It’s Saturday, February 5, 2022, 8 a.m. Sturgeon season begins at Black Lake in Cheboygan, a small town in Michigan. Almost 600 anglers have been on the ice since the early hours of the morning so as not to miss the starting gun. Just a few moments later, someone hooks the first sturgeon…
36 minutes later: The last sturgeon of the season is caught. All anglers at the lake get a message on their smartphones: The sturgeon season at Black Lake is over. Petri Heil, Petri thanks! The anglers congratulate everyone who has caught a sturgeon, go home satisfied and look forward to next year.
The sturgeon season lasted only half an hour
That’s right, Cheboygan’s sturgeon season lasted from 8 a.m. to 8:36 a.m. Saturday this year. What exactly is it all about?
Local resident Dan O’Henley has been fishing for sturgeon here for 30 years and he knows the game. “We had nice weather,” he says happily. “It was cold, but at least not windy or stormy. We had fun, enjoyed the fishing and laughed at how quickly it ended.”
Short window of time protects against overfishing
As an angler, you have probably already guessed what this short window of time is all about. Almost half an hour is really over extremely quickly, but the reason for this is as follows. One wants to protect the sturgeon from overfishing.
Each year, the Michigan Environmental Protection Agency regulates very precisely how many sturgeon can be taken from Black Lake. Once the anglers reach the crowd, they officially declare the sturgeon season over. Alternatively, the season ends no later than the fourth day after it began. But sometimes it only takes a few minutes – like this year. Six (in numbers: 6) sturgeons were released. The anglers were allowed to either fish them in the classic way with a rod or stand on the ice with spears.
Since about the year 1800, the number of sturgeons in the region has been declining. The main reason for this is the construction of rivers and spawning habitats. Anglers also put pressure on the population, which is why the sturgeon season is so closely controlled today.
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Officials were looking for black anglers
In order to guarantee that everyone follows the rules, officials from the environmental authority are always “on patrol” at the lake before the start of the disturbance season. They are on the lookout for illegally laid rigs. In fact, that year they found two abandoned rods, which they immediately confiscated. After all, anyone who sets their bait before 8 a.m. is a black angler.
“The two unattended lines would have had a fatal impact on anglers who were following the rules,” said Sergeant Mark DePew. “To put this into perspective, if both anglers had caught a sturgeon before 8am, they would have ‘stolen’ 33 percent of all sturgeon released before the start of the season. So it’s pretty important what we’re doing here.”
Even without a catch: anglers are happy about good memories of the sturgeon season
O’Henley and the other anglers on the ice are sporting about the short sturgeon season. He himself fishes every year with several family members. This year none of his group caught a sturgeon, the honor was left to others this time. For example Andrew Maltby and his father Aaron who caught the sixth and last sturgeon, a milker of 142 centimeters.
“It’s the best thing I’ve seen today,” O’Henley says of the pair’s catch. “That father and son can share this moment will stay with them forever. That’s what this is all about.”
Those: Cheboygan News