Edina boys reel in 6-foot, possibly 'legendary' sturgeon from Minnehaha Creek

(FOX 9) - A couple of Edina boys have an incredible fish story and this one is true. They wrangled what appears to be a six-foot-long sturgeon right out of Minnehaha Creek.

It was the best fish fight these anglers have ever had. After seeing it for weeks just sitting on the creek bottom, just the sight of the enormous fish was irresistible. So, 12-year-old Mac Hoekstra came up with a plan to lasso the lunker.

"I just have seen in fishing shows when they land sharks, they do it that way," he says. "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.'"

But, Mac needed help, so 14-year-old Owen Sanderson jumped in, got the rope around its tail, and wrangled it to shore.

"At first, I was like 'does this thing have teeth or anything like that' and Mac’s like, 'No you’re fine, it’s a bottom feeder,' and I was like okay."

"In the video, he clearly splashed around for multiple seconds and scratched him up on his chest and everything," Owen said.

The rumor mill is hot about this six-foot fish: Could it be the Legendary Lou spotted in Lake Minnetonka? If so, it’s more likely a “Louise” and the DNR would like to get the girl away from the shallow creek, away from the kids, and into safer waters where there’s actually other sturgeons to hang with.

"It’s good to see that fish released into the river where it can spawn because they do spawn, especially in the St. Croix," says Mario Travaline of the DNR. "It would be good to do that where it can contribute to future generations of that fish."

The DNR did try a couple of times, but she’s getting pretty smart, most likely not enjoying the attention. "We had our one shot, we didn’t get it, and maybe it will show up again. Maybe it’s going to do its thing and maybe swim back into mystery. We’ll be keeping an eye on it.”

Maybe no one will ever see it again and that’s okay because the sturgeon excursion made for one heck of a memorable summer for the boys.

Now that the kids have had fun with the fish, the DNR is asking everyone to leave it alone. It actually stresses the fish out. Eventually, the DNR hopes to transport the fish safely back to the river.