Record-breaking lake sturgeon caught in northern Wisconsin this fall

Jake Huntington of Cumberland was fishing alone for lake sturgeon on Yellow Lake in Burnett County when one jumped about 10 feet away from his boat. “As soon as I seen it jump, I knew it was a state record fish,” Huntington said. Using heavy tackle and night crawlers for bait, Huntington hooked the over 7-foot-long sturgeon while fishing on Sept. 16 during the annual hook and line season that runs the month of September. “Probably fought it for I’d say 40 minutes or so before landing it,” he said. Adrenaline pumping, he guessed the fish weighed between 160 and 180 pounds. When he got it in the boat, Huntington measured the fish, then called the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources about his record catch. Craig Roberts was surprised and skeptical at first. He’s the DNR’s senior fisheries biologist for Washburn and Burnett counties. “Then, he sent me a recording of him measuring it in his boat,” Roberts said. “That was when I was like, ‘Wow, that’s a giant fish.’” Understanding Wisconsin, Together. WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter. LinkedIn This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Email Subscribe After getting information from the DNR on how to document his catch, Huntington followed their measurement instructions and then slipped the sturgeon back into the water. Huntington’s fish set the state record for a lake sturgeon caught and released at 89.5 inches in length. One month later, a team of DNR staff caught an 88-inch lake sturgeon in the Chippewa River system while setting nets and monitoring for the fish in Sawyer County, setting a county record. Kendal Patrie, a DNR fisheries biologist in Park Falls, said she didn’t think much of it until she and others lifted the sturgeon into the boat. “We got it untangled from our net and put it into our tank that we have with water on the boat,” Patrie said. “I think that’s when I realized that it was a little longer than I was originally thinking.” The water tank is about six feet in length, and the sturgeon’s tail was curled up along the edge. The lake sturgeon was caught several miles from the Snaptail Rapids hydroelectric dam on the east fork of the Chippewa River, said Max Wolter, the DNR’s senior fisheries biologist in Hayward. “It’s kind of crazy to say, but this fish may have been living in that river since before the television was invented and before people were flying airplanes,” Wolter said. “It’s at least approaching 100 years old, if not well over 100 years old.” Lake sturgeon are an ancient freshwater fish that have been around since dinosaurs roamed the Earth. A study released this year found lake sturgeon in the Great Lakes region may live longer than 400 years — far beyond previous estimates of 150 years. Once crews returned to shore, DNR biologists measured and weighed the sturgeon, which was roughly 150 pounds. Wolter said he’s almost certain the fish was a female and had possibly spawned in the spring. At first, Wolter said he didn’t believe a fisheries technician who said the fish was 88 inches. Wolter told him to measure it again. “We were all still kind of in shock, even until the moment the fish swam off,” Wolter said. Before DNR crews released the fish, they tagged it with a passive integrated transponder tag. It’s the same technology as the microchips that pet owners use to track their dogs and cats. Wolter said it was a memorable moment. “This one was pretty special, especially once you understand just how old this fish is, and kind of coming in contact with a creature like that that’s been around so much longer than I have,” Wolter said. The Center for Biological Diversity previously estimated more than 15 million lake sturgeon once thrived in the Great Lakes, but overharvest and other factors reduced its population to less than 1 percent of its historical range. Two years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided not to list the fish as an endangered species, saying lake sturgeon face no danger of extinction throughout its entire range. The fish is listed as a species of special concern in Wisconsin. But the state is also home to one of North America’s largest populations of lake sturgeon in Lake Winnebago. At the same time, the Chippewa River and Yellow Lake in northern Wisconsin are no stranger to massive lake sturgeon. Roberts noted that Yellow Lake also holds the hook and line record set in 1979 for the largest lake sturgeon by weight at 170 pounds and 10 ounces. As for Huntington, he said he’s not out on the lake to catch a record-setting fish. “That was just a bonus,” Huntington said. “Once you catch one of these fish, you don’t really want to target much else.” Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2026, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board. Related Stories Lake trout harvest in Lake Superior scaled back as invasive species causes population decline Lake sturgeon may live hundreds of years longer than previously thought, study finds These 5 northern Wisconsin lakes were set aside 80 years ago for research Wisconsin seeks to quickly set special bag limits for walleye on lakes seeing declines For the first time in a century, lake sturgeon spotted in Ozaukee County