The fish, which weighed almost 300 pounds, was caught by Joe Muchiowsky a fisherman, who lives at One Hundred and Thirty-seventh and Cedar streets and it took Joe and his crew of three men to carry the monster down the street after they had landed him.
Many persons saw the immense fish as it was being carried from the boat to a meat market at Cedar and Guthrie streets where it was taken for dressing.
At the Lake Shore Hotel where the men carrying the sturgeon stopped en route to the butcher shop, a crowd gathered and the big catch was the main topic of conversation in that vicinity for several hours.
Yesterday's 300 pounder was up to this trick, and as the line to which he was attached was no thicker than a match, and the hook was but a number nine, the fishermen, who were out about half a mile from the canal in a small boat, did not care to take chances in pulling the fish in on the line. This, they could tell by the weight, meant certain loss, so they adopted the method quite common in fishing for sturgeon, and grappled for the monster with a hooked pole.
They located the immense body in short order and once the hook was fastened in his flesh they had small difficulty in bringing their prize to the surface. Arrived there with a few flops into the air, he landed in the boat himself. The small craft was almost overturned in the process, but Muchrowsky and his three assistants righted the boat and kept her steady until they reached shore.
The fish measured seven feet in length and its exact weight was 280 pounds. As sturgeon sell in South Water street, after dressing, at 81/2 cents per pound, there will be quite a little bit for Muchrowsky in yesterday's fishing.
The main set line to which that which caught the monster sturgeon was attached, carried 3,000 hooks and as this was not the only prize landed by the fisherman in this set, Mulchrowsky is well satisfied.
Mayor DeBraie, City Attorney J. D. Kennedy and a TIMES reporter had gone down to the lake shore to visit the United States survey boat "Search" which it was thought was anchored nearby, and happened to see the big fish as it was being carried ashore.
Both the afore named city officials are willing to give their affidavits as to the truth of the size and dimensions of the big fish as specified herein, to all doubting Thomases.
These "big ones" ranged between 100 and 10 pounds, so it will be seen that yesterday's prize was far and away the biggest of the lot.
Posted on old site: Monday, 22 June, 1998; finally reposted here 17 April, 2006.