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00:00World, where history and conservation collide.
00:03Inside, we uncover the story of a prehistoric giant that still roams the Great Lakes,
00:09the Lake Sturgeon.
00:11Then it's time to hit the water, chasing down one of these river monsters ourselves.
00:15What we hook into will push our gear and our strength to the limits.
00:20And when an unlikely catch hits the line,
00:23we'll find out if its bad reputation on the dinner plate is true or just a myth.
00:27I'm Kyle Green.
00:28I travel the globe with my best friends hunting for wild game and dynamic conservation stories.
00:34Join us on our adventure as we escape the shackles of the modern world
00:37and gain a deeper understanding of where our food comes from.
00:41Welcome to Greenway Outdoors.
00:46Welcome to the oldest aquarium in North America, established August 18, 1904.
00:52This is the Belle Isle Aquarium.
00:54The Belle Isle Aquarium isn't just another stop on our journey.
00:58It's the oldest public aquarium in the United States and a true piece of living history.
01:03For generations, it's been a gateway for people in Detroit to connect with the underwater world.
01:09It houses an incredible collection of native and exotic species.
01:13But what really makes it special is the team behind it.
01:16Now I came here to meet with the Department of Natural Resources, fisheries research biologist Andrew Briggs,
01:21to learn about one of North America's most ancient fish, the lake sturgeon.
01:26But first, curator Dr. Paul Schuert is giving me a brief history of this remarkable place.
01:32It was built in 1904. It was opened in 1904.
01:35It was designed by Detroit architect Albert Kahn, who's rather famous for his designs.
01:41He designed this building and the conservatory next door.
01:45They were open together, and we've been open ever since.
01:49Now, I heard some rumors about rum runners.
01:52Detroit was a gateway for about 80% of the liquor that came into the Northwest.
01:59Yeah.
01:59And a lot of it came across Belle Isle, and they would store the liquor in the basement here.
02:07There's underneath the fountain on the other end of the island.
02:10That's what the rumors are.
02:11Yeah.
02:12And this was one of 800 speakeasies in the Detroit area during Prohibition.
02:18So was the aquarium like a front?
02:20I just think it was something after dark.
02:23Yeah.
02:24They had little shindigs downstairs.
02:26Do the employees here still party like that?
02:28Are you guys, you guys, you guys settle down now.
02:30Yeah.
02:32Just, just at night.
02:33Yeah, just at night.
02:34I love it.
02:35What are the biggest problems facing the sturgeon right now in Michigan?
02:39They were reduced to 1% of their historical level.
02:41So with lake sturgeon, they're a long-lived species.
02:44Takes them a long time to mature.
02:45Males don't mature until they're like 15 years old.
02:47Females closer to 20 to 25.
02:49So once they start getting the habitat they need and all that, it's still going to take some time to recover.
02:53But right now, the main issues are still, a lot of dams are blocking their migration.
02:58Routes, so they can't reach their spawning areas.
03:01So that's kind of the main issue today is restoring their access to spawning habitat and then restoring spawning habits.
03:08So here in the St. Clair Detroit River system, there's artificial reefs that we put in and kind of increase their spawning here.
03:13We've only ever caught one lake sturgeon and it was in the St. Clair River and it was over 70 inches.
03:18Holy cow, he's taking out of line, boys.
03:33He's running out of line right now.
03:35Oh my goodness, he's huge, man.
03:37He's running out of line right now.
03:54Looking like I really just hooked it on the trolling motors.
03:56Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, holy cow, I'm hoping to get
04:25another one now, and it would be really cool to get one in the slot, which is like 42 to 50.
04:30Why do you guys pick 42 to 50 for people to be able to keep them? And then also, like,
04:36everyone knows this, like, in the fishing community, too, we're the most judgmental
04:39people on the face of the earth, right? So there's people, like, if you keep a trout,
04:43you're the worst person that ever existed. And then there's talk of if you keep a sturgeon,
04:48even if it's in the slot, you're the worst person ever. Like, as a biologist, looking at the numbers,
04:52not necessarily your personal feelings for it. What are your thoughts on it?
04:56So, like, we allow harvest for a reason. So we monitor our population very closely. We know how
05:01much harvest it can handle. So roughly, we want to keep, based on our management plans,
05:06we want to keep harvest to about 2 to 5% of the population size. So that definitely allows for
05:10some harvest. But as you mentioned, a lot of people, they don't want to keep a fish. I mean,
05:14these are fish that they can live for hundreds of years, and tons of people can catch these. So we
05:19got fish that have been reported, that we've tagged, that have been caught by 12 anglers.
