NEW Available NOW! Our new “GRANDDADDY BAIT COMPANY” Folk Art “Oldie Sturgeon” is 20 1/2” Long This Sturgeon sculpture makes a perfect gift for any angling enthusiast. Sturgeons are the largest freshwater fish in the world often referred to as “living dinosaurs”, the largest recorded reached 25 feet in length. 24 different species of sturgeon are found in Russia, Northern Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada. All Sturgeons have a cartilage skeleton (no bones), five rows of bony plates instead of scales on their bodies, thick rubbery lips and four sensory barbs in front of the mouth for detecting food. Life for a Sturgeon begins as a small sticky egg attached to gravel on the bottom of a fast-moving stream or river. The eggs hatch quickly usually within two weeks depending on water temperature. After hatching larval Sturgeon stay near the bottom feeding on algae and small aquatic insects. As they mature they more into estuaries and lakes where they'll spend the majority of their lives returning to the river of stream of their birth to spawn. Slow growing and long-lived, over 100 years is not uncommon, Sturgeon can reach weights of over 1800 pounds for some subspecies. Sexual maturity in females is reached between 14 and 33 years, most often from 24-26 years. Males mature sexually in 8 to 12 years but may take up to 22 years. Lake Sturgeon females spawn once every 4 to 9 years while males spawn every 2 to 7 years. Preferred water temperatures for spawning are 55-64°F. Large females produce 500,000 eggs or more. Growth rates vary throughout its range and depend on water temperature, food availability, and water quality. The typical life span for Lake Sturgeon is 55 years for males and 80-150 years for females. Only 10-20% of adult lake sturgeon within a population are sexually active and spawn during a given season. Habitat loss is a major contributing factor to the small population of Lake Sturgeon today. For example in the Great Lakes the damming of tributaries prevents access to historical spawning grounds. Destruction of spawning areas from siltation, agriculture, dredging and pollution from nutrient and contaminant loads severely limits reproductive success. Sturgeons are the source of Caviar with the Caviar from the Beluga Sturgeon of Russia being the most prized. The illegal harvest of Sturgeon for Caviar is actually many times greater then the legal catch and another reason for the decline in Sturgeon populations. Around the Great Lakes during the Sturgeon spawning season many Conservation officers and citizen volunteers pull 24-hour watches on known Sturgeon spawning rivers to protect them from poaching for their Caviar. The rod and reel world record for Lake Sturgeon is 168 pounds and White Sturgeon 468 pounds. Both fish were caught in the early 1980s. This new line of Folk Art Fish is patterned after the highly collectable spearing decoys from the early 1900’s. Hand crafted and hand painted with exquisite detail from an original woodcarving by carver artist Jerry Eppel. ORDER NOW to insure you are one of the first to start your Folk Art Fish Collection