Men Catch Fish as Big as a Man, Wrestle It to Boat

Dennis Moritz won a conservation group’s fishing derby with a 68-inch, 105-pound lake sturgeon with a 32-inch girth. (Photo: St. Clair-Detroit River Sturgeon for Tomorrow Facebook page)

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A Michigan man caught a really big fish the the other day, a story in itself. But getting it in the boat was one for the ages.

At 5 feet, 8 inches, it was as big as many people are tall, and weighed in with a number – 105 pounds – many women would like to claim on their driver’s licenses. It was a monster of a fish – the kind of fish, the Detroit Free Press waxes, that some anglers only dream (or lie) about.

Dennis Moritz, 36, caught the over-sized lake sturgeon in the St. Clair-Detroit River Sturgeon for Tomorrow’s first catch-and-release tournament on Sept. 27. Sturgeon for Tomorrow is a nonprofit group promoting ethical sustainable fishing practices.

Mortiz’s fishing partner, Donald McChristian Jr., wrote in a Facebook status shared on Sturgeon for Tomorrow page that anyone within a quarter of a mile of the St. Clair River, where the tournament was held, “knew we had a monster.”

“Dennis and I were whooping and hollering like two kids on Christmas morning,” McChristian wrote.

The two were already leading the tournament with a respectable 45-inch sturgeon when McChristian heard his buddy’s excited shout when he caught a glimpse of the fish fighting at the end of his line.

“I knew it was big,” McChristian wrote. “I asked how big and he said, ‘I think it’s my 100-pounder!’ ”

The fish jumped two more times before surfaced.

“I was in awe,” he wrote. “ ‘How are we gonna get that thing in the boat?’ was running through my mind as I looked at this prehistoric giant.”

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Together, they more or less wrestled the fish into the boat. McChristian explained it:

“I grabbed our big net and tried three times to get it in the net and it was just too big! So I put the net down and grabbed a hold of the giant’s tail and had to use both hands to hang on! Dennis put the rod in the holder and I told him to bear hug it and lift with all his might … I said, ‘Dennis, lift!’ to which he replied, ‘I am! I am!’ and the fish wasn’t moving!”

The fish was still hooked, so the men explored Plan B. McChristian unsuccessfully tried to net the fish again. Spectators offered helpful advice like “I think you need a bigger boat.”

They decided to manhandle the fish again.

“OK,” McChristian told Moritz, “I am gonna grab the tail with both hands and lift, then you try and hold the tail and I’ll reach down and grab its head and lift. Use everything you got!”

So far, so good. The fish was halfway in the boat.

“OK Dennis, let go of the tail and grab down here and lift again with everything you got!”

It took some time and the men were exhausted when it was over, but they finally had the beast on the boat and “the high fives and whoopin’ and hollerin’ started to echo from Algonac to Port Huron!”

They snapped a few photos, then lowered the fish back into the waters. People in the spectator boat helped guide the prehistoric monster downstream. “Oh my goodness,” they heard people gasp, “I cannot believe I am touching this cool huge fish.

“Then we saw a big splash and they cheered as it swam back into the depths of the river.”

After it was over, McChristian called St. Clair-Detroit River Sturgeon for Tomorrow President Jim Felgenauer and said he and Moritz were packing up their fishing gear.

“Jim asked … what happened, and I told him we just caught and landed a 68-inch 100-pounder and it kicked our butts.”

McChristian said the experience epitomizes the goal of the nonprofit – “making sure every fisherman has the chance to experience catching a prehistoric fish that is almost as big as you are that was almost extinct.”

Lake sturgeon were classified as threatened by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which has developed a rehabilitation strategy that has allowed the bottom-feeding fish, which can live almost 200 years, to rebound.

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