The Great Lake Sturgeon

Sturgeon for Tomorrow

n 147 BRENDA ARCHAMBO Sturgeon for Tomorrow One of the most common questions I’ve been asked over the years is, “How did you become so involved with the lake sturgeon?” I grew up logging hundreds of hours in an ice shanty on Black, Burt, and Mullett lakes in northern Michigan’s Cheboygan County. My late father and brother Dock McCall and James McCall taught me to fish from an early age. I am so blessed they took me into the wilderness and upon our great waters, and for letting me roam free and discover earth’s natural treasures, beauty, and peace. I have never lost the wanderlust for life they and my late mother have instilled in me. In the mid-1990s, I traveled to southern Michigan to spend time with my grandfather Roy Naugle. Grandpa farmed his whole life. He worked hard from daylight till dark eleven months out of the year. His passion was to spend the other month ice fishing on Black, Burt, and Mullett lakes. During my visit, I knew Grandpa was dying. We cried, we laughed, and we talked about sturgeon. Grandpa held my hand, looked me in the eye, and said, “You do what you need to do to keep the sport alive.” I was with my grandfather the first time I saw a sturgeon. I was about six years 148 n Brenda Archambo old, and I will never forget that moment. I knew then that there was something extraordinary about this creature. Grandpa and I were sitting in a fish shanty on Burt Lake one February morning in the late 1960s. Suddenly a commotion came from a shanty nearby. We threw the door open to see what was going on. There lay a huge sturgeon on the ice, bigger than I had ever seen. A few dozen anglers from surrounding shanties began to gather around the sturgeon. We trudged through the snow to see the fish close up. The spirit in the air was powerful. I remember looking into the eye of the sturgeon. It amazed me. The diamond shape of the pupil reminded me of pictures I had seen of dinosaurs. That moment and the excitement of that day on the ice with Grandpa have stayed with me ever since. And so have the traditions associated with the sturgeon in our region. Onaway, a quaint community five miles south of Black Lake, is called the Sturgeon Capitol of Michigan. There the Black Lake Sturgeon Shivaree debuted in 1963. The Shivaree is a family fun weekend ice-carnival on Black Lake celebrating sturgeon. A large tent is set up on the ice. It is heated and a central meeting place for everyone to gather, socialize, and register for events. Numerous events for all ages include snowmobile races, ice skating, cross-country skiing, adult and children’s games, food and outfitter vendors, fishing contests, and of course, plenty of beer and a sense of place and community. A sturgeon king or sturgeon queen is crowned for harvesting the largest sturgeon. Area businesses thrive during Shivaree weekend and during ice fishing. Getting out and enjoying the great outdoors is a perfect opportunity for families to gather and break the monotony of cabin fever. Black Lake has long been recognized by local residents and conservation groups for its natural resources and, is, we believe, a key aquatic biodiversity site of the Great Lakes ecoregion. In addition to large kettle lakes, large forested areas, and an expansive network of streams and wetlands, the Black Lake watershed is home to a variety of threatened and endangered aquatic species, including not just the iconic lake sturgeon but also the Michigan monkeyflower and the Hungerford’s crawling water beetle. Several wetlands also provide important nesting habitat for rare birds such as the bald eagle, the common loon, and the great blue heron. Every spring for decades, locals have paddled the Upper Black River to see lake sturgeon spawning in all their glory. Families camp and picnic at several of the known spawning sites, where you can see dozens of the majestic sturgeon spawning in a short span of the river. By the 1990s, it became clear there were poachers on the river, especially at night. Poachers illegally harvested the sturgeon in the spring spawning run, selling Sturgeon for Tomorrow n 149 the roe and smoked fillets on the black market. Poaching was reducing spawning stocks...