Truly, this is one of the most hopeful stories in recent years on the Great Lakes:
Frank McDonald felt the tug on his fishing line and knew he had something big. "I was hoping it was a gigantic walleye," he said. It was much bigger.
McDonald hooked a 3-foot-long sturgeon, a prehistoric fish that was thought to be all but gone from Lake Erie less than a decade ago. He hauled it into the boat just long enough to snap a few pictures before releasing it.
"We were being gentle," he said. "If I could've gotten away with keeping that fish, he would've been on my wall."
Sturgeon prized for its caviar and smoked meat are slowly starting to make a comeback in areas where water quality has improved. The fish, which are protected in just about every state where they're found, were overfished and nearly disappeared in the early 1900s despite being so abundant on Lake Erie that they were burned for fuel in steamships.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2416478&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
Posted by Dave at September 10, 2006 11:10 PM