05:22Wow. So it just shows you the value of that specific fish. Yeah. It can be tens of people
05:26that caught a single sturgeon. So there's a hundred year old out there not learning lessons. Yeah,
05:30exactly. You didn't feel that hook again. Exactly. Yeah. But yeah, as far as people,
05:34like, people can keep them. A lot of people, like, they don't want to, but we don't dissuade people
05:39from keeping them if they want to. So between 42 and 50 inches is our slot. And that's set in place as,
05:4550 inches is about when females start to mature. Okay. So it's protecting the spawning females
05:50primarily is what the slot limit is doing. That's why it's there. Yeah. Does fishing actually help
05:55this fish? So we believe it does because, so a lot of people, they'll never see a lake sturgeon
06:00their whole life. Right. But fishing gives them an opportunity to do so. And it's really hard for
06:05somebody to get an appreciation for a fish like a lake sturgeon until they see one in person and get
06:09to hold one. So that's one of the big things about fishing for sturgeon that I think has really
06:13help conservation, especially in our area. We have this really, like, driven fishing community
06:19for lake sturgeon and they're really conservation driven. They want to help protect the fish,
06:23help restore the fish. So it's really beneficial in our area. I've traveled all over the world and
06:28seen so many different fish species and met different cultures and learned how they interact
06:32with the fish. And the one thing I find consistently is the fish that have conservation efforts and have
06:38people actually working towards furthering the species are the ones that have value to people. Now,
06:43I feel like all fish have their own value, but if people aren't catching them, if people aren't
06:47eating them, if people aren't going after them, using them as a sport fish, they just don't care.
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07:07Nothing stops Ram. And by Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's. Your adventure starts here.
07:17Welcome back to the Greenway Outdoors. We are in Michigan targeting lake sturgeon and we've just
07:22arrived at the St. Clair River. Whenever I'm going to a new lake, new body of water, or targeting a new
07:29fish species, I find it's pretty helpful when you see a guide service boat that specializes in that
07:35species and that water, you stop and ask questions. What's going on? How you doing? Good, how are you?
07:41I'm Kyle. Hey, Kyle. I'm Anthony. Nice to meet you, Anthony. I hear you're the guy to talk to about sturgeon.
07:47Yeah, I've done a little bit of sturgeon fishing over the years, about 20 years of it. Oh, wow.
07:51Yeah, I'm going out for kind of my first time out on these waters and I'm taking the Sea-Dew.
07:56The Sea-Dew? Yeah, but hear me out. It's a fish pro, so it's made for this. Okay.
08:00But I'm kind of going to be pushing the limits on it today, for sure.
08:05Yeah, just wear your life jacket in case that thing tips over. They pull you over.
08:08Always, always, always. I know I don't want to ask a fisherman his spots and I know not to break those
08:13rules, but is there anything you can tell me to point me in the right direction or some tactics?
08:17Yeah, absolutely. Typically, you want to target the deeper holes.
08:21Okay. Throughout the river, you're going to have areas where it's going to go from 30, 40 feet.
08:25It's going to dip down to 50, 60, even 70 feet. So a lot of times, a bigger fish will lay down in them
08:31holes, especially during the day, night. They can roam around, but them holes are really good areas
08:37to target. They kind of specifically will hold those fish in that area. So those are good areas
08:43to definitely try to target and check out. I'm limited because I can only fish during the day,
08:48obviously. Is there anything I should do different or what baits would you recommend because I'm only
08:53fishing during the day? So a good bait to start with, worms and minnows. Those two definitely,
08:59it's the easiest to get. You go to the store. You can buy them right down the street.
09:03You know, if you're putting worms on, put two, three worms on. You know, I like them to dangle
09:08down about two, three inches off the hook. And you're going to use about approximately 12 to 16
09:14ounces of weight. I prefer to use 16 just because then I can pretty much fish any area of the river,
09:19whether it's fast current, slow current, if I'm fishing 40 feet or 60, 70 feet.
09:24Right. Yeah. It's going to stay. It's going to hold down on that bottom, no matter the current.
