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This page was last modified on May 06, 2003 The sturgeon story began three years ago when we had the opportunity to stock 81, six to eight inch, white sturgeon. Last October we stocked another 100 and will stock a similar number every two years. This biennial stocking should provide us with a continuing fishery in another two years. Already sturgeon have been caught that measured 32 inches but had to be released because they were too small for the State minimum size limit of 46 inches. They are native to the North Coast Rivers from Sacramento to the Canadian border. Sturgeon grow very fast for the first five years of their life and under ideal conditions will reach legal size (46 in.) in 4 to 5 years. Their growth rate slows down and it may take 20 to 40 years to reach the maximum legal size of 72 inches. They can grow to 1300 lbs. and live 200 years. White sturgeon are a terrific eating fish available in some gourmet restaurants and everyone knows about caviar. White sturgeon produce a very fine quality egg that compares with the more famous Russian caviar. All the sturgeon that have been caught have succumbed to worms or mackerel, however, shrimp is the favorite bait where these fish are native. They are bottom feeders and as such do not compete with any other species that we have in Cuyamaca. Their favorite food is midge larvae which are mosquito looking bugs which have a worm stage that lives in the lake mud. We have tons of midge larvae in the lake. Sturgeon are very catchable. Northern California lakes that have stocked them, like we stock trout, find that the catch rate is almost 100%. So for every 100 fish that they stock, 98 to 99 are caught in one year. |
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