An Ancient Fish Is Coming Home: Ohio Stocked Three Rivers with Lake Sturgeon This Fall

This fall, Ohio poured thousands of young lake sturgeon — a fish with a family tree dating back 200 million years to the Jurassic Period — into the Maumee, Sandusky, and Cuyahoga rivers. And the biologists running the program say the early signs point to a species genuinely on its way home.

What happened

It was a busy few weeks for a slow-moving fish. Outdoor News reported in early October that the Cuyahoga River was recently stocked again with 1,500 juvenile lake sturgeon, with plans to stock 1,500 juveniles into the river annually for the foreseeable future. A few days earlier, on September 30, more than 300 students from high schools in Clyde, Fremont Ross, Gibsonburg, New Riegel, Old Fort, Genoa, Port Clinton, Woodmore, Margaretta, and Zanesville — plus Heidelberg University — gathered on the Sandusky River near Fremont to release some 750 juvenile lake sturgeon, as Outdoor News described in a mid-October story. And just this week, the Great Lakes Commission's daily news reported that the Toledo Zoo and Aquarium's annual Sturgeon Fest released 1,500 juvenile lake sturgeon into the Maumee River, in a program run with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that raises and tags the fish to improve survival rates and track their growth.

Why it matters

Lake sturgeon aren't just big and old — they're a report card for the water itself. In an Outdoor News interview published October 20, an ODNR fisheries biologist supervisor said lake sturgeon serve as the proverbial "canary in the coal mine for water quality". The fact that these rivers can support them again says something good about the water flowing through northern Ohio.

And the comeback is measurable. According to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, lake sturgeon recaptures by Ohio trap net fishers and agency surveys have become frequent from Toledo to Lorain, with the largest fish now surpassing 40 inches. The ODNR fisheries biologists in charge of the reintroduction say they're encouraged by the program's progress so far.

Three rivers, one comeback

What makes this fall special is the geography. The Maumee in Toledo, the Sandusky in Fremont, the Cuyahoga in Cleveland — this isn't one lucky stream, it's a comeback stretching along most of Ohio's Lake Erie shoreline. A fisheries official put it well at an earlier Sandusky River stocking, telling Outdoor News that stocking lake sturgeon in the Sandusky River is reflective of the recovery of the whole watershed. These are working rivers in working towns, and the fish that left them generations ago are being handed back, bucket by bucket, often by local high schoolers. If you grew up anywhere near Lake Erie, that's the kind of news worth keeping in your back pocket. It's also the kind of quiet, stubborn pride we try to put into our Ohio collection.

What you can do

First: keep your eyes open. In mid-October, WJW reported that there's a species of fish in Ohio that could grow to be more than 300 pounds, and if you encounter one — no matter its size — wildlife officials are asking the public to report it. Every report helps biologists track how the stocked fish are doing.

Second: go see the rivers. The Maumee, Sandusky, and Cuyahoga are all easy to reach, and the Toledo Zoo's Sturgeon Fest is an annual event — worth putting on the calendar for next fall if you want to watch a dinosaur-era fish get carried to the water in a bucket. Wear your O-H Tee and somebody on the riverbank will finish the cheer for you.

Common questions

How big do lake sturgeon get?

Big. Wildlife officials note the species can grow to more than 300 pounds, though the recently stocked fish are juveniles — the largest recaptured in Ohio waters so far are passing 40 inches.

What should I do if I see or catch one?

Report it — wildlife officials are asking the public to report any lake sturgeon encounter, no matter the fish's size. If you catch one while fishing, release it and let the Division of Wildlife know.

How do biologists track the stocked fish?

The fish are raised and tagged to improve survival rates and track their growth, and at the Sandusky release, 40 sturgeon were set free carrying transmitters that ping out unique signals.

Reported by Outdoor News. Details as published at the time of writing.