Go Back   Alberta Outdoorsmen Forum > Main Category > Fishing Discussion

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 06-21-2010, 09:11 AM
Albertadiver's Avatar
Albertadiver Albertadiver is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 10,175
Cool Big Sturgeon found in Riverbend Pond - Red Deer

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/redd..._96644989.html

Click on the above link for photo.



As fish stories go, this sounded like a whopper.

But, hey, it was started at a golf course.

Even Alberta Fish and Wildlife senior fisheries biologist Vance Buchwald admitted to more than a little skepticism when he headed out to a pond at River Bend Golf Course on June 9 after getting a report that a huge sturgeon had been landed by a shocked angler a few days earlier.

“I mean, I went in with the attitude there was probably less than a 50 per cent chance we were going to catch it, or the story was even true,” said Buchwald from his Red Deer office on Thursday.

“We were pretty excited to catch it and relatively easily.”

What he and a Fish and Wildlife colleague caught in their gill nets amazed them — a 1.48-metre sturgeon weighing at best guess (their scale wasn’t big enough to get an accurate measurement) between 25 and 35 kg.

It took the pair of them some time to muscle the giant fish into their boat so it could be tagged and released into the Red Deer River.

“It’s one of those things,” he said. “Even though I’m a biologist, this is the first live sturgeon I’ve seen out of an aquarium.”

Sturgeon are not unknown in the Red Deer River. Sightings have been confirmed north of Drumheller, and the odd unsubstantiated sighting has come in every once in a while from as far upstream as Dickson Dam.

But to find the giant fish, which has a pedigree dating back 200 million years and has changed so little they are sometimes called living fossils, in a smallish pond on a Central Alberta golf course is pretty darn low on the probability scale.

The best guess among fish biologists is that the sturgeon found its way into the pond during a flood; the last big one was in 2005, but there have been others in the past 20 years.

Terry Clayton, a Fish and Wildlife senior fisheries biologist out of Lethbridge, is team lead for Alberta’s Lake Sturgeon Recovery Team and was surprised as anyone to hear about Red Deer’s resident sturgeon.

“They’re not very common (in the Red Deer River) and they’re not very common at all in the upper part or the part around Red Deer.”

More are found at the tail of the Red Deer River near Empress and sturgeon are mostly found in the South Saskatchewan River between the Saskatchewan border and Medicine Hat. However, Sturgeon have also been found in the North Saskatchewan, Oldman and Bow Rivers.

While Clayton can only speculate on how the sturgeon ended up in Red Deer, the flood theory makes the most sense. A lake sturgeon typically spawns in the spring and they swim upstream during peak flow in spring runoff.

“It might have gone upstream farther than it normally would.” A few sturgeon have been stranded in the past when flood waters recede. He has a photo of a large sturgeon left high and dry on a gravel bar in the Oldman River in 1995.

“This one might have been fortunate to get into an area that when the water receded, the pond was there.”

The fish has been tagged on its dorsal fin with a tag that looks like a small piece of orange spaghetti. Clayton said if the fish is caught again, anglers are asked to give Fish and Wildlife a call. Biologists will be able to gather information on its progress back downstream.

Removing the fish from the pond and releasing it into the river has a number of benefits, he said.

“It was probably pretty lonely for one, because it’s most likely the only one in there.

“It’s a valuable member of the whole spawning population in the South Saskatchewan Basin. Putting it back in the river lets it join other members of its species and take part in future spawning events.”
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 06-21-2010, 09:18 AM
Fishfinder's Avatar
Fishfinder Fishfinder is offline
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Medicine Hat
Posts: 2,015
Default

Cool! Nice healthy looking sturg. She can go join her friends and family now!
Thanx for sharing...great story!
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 05-18-2011, 12:28 PM
BGSH BGSH is offline
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Alberta
Posts: 5,385
Default

great story
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 05-18-2011, 12:34 PM
TyreeUM's Avatar
TyreeUM TyreeUM is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Saskatoon, SK
Posts: 1,353
Default

they forgot the possibility some idiot released it in there...
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 05-18-2011, 12:45 PM
BGSH BGSH is offline
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Alberta
Posts: 5,385
Default

they also say it could have come into the pond in the 2005 flood or even in the past 20 years, thats a long time to live in a pond, they should stock that pond with trout obviously it wont winter-kill
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 05-18-2011, 12:55 PM
TyreeUM's Avatar
TyreeUM TyreeUM is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Saskatoon, SK
Posts: 1,353
Default

they should stock it with sturgeon...
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 05-18-2011, 12:56 PM
BGSH BGSH is offline
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Alberta
Posts: 5,385
Default

if it was living in a golf course pond for up to 20 years i wonder what it would eat
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 05-18-2011, 12:57 PM
TyreeUM's Avatar
TyreeUM TyreeUM is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Saskatoon, SK
Posts: 1,353
Default

for a new put and take fishing opportunity of course...
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 05-18-2011, 01:08 PM
BGSH BGSH is offline
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Alberta
Posts: 5,385
Default

sturgeon are easy to catch, just throw some worms on a hook and away you go, but if you are using light takle it will spool you.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 05-18-2011, 01:12 PM
TyreeUM's Avatar
TyreeUM TyreeUM is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Saskatoon, SK
Posts: 1,353
Default

I don't know about that golf course, but the ones around here have enough snails in them to keep several sturgeon happy for life. I bet that thing was ****ed when it had to start swimming in the river again...
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 05-18-2011, 01:19 PM
BGSH BGSH is offline
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Alberta
Posts: 5,385
Default

yea thats what i was thinking, and hope f&w didnt just walk to the closest part of the river and say goodbye, they should release it in deep a hole up river somewhere .
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 05-18-2011, 01:26 PM
TyreeUM's Avatar
TyreeUM TyreeUM is offline
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Saskatoon, SK
Posts: 1,353
Default

eh, they are pretty hardy man...they can handle quite a bit. The thing lived in a golf course pond for who knows how long...I do, however, think it is absolutely hilarious that a fish biologist working in Alberta has never seen a sturgeon other than in an aquarium...
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 05-18-2011, 01:29 PM
BGSH BGSH is offline
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Alberta
Posts: 5,385
Default

yea thats true, but thats like tieing us up to a bed for years and then expecting us to walk up hill, might trip on the way? haha sturgeon probably went downstream for a bit until it realized it had to face up stream
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:01 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.5
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.