Yet one person usually can bring the fish out of the take. Mary Lou, who weighed only 115 pounds, speared one that weighed 117 pounds. She got it out by herself. It's not just the good meat or the pleasure of the company that keeps people sturgeon-spearing. For many, to be out on the ice is a clear statement of who they are - as displayed through their ice shanties, for example.
People put a lot of effort into personalizing their shanties.
Bill's is a Green Bay Packer helmet. A lot of people come to see it, and on the lake they always know where he's at. You just sit and talk and fish. He printed up bulletins, posted them in local taverns, and had 150 fishermen show up at his meeting. Eventually, with the help of William Ballard of Dartmouth College, who had studied sturgeon in Russia and Romania, SFT spearheaded the effort to hatch sturgeon artificially.