Viral Facebook Post Shows Whopping 240-Pound 'River Monster' In Michigan

Every fisherman knows, you need a good fish story.

But this one probably tops yours.

The Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office’s Facebook post went viral after sharing its “once in a lifetime catch” in the Detroit River.

The “real life river monster” measures just shy of 7 feet long and weighs a whopping 240 pounds. It’s “one of the largest lake sturgeon ever recorded in the U.S.,” according to the agency.

Officials estimate that the creature has roamed Michigan’s waters for more than a century.

The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office edited its April 30 Facebook post to clarify that the “river monster” was “quickly released back into the river after being processed.

To put the size of the fish into perspective, the office shared a picture with a staff member laying next to the sturgeon.

"It was the biggest fish our team has ever seen," Jason Fischer, one of the fish biologists that caught the sturgeon, said in a statement to People. "This fish took all three of us to get it onto our boat,” he said, crediting biologists Paige Wigren and Jennifer Johnson with assisting him.

It took six minutes to wrangle the sturgeon into the boat, the Associated Press reports.

People also noted that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service states that female lake sturgeons typically live around 80 to 150 years.

Read the full post here:

Photo: Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office