My Dad got me interested in work being done at VCU by Matt Balazik on Atlantic Sturgeon. I contacted Matt, helped him out a little, and basically pestered him to take me out one time when he is netting and tagging the sturgeon.
This day was a beautiful late summer day, clear, 70s- low 80s, with a nice 10 mph breeze. We left from VCU's Rice Center in King Charles County Va on the James and proceeded upstream just past Hopewell and right at the entrance to the Presqu'ile cutoff. That's where Matt set his nets. His cute wife came along to help him with the boat driving and the record keeping.
Late September is getting to the end of the season and the males are waiting around in low salt water for ovulating females. This year we haven't had any rain so the fish have pushed far up river and even been seen where I shad fish at 14th Street in Richmond.
Before setting the net Matt put his hydrophone in the water to listen to fish which had been tagged earlier. We could hear lots, some more clearly than others. When the numbers would show on the screen, I was amazed that Matt knew the numbers and tag history by heart. We did not find any of my tagged and named fish from the last couple of years.
We caught and tagged 3 in a short day and worked in a little outreach with folks who were visiting the nature preserve.
These males were about 5 feet 6-10 inches long. With these 3 Matt has tagged about 470 fish in all and about 75 or so this year. An excellent day.
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