Illinois River sturgeon: Guide Mike Hanson caught and released a rare lake sturgeon

Guide Mike Hanson caught and released a 41-inch lake sturgeon Saturday on the Illinois River near Starved Rock. | Provided

Snag? Try something prehistoric.

Guide Mike Hanson was catching sauger and walleye Saturday on the Illinois River below the Starved Rock Lock and Dam when a surprise came.

“I thought it was a snag and tried to snap it off, then it moved,” Hanson said. “I told the guys, `This might be a big walleye.’ “

Think again.

It ran about 300 yards with Hanson battling for 27 minutes before landing a lake sturgeon.

“Definitely a fish of a lifetime,” he said. “That one is burned in my memory. Don’t know how many there are. Such a prehistoric fish, I had to let it go back in the system.”

The 41-inch sturgeon was 29.6 pounds.

In his release video, Hanson, of Starved Rock Guide Service, intoned, “Back in the river, you dang damp dinosaur you. It was awesome.”

That’s a good thing on many levels.

Lake sturgeon are a seldom-seen native of Illinois waters, as the Illinois State Museum put it. They’re endangered in Illinois, which also has federally endangered pallid sturgeon within its range.

According to the Associated Press, Illinois-based Prairie Rivers Network was among the groups earlier this year that “filed a federal complaint in hopes of forcing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to complete a review that could designate lake sturgeon as a federally endangered species.”

If you fish Wisconsin rivers regularly, you probably have caught or seen lake sturgeon caught. In Wisconsin, they are plentiful enough to have a spearing season on ice in February on the Winnebago system and a September hook-and-line season on some rivers.

“I bet that was fun to catch on rod and reel!” emailed Ryan Koenigs, Winnebago system sturgeon biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “It’s definitely a lake sturgeon.”

“Looks like a lake sturgeon to me,” emailed Vic Santucci, Lake Michigan program manager for the Illinois DNR. “The shorter, rounded snout vs. a flattened elongated snout in the shovelnose and pallid sturgeon is the primary characteristic indicating laker. Some commercial fishers on the [Mississippi River] call lakers, ` rubbernose sturgeon.’ “

The smaller shovelnose sturgeon are common enough to have an Illinois record (9 pounds, 8.2 ounces), caught by Larry Morine on Aug. 31, 2013 from the Rock River in Whiteside County.

I love digging around on stuff like this and found that Joel Greenberg, in “A Natural History of the Chicago Region,” included accounts from the 1800s of abundant lake sturgeon in southern Lake Michigan, with spawning near the mouth of the Calumet. (pages 168-170).

Philip W. Smith, in “The Fishes of Illinois,” (page 12) wrote, “Although the species has become rare in Lake Michigan, it is probably more common there than in Illinois rivers.”

A cool different view of the sturgeon caught and released by guide Mike Hanson Saturday on the Illinois River near Starved Rock.

SPRINGFIELD: The first youth spring turkey season on Saturday and Sunday is a go on private property and IRAP sites. Remember IDNR sites are closed. . . . The spring trout season will open on April 4 at sites then open. All of this is dependent on proper social distancing. Click here for details.

STRAY CAST: The daily federal updates on COVID-19 remind me of learning about glochidia and largemouth bass at the Urban Stream Research Center.