NEBRASKA — A rare 70-pound lake sturgeon turned up in a Nebraska Game and Parks Commission net this spring, revealing a 681-mile upstream journey on the Missouri River.
Fisheries biologists were collecting paddlefish for a study when they pulled the sturgeon from the Missouri River at Gavins Point Dam on April 14. The fish, listed as threatened in Nebraska, measured 59.6 inches long. Biologists photographed it, weighed it and measured it before releasing it.
“Our sampling crews in the Missouri River Program handle thousands of fish each year from March through November but rarely see lake sturgeon,” said Blake Logan, a fisheries biologist with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. “I would say we catch one individual every other year.”…