SACRAMENTO, Calif. – State wildlife officers resuscitated a 66-inch sturgeon and cited the man who pulled the fish from the Sacramento River.
Janice Mackey of the Department of Fish and Wildlife said Thursday that officers spotted the suspected poacher along the river near Clarksburg last week.
The man hooked a very large fish and drove off with it in the bed of his pickup truck.
The officers immediately pulled the man over and brought the large, untagged fish back to the riverbed, where they rocked it back and forth, moving water over its gills.
After 20 minutes, the fish gained the strength to swim away.
Fishing for white sturgeon, which are native to California, is highly regulated. They can live to 100 years old.
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