TOPEKA, Ill. — Several Illinois fisheries are working to bring more sturgeon back to state lakes. The Jake Wolf Memorial hatchery is located south of Peoria, Illinois. They say that over 10,000 lake sturgeon hatchlings arrived in July from Neosho National Hatchery in Missouri.
They are working with federal and state partners to raise these “living dinosaurs” that can grow to be eight feet long and over 200 lbs. The fish are native to the state but are now a rare sight because of overfishing and habitat loss. The species was on the brink of extinction. Now the hatcheries plan on releasing them back into Illinois waters later this year.
The Jake Wolf Memorial Hatchery is raising shovelnose sturgeon, lake sturgeon, and alligator gar. The lake sturgeon are the largest native species in the state.
Efforts to stock these fish in Illinois lakes have not yet been released. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources says that the lake sturgeon’s native habitat are mostly in counties along the northern and western portions of the state. The fish is still considered endangered and protected by law. If you catch a lake sturgeon then you should release it.