09:29Okay. Well, that kind of gets me. Look, look for the deep holes. Use that bait. Are you heading
09:34out now? I'm going to be, yes. So you go out during the day too. It's not only a night thing then.
09:38No, you can fish anytime. They kind of bite in spurts. Okay. So I would say within a five hour period,
09:43you're going to catch one of them biting periods. Okay. If you don't catch something in 20 minutes,
09:48you move? Depends. If I'm marking fish and I know there's fish around me, I'll typically stay in
09:54that area. Okay. Because the general rule is that you hear all over the place, don't leave fish to
09:59find fish. Fair enough. Well, thank you for your help. I appreciate it very much. Nice meeting you.
10:03Nice meeting you. I'll probably see you out there. Sounds good. I'll be there. I'll be the only
10:06sea dew out there that doesn't make you mad. All right. I'll keep an eye out. Make sure you don't tip
10:11over out there. Thank you. Well, that's a bit of a relief. I was honestly pretty worried that fishing during the
10:17day wasn't going to pan out well from sturgeon. Whenever you talk to people, they're like,
10:21it's a nighttime thing. It's a nighttime thing. But I think it's just about how much time your baits
10:25are in the water, not necessarily the time of day.
10:38Boy, that's sure a nice jet ski. I love the thing. I like because I can just go out and that's it.
10:44You know what I mean? I'm just on the water in seconds. I can do it myself. I don't need
10:48anybody else there. And if I'm not catching fish, I can go tooling around for a while,
10:52cool off. That's a beautiful rig right there. Thanks, man.
10:56The Greenway Outdoors is brought to you by Ram Trucks. Nothing stops Ram. And by Fast Pro Shop and Cabela's.
11:04Your adventure starts here.
11:07Eagle Fishing. Tactical fishing gear for the savvy angler.
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11:14Sea-Doo. Live the Sea-Doo life.
11:16Mama held the fort down in the forest.
11:33Daddy made himself home out by the sea.
11:38I spent all my time just trying to ignore it.
11:41Missing all the loving that was there for me.
11:48So the rig is pretty simple while very big. These are 12-foot rods, which aren't ideal.
11:54Probably want a little bit shorter rod for this type of situation. But these are what I had from
11:58casting for sharks in the 10,000 Islands. So this is what I got to use. They're heavy.
12:04And these fish get really big. Like, a lot of people will catch 100-pound fish out here.
12:12Fishing for sturgeon makes me stop and do a little math. A 100-pound fish could be well over 100 years old.
12:19Meaning my grandfather, who passed away before I was born, could have dangled a fishing hook in front of the very sturgeon I hope to catch today.
12:27That fish could have even been in the same river system during World War II.
12:33As I got lost in my thoughts, my rod went nuts and I had a fish on.
12:41Nope, probably catfish.
12:43Alright, I'm on.
12:45Right away.
12:47But it does not feel like a sturgeon.
12:50If I was a vet man, I'd say catfish. But I don't know for sure yet.
12:53Most folks call this fish sheep's head, but the real name is freshwater drum.
12:57They make a drumming sound during spawning.
13:00And use powerful throat teeth to crush clams and other crustaceans on the river bottom.
13:05Around here, they have a bad reputation on the dinner table.
13:08But I've never tried one myself, so we're going to keep this one for dinner.
13:12Awesome fish.
13:13Just a few moments later, my other rod got hit.
13:17And this time, I knew it was a sturgeon.
13:19That's tight.
13:25That's a fish. Big fish.
13:27Big fish.
13:34This is going to be a sturgeon.
13:37Or the biggest sheep's head.
13:38World record you ever saw.
13:48This is a big fish.
13:49Really big fish.
13:51Sturgeon are known as crazy fighters.
13:53They'll dig.
13:54They'll go on long runs.
13:56They'll make you think you've tired them out.
13:57And then all of a sudden, they'll go on another run.
13:59And there he goes again.
14:01And you don't want to think of this as a sprint.
14:05It's a marathon.
14:08All right, I got my first look at him.
14:10He's huge.
14:12Oh, wow.
14:14He's big.
14:16Really big.
14:16Oh, wow.
14:17A fish this size could easily be well over 40 years old, up to 50 years old.
14:25It's safe to say he's older than me.
14:28And that's kind of neat to think.
14:31He's an 80s baby.
14:32Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
14:36Okay.
14:37I'm not about to try and make this run with this dinosaur again.
