Man Finds -- and Kills -- 100-Year-Old Fish

[dirtydawg10]

It's illegal to take sturgeon here in CT...but if it was done legally I see no problem with taking one.

 

[Turbosaurus]

They sold over 10,000 licenses this past year so only about 15% got a sturgeon.

Thanks for the great info fish-n-chips. My first reponse to the article was kneejerk- what a bozo! But on further contemplation, with some good info from an informed "wisconsinite" who may or may not be inbred as suggested by someone with a more urban sense of ignorance (hope you can appriciate the irony Fish-n-chips) its fine by me. What better fish to kill than the one who has lived sucessfully and, I assume, spawned each season for 100 years?

They are selling the licenses, and the money from the licenses can support the cost of widlife agents to restrict poaching. Its got to be paid for somehow- and this seems like a great solution.

Its a sad ending to a long life, but really, when is it not?

 

[Tay690]

If the population is thriving ... maybe they should relocate a few to areas that are almost extinct?

Here around Toronto (Zone 17)
http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR_E001336.pdf

There is absolutely no open season for these prehistoric monsters

So by all means...if it's thriving...ship em up this way

I myself won't partake in "Spearing" a fish in my lifetime even if it was legal for xx amount of time...unless I was lost in the wild and had absolutely no other source of food...

Send some of those beauties up here and give us a chance to hook a prehistoric monsters and release him ALIVE and HEALTHY...without a freakin' hole in its side

The thing that irks me the most about this is the fact that there are limits...minimum and maximum length

Suppose you spear a fish that from shore and about a distance of 15 feet away seemed like it was within' a reasonable range to "Spear"...then you end up dragging it out of the water...beaching the fish to measure it and OH NO!!!! IT'S TOO BIG TO KEEP!!! I GUESS I HAVE TO THROW IT BACK

What chance does that fish with a hole the size of a golf ball straight through one side and out the other...actually have to survive after being released

 

[jpappy789]

Spearfishing is not exactly like ice fishing.

There is also an annual sturgeon spearing season on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin. It has changed from a 16 day season in the past to a season with a marked quota, however, the season can still run for the full 16 days. If 90–99% of the quota is reached on any day the season is over at 12:30 pm the following day. If 100% (or more) of the quota is reached the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources can enable an emergency stoppage rule which would end spearing at 12:30 pm the day the quota is reached. Before the season structure was changed to protect this valuable resource spearers could fish from midnight on opening day to 11:59 pm on the 16th day of the season. Now spearers start at 6:30 am and have to stop for the day at 12:30 pm. During those six hours the fishermen look down a hole that is cut into the ice with chainsaws. The hole cannot exceed 48 sq ft (4.5 m2). In order to be harvested the sturgeon must be at least 36 inches.[1] The largest sturgeon ever harvested on Lake Winnebago weighed 212.2 pounds, measured 84.2 inches in length and was speared by Ron Grishaber in 2010.

 

[daclozer]

Very sad to kill something just to show off and be able to say you killed it. Take a friggin picture and release it. I spend a lot of time in the FLorida Keys and I see the old pics of people with massive dead jewfish in the hundreds of pounds. THey are no good to eat at that size, they just killed them to take a picture of them and then they throw the carcass back in the ocean. THey nearly wiped them out, new they are overprotected and the jewfish is decimating every other species on the reefs..

 

[captmicha]

How sad. Spear fishing is cruel. What a tragic end to a long life. You would think that something that old would die in a natural way, not with a stupid spear taking a chunk out of it's side.

 

[Lowryder]

I see nothing wrong with what the man did, as long as he uses the fish for food. If I caught a monster fish, I would keep it there is no doubt about that. As for spear fishing being "inhumane" thats not the case. With a fish that large you have one chance to kill it and thats it, better make your first shot count. I think it was more humane than if he would have caught that with rod and reel and fought for hours pulling on that fishes jaw and than being gaffed.

 

[captmicha]

That's not really the point. The point is that you don't see 100 year old fish everyday. It's like, wow, here's something really special that we may not see again for a long time. For some reason, I have to put an end to it.

 

[Lowryder]

Did he know it was a 100 yrear old fish?

 

[captmicha]

He must have had to have assumed that a fish of that size would be of an impressive age.