A six-foot-long sturgeon was no match for these cunning anglers who lassoed and wrangled it onto shore.
There are plenty of lakes and waterways in Minnesota, so naturally, there's plenty of fish. Some would even be considered huge by most standards.
But the six-foot sturgeon that 12-year-old Mac and 14-year-old Owen encountered in Minnehaha Creek in Edina might be big on a legendary scale.
The two boys had known about the sturgeon for weeks, and contemplated how to go about landing it. Mac's a seasoned outdoor television and online video viewer, so he had a pretty good idea what needed to happen.
"I just have seen in fishing shows when they land sharks, they do it that way," he said. "And when we'd go down and grab its tail, it wouldn't move so that's when I started thinking, 'Well if we can get this close, I think this can work.'"
Yeah, it worked.
Here's the video in a FOX 9 News story to prove it.
And here's the extended version of the full ordeal from Mac's YouTube channel.
Speculators presumed the fish might have been the famous Legendary Lou, a sturgeon purportedly spotted several times over the years in Lake Minnetonka. It's a mystery as to how this fish made it to the small creek.
Regardless, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wants this fish moved from the small creek to the main lake, sooner than later.
"It's good to see that fish released into the river where it can spawn because they do spawn, especially in the St. Croix," Mario Travaline of the DNR told FOX 9. "It would be good to do that where it can contribute to future generations of that fish."
Though the boys would have had a memorable experience no matter the outcome, it's great to see them act relatively quickly with their photo opps and measurements, then release the fish back into the creek where they found it. It was a feat the DNR had tried and failed at.
"We had our one shot, we didn't get it, and maybe it will show up again," Travaline said.
It's tough to deny the stress the fish clearly underwent during its time above the surface, but the well-meaning characteristics of these kids and the true piece of natural history they got to see will be tough to forget. Let's hope the fish isn't too traumatized.
Though we wouldn't recommend anything close to resembling this sturgeon noodling exhibition, it's still amazing to see what lies beneath the water in unassuming.
NEXT: VIDEO: ANGLER PULLS 120-POUND STURGEON THROUGH MINNESOTA ICE
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