some sturgeon info

boater · 12-23-2002, 03:07 PM

i thought it was interesting :smile:

Sturgeon in the Columbia River can live to be over 100 years old. Sturgeon downstream of Bonneville Dam grow about three inches a year. Male sturgeon mature at around 4 feet or 13 to 14 years of age and female sturgeon mature at around 6 feet or 24 to 26 years of age. Sturgeon spawn in the late spring when water velocities historically peaked and temperatures reached 46 to 50 degrees. The eggs take about two weeks to hatch and the larva are disbursed downstream by the strong flow. Sturgeon have been tagged during research since the mid 1960s. Since 1982, a large scale tagging program has taken place in the lower Columbia downstream of Bonneville Dam. This has allowed researchers to determine abundance, harvest rates, and migration patterns. Sturgeon tagged in the Columbia River have been recovered as far north as the Fraser River in Canada and as far south as the Sacramento River in California. This tagging program was recently expanded to Washington and Oregon coastal areas. The future of this resource is in your hands. Please remember to handle any released oversize or sublegal sturgeon with care. It is especially important to keep all oversize fish in the water to prevent internal injuries.
Inches Age Inches Age Inches Age
24------5.2-----48---13.5---72----25.4
25------5.5-----49---13.9---73----26.0
26------5.8-----50---14.4---74----26.6
27------6.1-----51---14.8---75----27.3
28------6.4-----52---15.2---76----27.9
29------6.7-----53---15.6---77----28.6
30------7.0-----54---16.1---78----29.3
31------7.4-----55---16.5---79----30.0
32------7.7-----56---17.0---80----30.7
33------8.0-----57---17.4---81----31.5
34------8.4-----58---17.9---82----32.2
35------8.7-----59---18.4---83----33.0
36------9.1-----60---18.9---84----33.8
37------9.4-----61-- 19.4---85----34.7
38------9.8-----62---19.9---86----35.5
39------10.1---63----20.4--87----36.4
40------10.5---64----20.9--88----37.3
41------10.8---65----21.4--89----38.2
42------11.2---66----21.9--90----39.2
43------11.6---67----22.5--91----40.2
44------12.0---68----23.0--92----41.2
45------12.4---69----23.6--93----42.3
46------12.7---70----24.2--94--- 43.4
47------13.1---71----24.8--95----44.6

boater · 12-23-2002, 03:14 PM

Life History Strategy
As a primitive fish, sturgeon also retain a life history strategy that differs from the one adopted by most species of modern fish. Compared to modern freshwater fish, sturgeon grow exceptionally large, have very low mortality, live a very long time and produce far fewer offspring. Modern fish grow to maturity quickly and produce massive numbers of offspring. The vast majority of these offspring usually do not survive, however their very existence offers the potential to rapidly increase the size of the population if either the opportunity or the necessity arises. Perhaps the difference can best be described as follows: sturgeon expect to live forever and do not worry much about raising a replacement generation, whereas most fish expect to die almost any minute so they better produce as many offspring as they can. The significance of this difference in approaches is that the sturgeon are going to do well only as long as most of them do live forever. If too many are killed (by nets for example), they do not produce enough young sturgeon to maintain the population.

4 REEL · 12-23-2002, 04:35 PM

That's a pretty cool age table. I have just recently have caught a 12'6" sturgeon below Bonneville. It must have been about 53 years old? WOW!! It would be interesting to see a weight table.

live to fish · 12-23-2002, 05:49 PM

How about this :Fish-on John

The following chart was supplied courtesy of
B.C.'s Fraser River White Sturgeon study program
Length Weight Length Weight
(Inches) (Lbs) (Inches) (Lbs)
20 2 / 94 259
22 3 / 96 276
24 4 / 98 294
26 5 / 100 312
28 6 / 102 332
30 7 / 104 352
31 9 / 106 372
33 11 / 108 394
35 13 / 110 417
37 15 / 112 440
39 17 / 114 464
41 20 / 116 489
43 23 / 118 515
45 27 / 120 542
47 31 / 122 570
49 35 / 124 599
51 39 / 126 628
53 44 / 128 659
55 49 / 130 691
57 55 / 132 724
59 61 / 134 757
61 67 / 136 792
63 74 / 138 828
65 82 / 140 865
67 90 / 142 903
69 98 / 144 943
71 107 / 146 983
73 116 / 148 1024
75 126 / 150 1067
77 137 / 152 1111
79 148 / 154 1156
81 159 / 156 1202
83 172 / 157 1250
85 185 / 159 1298
87 198 / 161 1348
89 212 / 163 1400
91 227 / 165 1452
93 243 / 167 1506

[ 12-23-2002, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: live to fish ]

4 REEL · 12-24-2002, 04:03 PM

:shocked: Holy Cow that makes that hummer over a thousand pounds!!!!!
Thank you so much for the information, Its really good stuff.