|
|
Lake Erie Charter Captain Dave Adams of D & D Charters answers questions and provides tips and insights into fishing the region.
If you would like to Ask the Captain a question, please click HERE.
May 9, 2004
The Lake Erie Monster
The Lake Erie Monster or South Bay Bessie, as it is referred to in Ohio, has anglers concerned and in awe on Lake Erie. Sightings were first reported in 1931, and again last year at North East, Pennsylvania.
Two anglers, Clifford Wilson and Francis Cogenstose of Cincinnati, Ohio, according to an AP release on Wednesday, July 22, 1931, said a serpent, measuring about 20 feet long and about 12 inches through the thickest place, arose out of the Lake Erie waters beside their boat.
Then, in 2003, Bessie again appeared. This time, however, it was within sight of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission marina at North East. The wake created was obvious as it moved slowly along the top of a calm Lake Erie, visible from a distance and big.
"It is a strange behavior," PF&BC Fisheries Biologist, Chuck Murray said, "and we don't fully understand it. For some reason, the sightings happen near North East."
Actually, the monster has been around a long time. It is part myth and all truth. The myth resulted from the unexplained large wake and the occasional glimpse of a big olive-brown fin. The truth is a fish did create the visible phenomenon. It is the rarely seen and prehistoric fish - the lake sturgeon, and indications are that its population is recovering.
They once thrived throughout the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Dating back to the Upper Cretaceous period (136 million years ago), when dinosaurs were at the height of their development.
Although the sturgeon is native to Lake Erie, they are seldom seen. Yet, more exist in Lake Erie than we realize, PF&BC Commission biologist, Roger Kenyon said. They have survived pollution, commercial fishing, and anglers' hooks since the inception of Lake Erie, 4,000 years ago.
This sturgeon was found near the North East Marina
Photo Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission
Their size is immense and overwhelming, especially when sighted swimming along the surface. Lake sturgeon can exceed more than 6 feet and weigh more than 200 pounds.
Their size is immense and overwhelming, especially when sighted swimming along the surface. Lake sturgeon can exceed more than 6 feet and weigh more than 200 pounds.
In September 1981, Theresa Kovach of Akron saw a snake-like reptile that "was so large that could easily capsize a boat." It seemed to be playing as she watched it from a house on the Cedar Point Causeway.
"It is odd behavior," Chris Vandergoot of the Ohio Division of Wildlife said. "It's not scientifically valid, but it's possible the sturgeon [sighted] were loosening eggs or reinflating their air bladder."
The increased scientific interest began in 1995 when an Ontario commercial angler reported significant catches of small juvenile lake sturgeon as a by-catch in nets in northwestern Lake Erie. At the same time, sport anglers in Ohio waters of Lake Erie reported catching small sturgeon while perch fishing. A study was initiated, resulting in the March 2003 release of the Activities of the Central Great Lakes Binational Lake Sturgeon Group report.
According to the report, the decline of lake sturgeon populations was rapid. Habitat loss, water quality, and intensive fishing each resulted in near extinction. In fact, during the mid to late 1800s, they ranked among the five most abundant species in the commercial catch. By the early 1900s, they were nearly gone.
Now, lake sturgeon are considered rare, endangered, threatened, or of special concern by Great Lakes fisheries management agencies. Harvest is prohibited or regulated in the Great Lakes Basin. But hope for a recovery does exist.
Biologists do know that female sturgeon reach sexual maturity between 14 and 33 years and the males between 8 and 12 years, with a typical life span of 55 years for males and 80 to 150 years for females.
"We keep seeing juvenile sturgeon," Vandergoot said. "So they are reproducing. Where, though, [in the Lake Erie Basin] we're not sure. "Lake St. Clair does has have a reproducing population, and it's possible the juvenile sturgeon are using the Western Basin as a habitat."
The Lake Sturgeon Group report did also state that a remnant population of lake sturgeon exists in the Dunkirk, New York area of Lake Erie and the upper Niagara River. But elsewhere, in the other Great Lakes, sustaining populations of lake sturgeon have been verified.
Lake Superior, for example, has at least 22 tributaries supporting spawning populations, with a limited recreational harvest of one per year in the Wisconsin and Ontario waters. Lake Michigan has an estimate of 5,000 sturgeon, with remnant populations spawning in eight tributaries. Lake Huron sturgeon are distributed throughout the basin, with most located in the Georgian Bay, and 34 tributaries support spawning populations. A commercial harvest (41 licenses) does happen in Lake Huron, but it is limited to the Ontario waters, while a recreational harvest is permitted in the St. Clair River. In 2002, anglers caught six sturgeon from Lake Huron.
For several decades, barriers such as dams have prevented access to spawning tributaries, and have all but eliminated the sturgeon from Lake Ontario. The only New York area of Lake Ontario that has regular sturgeon spawning is the lower Niagara River, near Niagara Falls, and at the confluence with Lake Ontario.
A myth is dispelled while research continues: "They are too big to catch in our deep-water assessments," Murray said. "But they are there."
Good Fishing,
Capt. Dave Adams
Dave Adams is an author and professional charter captain who operates D & D Charters on the Pennsylvania waters of Lake Erie.
|
|
