News photo by Kayla Wikaryasz On Saturday, Chris Courtries is seen carrying his Lake Sturgeon catch of the 2026 season on Black Lake in Cheboygan County. He was the first angler to register his catch.

ALPENA — The 2026 lake sturgeon fishing season on Black Lake in Cheboygan County lasted only 48 minutes for 679 registered anglers — 31 minutes longer than last year. The harvest limit for the 2026 season on Black Lake was six lake sturgeon.

Sturgeon fishing statewide has been limited for almost 100 years, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Harvesting lake sturgeon was first prohibited by the state legislature in 1928, then was opened to strictly regulated fishing twenty years later. In 1948, a limited sport fishery for lake sturgeon was allowed on inland lakes, which included Black Lake.

The DNR sets conditions to when the season officially closes, which happens either when the sixth fish is harvested or when five fish have been harvested at the end of any official fishing day.

The 2026 season opened at 8 a.m. on Saturday and could have run until 2 p.m on Wednesday. The season officially ended when the sixth sturgeon was caught by Aaron Maltby at 8:48 a.m Saturday morning.

In 2025, the lake sturgeon fishing season on Black Lake officially ended in 17 minutes with seven fish harvested among 776 registered anglers all fighting for a once-in-a-lifetime catch.

Below are the harvested lake sturgeon standings from Saturday:

– Chris Courtries caught a male lake sturgeon which measured 61.5 inches and weighed 50 pounds.

– Brett Trepanier caught a female lake sturgeon which measured 64.1 inches and weighed 78.4 pounds.

– Doug Blaskowski caught a male lake sturgeon which measured 52.9 inches and weighed 46.6 pounds.

– Jordan Guelig caught a female lake sturgeon which measured 67.2 inches and weighed 79.4 pounds.

– Isaac McDonald’s catch measured 58.1 inches and weighed 40.4 pounds. The DNR could not determine the lake sturgeon’s gender at the time of weigh-in.

– Aaron Maltby caught a female lake sturgeon which measured 62.5 inches and weighed 58.4 pounds.

Ice fishing conditions

Tim Cwalinski, DNR Fisheries Unit supervisor in Gaylord, said that ice fishing conditions overall have generally been better than last year.

“We haven’t heard too many complaints,” Cwalinski said. “We have stronger ice in general … people are getting out and fishing. They’re not sitting on their couch.”

In 2024, the DNR cancelled the annual lake sturgeon season on Black Lake due to unsafe ice conditions.

In March 2025, Cwalinski told The News that the 2024-2025 ice fishing season was an improvement from the year prior.

“The year before we had very sketchy ice,” Cwalinski said.

In 2025, more snow hindered anglers’ ability to get out to fish, and Cwalinski said that the snow accumulation made the ice more unpredictable. However, he added that more people fished in northern Michigan than in 2024.

As far as the ice conditions in 2026, freezing temperatures have likely contributed to this year’s fair ice fishing season. The National Weather Service (NWS) has reported record breaking low temperatures thus far this year. Additionally, Northeast Michigan in particular has surpassed the historical average of reported ice coverage on Lake Huron, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Great Lakes Coastwatch.

As of Saturday, NOAA reported Lake Huron’s average ice cover at approximately 60%, whereas the historical average places Lake Huron at approximately 50% ice cover this time of year.

Lake Huron’s ice cover peaked late last month with approximately 80% ice cover.

Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.