Last January, Dave Mayette from Plattsburgh ice-fished the St. Lawrence River near the power dam. He was after walleye.

Using minnows for bait, he set out his tip-ups. As he watched, one tip-up showed a strong hit, and 150 feet of line later, Mayette took control and reeled in what was, in his lifetime of fishing, the first sturgeon he had ever seen.

"I figure it was 10 to 15 years old," Mayette says. "I let it go right away after the picture was taken."

When it comes to sturgeon, that was the correct thing to do because these boney, weird-looking fish are listed as "threatened" in New York, their numbers reduced in the 1900s due to dams, pollution and over-fishing. Sturgeon, though they look like something that would swim in Jurassic Park, were much sought after for their excellent tasting flesh and, more importantly, their caviar (eggs) they produced.

Sturgeon are the largest and longest living freshwater fish in the state. There are, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation, three varieties in New York: Atlantic sturgeon, a large fish found mostly in the Hudson River; the shortnose sturgeon, a smaller variety also found in the Hudson River; and the lake sturgeon, the most common and widespread, and most likely the variety Mayette caught.

Lake sturgeon are found in the St. Lawrence River; they prefer rock, sand or gravel bottom areas where they seek out leeches, snails, small fish and freshwater clams.

They are toothless and rely on their barbels (whiskers) to find food. As such, it can be assumed, because they are long lived, sturgeon accumulate a lot of pollutants, the refuse of industrialization, as they age, and they can live up to 80-plus years.

One caught in Lake of the Woods in Canada was aged at 154 years old. Sturgeon mature slowly and may not spawn, according to DEC, until they are 9 to 23 years old.

There are some cryptozoologists who think our very own Champy may be a very large sturgeon. It certainly would fit the time frame.

Sturgeons evolved during the age of dinosaurs in the Mesozoic Period and can grow quite long and weigh 300 or more pounds. They are bottom feeders, and that would keep them hidden from the public most of the time, but they do occasionally come to the surface.

I doubt Mayette was thinking about Champy when he pulled in that sturgeon, but like those who think they have spotted our Lake Champlain monster, it was still a once-in-a-lifetime experience.