Spearers catch rare white sturgeon on the same day

[February 21, 2009]  FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) -- Two lucky spearers have defied the odds and caught rare white sturgeon on the same day. Department of Natural Resources biologist Ron Bruch said about one in 10,000 lake sturgeon are white and until Tuesday none had been caught in more than 10 years.

Bruch said he can't recall two being harvested on the same day before. Only 13 percent of spearers catch any sturgeon at all.

Tuesday's catches came on Lake Winnebago's eastern shore.

Joseph Gerbyshak, 24, caught one white sturgeon, and 54-year-old Sue Muetzelburg of Fond du Lac nabbed the other.

Muetzelburg said her first thought was that the pale fish was sick. She plans to mount the head and fillet and smoke the rest.

[Associated Press]

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