Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1893-03-24
STURGEON FISHING.
An Important Industry on the
Columbia River.
How the Big and Homely Fish
Is Captured.


a saltwater fish, but, like the salmon.
runs up the coast rivers to spawn, and
thus becomes an easy prey for the
fishermen. The first look at stur-
geon, and particularly if he is a big
one, is almost sufficient to put an end
to all desire to taste the meat. The
long hog-like snout, the small CLASSY
eyes, the ugly sucker-like mouth,
toothless and situated on the lower side
of the head several inches from the
end of the snout. the bony plates upon
the sides. and sharp and ugly fin ex-
tending down the whole length of the
back; the general sluggish and ugly
appearance of the fish, when taken
from the wafer, suggest almost any
thing except an article of food. The
scientist takes great interest in the
sturgeon because it is one of the
Oldest members of the fish family now
In existence and one which plays an
important part in the great theory of
evolution.
A fine specimen of Columbia-river
sturgeon was recently captured by
some of S. Schmidt's employees and
presented to a well-known taxider-
mist of this city, who stuffed the skin
and sent it to form part of Oregon's
exhibit at the Worlds Fair. This
fish was 81 feet in length, and when
first taken from the water weighed
450 pounds. Three fish taken by Mr..
Schmidfs employees this winter had
an aggregate weight of 1900 pounds.
OF course these are exceptionally large
ones, the average weight of dressed
sturgeon being 125 lbs. 1t is believed
that these monsters are of great age.
They are known among fishermen as
"mossbacks," because of the horny
and crusted appearance of their backs,
upon which large-sized barnacles are
often found. Tho sturgeon is
naturally scavenger, and lives upon
any bits of food it can pick up on the
bottom of the river, including worms
and all kinds of shellfish. In Sep
tember and October, when sardines
swarm in the mouth of the river, the
sturgeon has regular feast, for the
sardine is an easy prey for it. and
seems to be well suited to its digestive
apparatus.
The season for taking sturgeonIis
from September 10 to April L. When
they first enter the river to feast upon
sardines they are taken in large guam
titles with gill-nets. in much the same
manner that salmon are caught. Dur
ing the remainder of the season the
sturgeon must be taken with hook aud
line, or, rather hooks and line, for tue
sturgeon does not nibble at bait like
q common, ordinary fish. The method
in common use is as follows: Upon
a stout line many fathoms in length
are fastened number of big hooks.
These hooks are made of steel and a. e
strung several inches apart. The line
is then lowered by means of sinkers,
so as to bring the hooks within few
inches of the river bottom, where it is
fastened securely. The fish, swim
ming sluggishly along the bottom of
the river in search of food, suddenly
feels one of the sharp barbed hooks
fastened in its scaly hide.
In thrashing about to free itself the
clumsy fellow fets afoul of more
hooks and is then securely fastened.
The fisherman rows his boat along
above his line. pulling up his line as
he goes and removing the fish en-
tangled in it. If he wishes to use the
fish at once he draws it up to the side
of the boat and knocks it in the head
with a hammer before drawing it in
to the boat. If he wishes to preserve
the fish alive until the market is better
he tows it along to trap, which is
simply shallow portion of the river
shut in by barrier of stout poles
stuck i'll the bottom 80 close together
that even a small sized sturgeon can.
not force its way between them. If
the sturgeon were possessed of any
sort of life or activity it would be a
hard customer to handle. A big stur.
geon will sometimes "get his dande
up," as the saying is. and thrash about
in such a manner as 10 almost Upset
the big fishboat, but such occurrences
are rare.- Portland Oregonian.