mass. Because of this extended fast, biologists wonder why the fish would use energy to jump out of the water. When they do eat, Gulf sturgeon are bottom feeders. They have barbells, catfish-like whiskers that help them search for prey, which they vacuum up with their sucker mouths.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission FWC has created decals and signs to promote safe boating activities in the Suwannee River to help reduce the risk of collisions with sturgeon. Sturgeon Signs The original "Be Aware" sign was created in The new "Be Aware" sign was created in Signs are installed at each boat ramp along the Suwannee River to warn boaters about these jumping fish.
The gulf sturgeon is a subspecies of the Atlantic sturgeon and was first described and recognized as a subspecies in Besides genetic differences, gulf sturgeon differ from the Atlantic sturgeon in relative head length and pectoral fin length, shape of dorsal scutes bony plates , and length and position of the spleen.
It is very difficult to visually differentiate gulf from Atlantic sturgeon. Gulf sturgeon are native to the Gulf of Mexico, from Florida to Louisiana. Gulf sturgeon were listed as a threatened species on October 30, , pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of Appendix II includes species that may become threatened with extinction if their trade is not regulated and monitored.
The gulf sturgeon is an ancient fish first appearing in the fossil record million years ago and evolving to its current form around the same time as sharks. They have a cartilaginous backbone and external scutes, which cover their head and the top part of their body. In addition, they have an asymmetrical caudal tail fin with the top half being larger than the bottom half. The head of the gulf sturgeon consists of a long snout preceded by four sensitive tactile barbels fleshy protuberances similar in function to cat's whiskers which sense prey.
The gulf sturgeon is anadromous and spends the major part of the year in freshwater, migrating to saltwater in the fall. Gulf sturgeon return to their natal stream to spawn.
The best river habitat for gulf sturgeon are long, spring-fed free-flowing rivers. Size: up to 9 feet. Weight: up to pounds. Share Tweet Email.
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