A nine-year-old Tennessee boy earned the dearest catch of them all when he caught a 79.8 Lake Sturgeon on a family trip.

Coye Price boy just wanted to catch a bigger fish than his sisters, Caitlin and Farrah, who caught a 39.7-pound Striper and 58 pounds of blue catfish. The boy got much more than what he asked for. Coye Price hooked the sturgeon in the area around Spencer Creek.

In a Facebook post by Tennessee Wildlife Rescue Agency (TWRA), the lake sturgeon is possibly one of the largest and longest-living fish in Tennessee. The said species are expected to grow to large sizes, measuring up to eight feet in length, and weighing up to 300 pounds and live for 150 years.

TWRA said that several initiatives had been done to reproduce the population of these primeval fishes. According to a report, over 220,000 lake sturgeons have been stocked into the Cumberland River and the upper portion of the Tennessee River since 2000.

The Lake Sturgeon

Over the years, lake sturgeon has faced several conservation challenges. Populations are declining, and it is classified as threatened in 19 of the 20 states where it is lives. Several reasons cause this decline; among them are over-harvesting and habitat loss due to dam construction.

It takes a female sturgeon 20 to 26 years before they reproduce, while males usually mature between 8 and 12 years old. This slow reproductive cycle also contributed to its rapid decline. Most female individuals, which spawn only once every four to five years, are caught before 20 years of age. At this time, they have not bred at all.

From 1879 to 1900, commercial fishers targeted these fishes for its prized meat and eggs, harvesting an average of 4 million pounds (1800 metric tons) per year. Added to these challenges were pollution and the construction of dams and other control measures.

Sturgeons return each spring to the spawning areas where they are born. However, silt from agriculture and lumbering has blocked these tributaries.

Conservation Measures Since 2000

Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery, in partnership with Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, or TWRA, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, has been rearing lake sturgeon since 2000 to reintroduce the species in areas where they were previously found.

Eggs are collected every year from Wisconsin's Wolf River. After eggs are collected from females and several males, the process of fertilization is done. The fertilized eggs are then transported to Warm Spring's hatchery, where they are reared, hatched, and quarantined in a re-circulation system.

When the fishes are big enough, the fishes are distributed to five hatchery facilities to give them more room to grow. When the batch reaches a stackable size, preparations are then done to reintroduce the batch of fishes to its final river destination. The size is important to ensure that the fish can survive the tagging procedure and predation while in the wild.

Reporting Sightings of Lake Sturgeons

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fishery Resource Office calls on everyone to report to their nearest office any sightings of lake sturgeon. They also advise everyone who has caught lake sturgeon to measure and release the fish gently. If the fish has a tag, record the agency, number, and color of that tag and contact that agency.