Andrew Briggs

Today's #TagReturnTuesday Lake #Sturgeon is a male that was originally tagged in 2017 at 5 years old and has since been recaptured 5 times, including twice during our 2025 survey! Each capture has occurred during our annual survey in the North Channel of the St. Clair River.

This #TagReturnTuesday Lake #Sturgeon was recaptured for the first time since being tagged in the North Channel of the St. Clair River 10 years ago! Over that time this female sturgeon grew over 20 inches in length, from 24.5" at 4 years old to 44.8" at 14 years old.

@andrewrypel That’s one of the things I enjoy with these posts, the often very variable growth between multiple recapture events.

@FishBio_Briggs And a good reminder that fish growth is not necessarily asymptomatic as we often think it to be!

Today's #TagReturnTuesday is a #LakeSturgeon we first tagged in 2005 in the North Channel of the St. Clair River! We have recaptured it 4 times since then (anglers have also reported capturing it 4 times). #Sturgeon

Today's #TagReturnTuesday Lake Sturgeon is now a local legend! Recaptured in our 2025 survey in the #StClairRiver, this female #LakeSturgeon was filmed by @riversarelife and resided in a touch tank at the Blue Water Sturgeon festival for a day. A child gave her the name Colorado.

This #TagReturnTuesday Lake #Sturgeon was tagged in 2014 in the North Channel of the St. Clair River and we’ve recaptured it twice. It was also implanted with an acoustic telemetry tag. That study classified it as a “River Resident” as it lives in the St. Clair River all year.

This #TagReturnTuesday #LakeSturgeon was recaptured in the North Channel of the St. Clair River in 2025 after being stocked into the #Maumee River in 2018! About 93 miles away by water! 🤯

(🧵3/3) Each time the #fish was captured within a small 0.5 mile section of the North Channel.

(🧵2/3) The age of this #sturgeon was estimated at 9 years old in 2021 and it has grown about 6 inches over four years.

Today's #TagReturnTuesday is a male #LakeSturgeon that was originally tagged in 2021 during our setline survey in the North Channel of the St. Clair River and has now been recaptured each of our last two setline surveys. (🧵1/3)

Today's #TagReturnTuesday features a #NorthernPike we tagged with an acoustic telemetry tag in 2023! It was caught in Anchor Bay of #LakeStClair during our spring trap net survey at about 30 inches long and 5 years old. Shown are detections through >2 years of being at large.

Both captures were in the North Channel of the #StClairRiver during our annual setline survey. Capture stats each year: 2019 69.3 inches long 24.5 inch girth 68.8 pounds 54-111 years old (based on length) 2025 70.9 inches long 32.6 inch girth 100.3 pounds 60-117 years old

This #TagReturnTuesday #LakeSturgeon was first tagged in 2019 and was recaptured for the 1st time this year. The fish was significantly skinnier in 2019, suggesting it had recently spawned when we caught it that year. The 31.5 lb weight difference gives an idea of egg weight! 🤯

Both captures occurred in the North Channel of the #StClairRiver. Below are the capture stats for this #sturgeon each year it was caught and released: 2016 22.0 inches long 8.0 inch girth 1.3 lbs 4 years old 2025 43.0 inches long 16.3 inch girth 17.2 pounds 13 years old

It's time for another #TagReturnTuesday! This female #LakeSturgeon was originally tagged in 2016 when it was only 22 inches long and 4 years old. After 9 years it was recaptured for the first time and it's length nearly doubled to 43 inches, now 13 years old. #GreatLakesSci

All recapture events for this #sturgeon have been in the North Channel of the St. Clair River. Our recapture locations are shown below, but it has also been recaptured by anglers in 2024 and 2025 (twice). (🧵2/2)

🚨#TagReturnTuesday is BACK! This #LakeSturgeon was originally tagged in 2016 in the North Channel of the #StClairRiver prior to being recaptured this year. It grew from 63.5 to 66 inches long and weight increased from 55.6 to 68.1 pounds. (🧵1/2) #GreatLakesSci #Sturgeon #fish

We’ve been wrapping up some acoustic telemetry receiver deployments lately in nearshore areas of #LakeStClair and in the St. Clair River. #GreatLakes #GreatLakesSci #GLATOS

Something new I'm trying out ... this is my first #ScienceUnder5 (<5 minute video) and covers a paper we recently published on how growth of #YellowPerch, #LakeSturgeon, #SmallmouthBass, and #NorthernPike responded to an increase in water clarity in the #SCDRS. #GreatLakesSci

@andrewrypel For sure!

@FishBio_Briggs Amazing green hues on that one!

Caught this #NorthernPike today during our nearshore electrofishing survey on #LakeStClair! #Beautiful 😍 #GreatLakesSci