Yes, you read that right, 65 minutes of fishing for this year’s sturgeon season on Black Lake (in Cheboygan and Presque Isle counties). The 2023 lake sturgeon season for Black Lake ended at 9:05 a.m. Saturday, February 4th this year. This season included sturgeon spearing and hook and line fishing for sturgeon was originally set to run from February 4th to 8th or until the harvest quota of six lake sturgeon was reached. Sturgeon anglers were initially going to have a harvest quota of seven sturgeon this year, but the Michigan Department of Natural Resources set the harvest limit at six fish. The 2023 season had 630 registered anglers, which included a good number of youth anglers. According to the Michigan DNR, the harvest sturgeon ranged in size from 32 inches long to 55.5 inches long and 6.4 pounds up to 35.5 pounds.
- The first fish was a 49-inch male that weighed 30 pounds.
- Fish number two was a 55.5-inch female that weighed 35.5 pounds.
- Fish three was a 54.3-inch male that checked in at 32 pounds.
- Fish four was a 32-inch immature fish that weighed 6.4 pounds.
- The fifth fish was a 54-inch male that weighed 34 pounds.
- The sixth fish was a 39-inch male that weighed 11.8 pounds.
Of the six harvested fish two of them had been captured before by the Michigan State University and the DNR during spring spawning runs in the Black River or from previous years’ surveys of Black Lake. The 55.5-inch female was originally captured in the Black River in 2012, while the 54-inch male was tagged in the lake in 2007 and then recaptured in the river in 2017. The 32-inch immature fish’s sex will be determined using a DNA test, and the 54.3-inch male fish was a known stocked fish. Anglers who participated were notified of the closure through a variety of ways, mainly through a text alert system and their ice shanty being visited by DNR personnel. To make sure the harvest of fish was reported quickly DNR personnel were on the ice with the fishing communities.
Black Lake’s 65-Minute 2023 Lake Sturgeon Season
Rehabilitation of lake sturgeon in the Cheboygan River watershed is a cooperative effort involving the DNR, the Black Lake Chapter of Sturgeon For Tomorrow, Michigan State University, Tower-Kleber Limited Partnership, the Bay Mills Indian Community, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
For more information on lake sturgeon in Michigan, visit Michigan.gov/Sturgeon. To learn more about all fishing opportunities statewide, go to Michigan.gov/Fishing.