14:40So I'm going to pull over to shore and get in the water so I can unhook him and keep him safe and keep him alive.
14:45And I think he's tired enough now that I'm going to be able to accomplish that.
14:50All right.
14:51Okay.
14:52Okay.
14:52Okay.
14:52So this is a lake sturgeon.
14:55Come on, buddy.
14:57Massive, strong, smart, old.
15:02The skin is like covered in sharp points.
15:05The little hangy things you see on the bottom of his chin there, the barbels, I actually used to sense food on the bottom of the water.
15:13If you were to go through their poop and stuff, you're going to see a lot of sand and shells and things because they're sifting through the mud and eating stuff off the bottom.
15:22And that's exactly how we got this one is we had our bait just sitting on the bottom.
15:26He scooped up and got it.
15:28This fish is nowhere near the slot fish.
15:31So we're going to let him go.
15:32But I'm going to take the hook out, nurse him back to health, and then send him on his way.
15:36But to be honest with you, this isn't a trout.
15:38This thing is a dinosaur.
15:40They've been here for millions of years unchanged.
15:43And he doesn't need too much help from me because he's ready to go already.
15:47Absolutely incredible fish.
15:48The Greenway Outdoors is brought to you by Ram Trucks.
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15:56And by Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's.
15:59Your adventure starts here.
16:01LEM game processing equipment.
16:04Wilderness Athlete, fuel for the rugged.
16:07Rufus Teague, seasoning, sauces, and snacks.
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16:17Glokes, modern men's health.
16:24Welcome back to the Greenway Outdoors.
16:26Jeff is setting up the grill to find out if sheep's head is any good.
16:30So Kyle got to do the fun part of going sturgeon fishing.
16:44Unfortunately, he didn't catch one in the slot, which means we couldn't keep one.
16:48The fish that we did catch that we could keep was a sheep's head or a freshwater drum.
16:52So I get the experimental part of trying to make this into something delicious.
16:57For most people, this is a bycatch when they're trying to catch sturgeon.
17:01They treat it like a trash fish.
17:02They just throw it back.
17:03What I want to do is I'm going to treat this fish with the respect that it might deserve.
17:07I'm going to take this one.
17:09I'm going to just add salt and pepper, a little bit of lemon inside the cavity.
17:13Grill it up until it reaches about 145 internal temp and give the meat an honest try.
17:19So the purpose of that fish is to experience it the way it is naturally.
17:23Don't put a whole lot of fancy stuff on it.
17:25But to give the fish the best foot forward, let it be everything it could be,
17:30I'm also going to prepare a fillet with some of the fanciest ingredients.
17:34I've got some black pepper from Iceland.
17:36I've got some whole black peppercorn from Italy, freshly ground.
17:40And then I'm also going to finish it with a little bit of compound butter
17:44that I made using Rufus Teague fish rub.
17:47And I'm going to pair that with some green beans,
17:50with a little bit of shallot, a little bit of garlic, and a red pepper.
17:55Now that whole fish should be done by now.
17:59Oh yeah, look at that.
18:01Take that off, being careful not to mess up the skin here.
18:06Plop that down.
18:08Now while that's cooling, I'm going to get this in.
18:10It'll cook in about 10 minutes.
18:13And everything should be ready to eat.
18:19Alright, so I think it's safe to say that I've given this fish every opportunity
18:24to be absolutely delicious.
18:26In fact, I'll give it one more last hurrah.
18:28I'm going to hit it with some lemon too.
18:31Just to play safe.
18:33Alright, let's dig in.
18:35Alright, looks nice and white and flaky.
18:41That's not a bad fish.
18:43It's very mild.
18:44Doesn't have a lot of fishy flavor.
18:46I would not call this a trash fish having tried it.
18:49But, let's get into the fancy one with the compound butter.
18:52Oh, that butter's melting on there.
18:56No question.
18:58That is fantastic.
18:59That is an amazing fish.
19:01And anybody who tells you that this is a trash fish is dead wrong.
19:05Oh, that's so good.
19:06On today's episode, we set out to catch one of the oldest fish in the world.
19:16But it was the trash fish that reminded us of something greater.
19:20In God's eyes, no part of creation is worthless.
19:24As Ecclesiastes 3 says, He has made everything beautiful in its time.
19:29So whether it's a river giant or a sheep's head,
19:32every creature God has made has value.
19:35And everyday outdoors is a gift that's meant to be treasured.
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