Wisconsin Fish Stories

­The bottom dwelling sturgeon is a curious fish in more ways than one. The primeval creature can grow to the size of a human adult and live a hundred years. They are also curious about other shapes and objects in the water. Native Americans of the Great Lakes were already fashioning sturgeon decoys from mussel shells centuries before today's folk carvers, who usually craft their decoys from wood and shiny metal.

The lore surrounding the sturgeon, and a few fish stories as well, is the popular audience bait for People of theSturgeon: Wisconsin's Love Affair with an Ancient Fish (published by the Wisconsin Historical Society). But authors Kathleen Schmitt (of UW's Sea Grant Institute), Ronald M. Bruch (Wisconsin DNR) and Frederick P. Binkowski (UWM Great Lakes WATER Institute) show that the sturgeon's survival is an example of Wisconsin's long standing, progressive policy toward conservation.

By 1900 the Great Lakes sturgeon was nearly extinct from pollution, dams and overfishing. Small numbers survived, however, in Lake Winnebago. One reason: as early as the 1870s the state's Fisheries Commission began to grapple with the problem of reversing the dwindling fish stock. In the early 20th century the La Follette family and the Progressives made the management of natural resources a priority. As a result, the sturgeon has flourished in Wisconsin waters as a trophy for responsible fishermen, a part of tradition for American Indian bands and a vital component of the ecosystem.

Many of the photographs illustrating People of theSturgeon were taken by Bob Rashid, whose book Wisconsin's Rustic Roads became the basis for a popular Wisconsin Public Television documentary. Rashid died in 2008 before seeing his final project in print.