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Although only 25 sturgeon fishermen were on the ice of Black Lake for Tuesday's season opener, they took four fish. Under new regulations in place this year, a total of only five fish will be taken. Under the new system, sturgeon fishermen are chosen for each day of fishing through a lottery drawing on the prior evening. Monday evening, 25 names were selected for Tuesday's opening day of fishing. Four of the 25 got fish. The successful fishermen were Ralph Williams, Scott Williams (no relation), Sam Beck and Jay Woriderski. Ralph and Scott Williams speared their fish in the morning and Beck and Woriderski were successful in the afternoon. Gary Roberts, owner of the Black Lake Hotel, said it was amazing to see four fish taken by only 25 fishermen. The hotel is where the lottery takes place and effectively serves as a shoreline base station for Black Lake ice fishermen. In past years, sturgeon spearing season was longer and open to all. Due to declining sturgeon numbers, the Dpartment of Natural Resources now views Michigan's sturgeon population as threatened. FROM FEBRUARY 17, 2000 RESORTER: SCOTT WILLIAMS (left) of Cheboygan was one of four successful Black Lake sturgeon fishermen on opening day. Williams speared this 49-pound fish shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. |
 In 1999 James Hope (right) of Holly became the last of the four Hope brothers to spear a sturgeon. Brothers Larry, Eli and Bob have speared sturgeon in past years and on Feb. 4, James got one. Fishing on Black Lake at around 9:30 a.m. James got this fish which weighed 78 pounds and was 65 inches long. Larry Hope (left) helped his brother hold up the fish for the photo. |
 Russ Nelson (left) of Naubinway speared this muskie on Black Lake Feb. 1, 1999. Nelson was fishing with Bill Bruning (right) and other members of the Bruning family of Rogers City. |
 1999: While fishing for walleyes with eight-pound test line on a tip-up, Dennis Reimann of Cheboygan hooked into this huge muskellunge. |
(PHOTO LEFT) Reimann, who was fishing on Burt Lake Feb. 4, battled the fish for half an hour before bringing it out of the water. Getting it through the ice proved to be quite a challenge as the fish just barely fit through the hole. Reimann said he'd augered about a nine-inch hole a few days earlier, but it had iced in to around six inches. He got the head of the fish through the ice, but the body kind of got stuck. Reimann, who fought the fish bare-handed, held the fish with one hand and got a glove on the other. Then, he used the gloved hand to grab the fish by the gills and drag him the rest of the way out. The fish had a small scrape on its side from being dragged through the hole. The fish weighed 26.5 pounds and was 45.5 inches long. Reimann was using a minnow for bait. |
 Mike Lowengruber (left) of Southgate caught this muskellunge on Scott's Bay in Mullett Lake Saturday with the assistance of Kevin Prediger (right). Lowengruber speared the fish at 2:42 p.m. and held it on the bottom of the lake for nearly two hours until Prediger arrived to help him bring it into the shanty. The fish weighed 43 lbs. 9 ozs. and was 53 inches long. |
 1999: Bob Hope of Indian River speared this sturgeon Feb. 26 on Black Lake. The fish was 65 inches long and weighed 66 lbs. He was fishing in the same shanty from which his brother got a sturgeon earlier this year. Hope estimates he has taken between a dozen and 15 sturgeon over the years. He was using a decoy carved by Dale Vizina. |
 1999: Not all of the sturgeon are caught on Black Lake. Jamie McCall of Indian River caught this sturgeon on Mullett Lake off of Mullet Point around 3:45 p.m. Feb. 19. The fish weighed 55 pounds and was 59 inches long. It's the sixth sturgeon McCall has caught over the years. |
 1999: Dan Hudok of Cheboygan speared this Black Lake sturgeon Feb. 1, the opening day of the 1999 sturgeon season. The fish was 61 inches long and weighed just under 60 pounds. Hudok had seen a sturgeon earlier in the day. The two sturgeon are the only ones Hudok has seen in 10 years of fishing. |
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