The One That Didn't Get Away

Alfred McKillips, Albert Kugler, and Sylvester Dwelle caught this 180-pound sturgeon near Kelleys Island April 29, 1935. The largest fish in the Great Lakes, sturgeon can grow to 9 feet, weigh more than 300 pounds, and live for 150 years. Native Americans revered the sturgeon as part of their traditional culture. But early commercial fisherman slaughtered them by the thousands because they destroyed fishing nets. Fishermen hauled them from the water and dried and stacked the carcasses along the shoreline. They were then used for fuel for early steamships