sturgeon also were discussed. there is a university student that is working on tracking sturgeon using telemetry tags. there are 123 (iirc) sturgeon that have been tagged locally with the electronic tags. there are several locations all along the river that are picking up the signals from these fish. one fish tagged at koomati (suffield) went all the way to lake diefenbaker over the winter, and appeared to be spawning near the grand forks. thats some miles. another fish was tagged near the forks and a week later was recaptured (by angling) near whiterock coulee. a week later, it was caught again at the rattlesnake hole (olechowski for locals). there were several other fish that really didnt move anywhere. some spent the entire year in a very small stretch of river. there seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why the fish travel, stay or otherwise.
further, 2 local guys have been tagging fish for a few years now. they have tagged (spaghetti tags) over 1200 fish. terry believes the sturgeon population to be in much better shape than what was thought just five years ago, and the population seems to be increasing nicely. from accounts from both terry and the university student, and the two local guys....all age groups seem to be plentiful right from wee little 10 inchers all the way up to the great big lunkers everyone dreams of catching.
from reports by the local guys, srd, and the roomful of local anglers, the rate of catching sturgeon that are tagged seems to run between 10 and 20 percent. very good news on all fronts for sturgeon in the SSR.
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