A big fish tale

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Valley woman reels in 70-inch sturgeion from St. Croix River

Danielle Pettee smiles with her 70-inch sturgeon while her son, Elijah, flashes a thumbs-up at the camera.

When Danielle Pettee of Stillwater was ice-fishing on the St. Croix River Feb. 8 with her son and boyfriend she didn’t expect anything different than catching some catfish and what she got was a sturgeon surprise.

“As soon as I caught it I thought it was going to be big,” Pettee said. “When it finally came out of the ice I thought it was a shark or something.”

No stranger to fishing, Pettee and her boyfriend Troy Simonson spend a lot of their free time fishing. But the 70-inch long and 29.5-inch around sturgeon is the largest fish Pettee ever caught. It took her 24 minutes to reel the fish in.

Pettee’s rod bends as she reels in her fish. (submitted photo)

“It was really strange, I usually only catch sturgeon at night but here it was in the middle of the afternoon. Squeezing through a 10-inch hole and it just kept coming.” Pettee said.

To reel in the sturgeon, Pettee used her boyfriend’s equipment with cut bait and a 20-inch Ugly Stick light rod. Since sturgeon are not in season, she let the fish go, which isn’t unusual for her since she doesn’t eat fish. But the experience was a highlight for Pettee and her five-year-old son, Elijah, as well.

“He just had a blast with it,” Pettee said. “He took in the pictures to show and tell today (Thursday) to show all his friends.”