Poor little sturgeon

[Pete]

Fished in the Columbia today and had moderate success for shaker sturgeon. The only one that would have been a keeper was "abbreviated" ... missing it's tail. It looked like it either never had it or lost it very young as it had compensated with its dorsal and anal fins to form a new tail. Poor little fishy!

http://www.mcube.net/images/notail1.jpg

http://www.mcube.net/images/notail2.jpg

[Mrduckman]

Where were you fishing at, I don't want to know the holes just the general area because I am fishing at the Fishery tomorrow morning. And if anybody else has a report from the fishery area I would apreciate it.

Thanks, DM

[ZaQ]

I caught one last July identical to that, wonder how common such a thing is?

[norms gone fishing too]

I have seen this more than once hear rummors of how this happens but don't know for shur

[KingFisher85]

I know that the gill netters cut part of there tail off cause there size limit I guess is 43 and ours are 42 so, they make is so no one gets any. Now I don't want anyone telling me they don't do this cause I have seen them do it before.

[Clamman]

Actually the commercial minimum size is 48" and at almost $2 a pound why would they make it take longer for one of these fish to get to be "legal" for their fishery?

[KingFisher85]

[ 01-18-2003, 08:48 AM: Message edited by: KingFisher85 ]

[Pete]

This fish did NOT have it's tail cut off ... it either did not have a tail, or it lost it's tail when it was very young as the two fins moved around to form a pseudo-tail.

[KingFisher85]

Oh, ok :blush: . well then, who knows what happend to this fish.

[Walleyed]

water looks to clear to be the Oregon City aria,But my brother got one just like that last weekend, :shrug:

[ 01-17-2003, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: Walleyed ]

[TheRogue]

Let's see, somewhere in the Columbia River system, downriver of Hanford........gee, can't imagine why there would be deformed fish :wink: :wink:

[BottomFeeder]

You can bet it's the commercial guys. I wish them all ill will and torment.


-Bottomfeeder

[AuntyM]

Both driftboat and my husband caught sturgeon last summer that had missing tails, on the same day. This tail loss happened to them very early in their lives, as it was totally healed over. The one hubby caught had developed different muscles to compensate for the loss and it was quite oddly shaped. The Game Wardens, 3 of them on the Washington side says it's common for them to get the tail chewed off when they are small by seals. This was not the result of a cut, but definately looked more like a "chomp" shape. He went 43 inches, but was much bigger than the normal 43. Put up a heck of a fight too!

I don't buy that the "commercials" are doing it excuse for one minute. I hate nets too, but I want evidence before I accuse anyone. Just my .02.

http://www.ifish.net/uploads/48482116.jpg

[KingFisher85]

Thants a nice fish. Well ok, think at it this way. Even if the netters are cutting the tails off, i dont think they are cutting that much off, just an inch or two off the tip of the tail. But them fish are sure fatter when we can keep them :grin: When I said in my other post there, that we have gotten fish with there tail cut off, it was just an inch or two. The picture that pete showed, I could not tell that the whole thing was cut off.

[David Johnson]

Pete,

I want to know where you were too-so I don't fish there :shocked:

[Joe]

I wouldn't eat one of them fishies! :sick:

[STGRule]

Okay, I have another theory to throw your way.. Most of the movement that we see with tagged sturgeon is downstream. A bunch of that is small (less than 3 foot) fish. The easiest way for those fish to move downstream (trying for the estuary) is through the draft tubes for the turbines at the dams. Blades spin around, tails mutilated when they are small (when they drain those draft tubes at the dams they have hundreds of sturgeon trapped in them).

We also see a bunch of fish every year that have some body deformation. Internal studies show damage also. This is attributed to contaminants (internal). The different contributors to these may be: contaminants, physical damage (turbines, seals?,knives?), temperature extremes in the egg and larval stages, and a myriad of other probabilities.

Commercials are causing the damage? I would doubt that more over other causes.

[Pete]

STGRule, I hadn't even considered the hydro dams, but I should have. Thanks!

David ... I was fishing the Colu/Willa/Wils/Tras/Nest/Nec/Als/Lew/Tou/Cow/aman river ... just up/down from the ramp ... now I expect you to stay out of my water! OK? :grin: