Thread: Montana sturgeon

Originally Posted by halibuthitman

have you caught one? got any pictures, I would love to hear about fishing for them.

Sorry HH, I have not fished for sturgeon in eastern MT. Both species are small compared to the sturgeon found on the west coast. The shovelnose range from 24 to 35 inches (measured eye to fork of the tail), while the pallids are a little bigger - 40 to 50 inches (eye to fork).

There was a photo of a pallid sturgeon in an article in the Billings, MT paper yesterday (March18). The article was about the rehabilitation of the irrigation diversion at Intake, MT on the Yellowstone River to allow fish passge for pallids so they have access to the river above the diversion to spawn.

ClearCreek

Originally Posted by Yentz

Doesn't look like Montana is willing to put out the effort really needed to save them.

I doubt adding a little extra water to the river from just spill-over will do any good.

This isn't O'stupid we are talking about here. Montana fish wildlife and parks actually works at rehabing fish populations. Look what they have done with yellowstone cutts, westslope cutts, and bull trout. There are talks under way about removing those dams because the sediment is cloging the spawning beds. I think those fish aren't spawning because they aren't getting the crude protien from the sockeye that would make it up that far before the dams were installed.