WAYLAND, Mich — The Lake Sturgeon can grow to be over 6 feet in length, and live to be more than 100 years old, but if you blink - you might miss the very short fishing season for the Michigan icon.
“There aren't a lot of opportunities to harvest one, especially sparing in the state or even regionally.”
Starting on February 1st, any registered angler here in Michigan can try their luck at catching or spearing a lake sturgeon through the ice on Black Lake in Cheboygan County. This season is a return to normal after last year's season was canceled due to unsafe ice conditions.
What looks more like a party than a fishing trip at times, the season only lasts until February 5th or until six sturgeon are caught.
That can happen fast.
"One season was done in 35 minutes," DNR Fisheries Biologist Neal Godby told me. "You know, the fish had been harvested and we had to close it 35 minutes. Other times it's gone on a day or two, or even longer, two and a half days."
But getting to this point for anglers and the sturgeon hasn’t been so quick.
Since the early 2000 efforts between State, Federal, and Tribal agencies have been underway to restore the fish population across Michigan.
Including Cheboygan Countyand along the Kalamazoo River. Something that has been a labor of love for the Gun Lake Tribe of Pottawatomi Indians according to Lakota Hobia.
“There are very specific stories about the roles that sturgeon played in the community to allow them to survive and, you know, thrive. And with that, there is an importance that those other beings that have always supported us aren’t left behind.”
Since 2011 the tribe and Environmental Techs like Maria Scarborough have been working with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Grand Valley State University, and US Fish and Wildlife Service to collect fertilized sturgeon eggs in the Kalamazoo River – and bring them to a streamside rearing facility, stocking more than 15,000 fish back into the river, to date. And building back a relationship with the fish, the people, and the water.
"By rehabilitating the species it gives everyone more access to the fish, and this includes anglers, this includes the tribal citizens, it includes just people who are out experiencing the river and it gives them the opportunity to build that relationship," Scarborough told me. "And I feel like that is a really beautiful thing.”
According to Neal, there are 14 fishing licenses for sturgeon given out each year. Seven go to the State of Michigan, and seven go to the area tribes that have that in their treaties with the government. The Gun Lake Tribe does not have that specified, so they are helping to restore the sturgeon population without the ability to fish for it.
Truly helping to stock the fish for future generations.
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