My talk with sturgeon fisherman Bill Casper begins with an early history lesson. The healthiest population of sturgeon in the world is in Lake Winnebago, in eastern Wisconsin.

Lake Winnebago, one of the largest inland lakes in the area, is 11 miles wide and 28 miles long—but at its deepest point only 22 feet deep. "It was shoved in here by the glacier. You can tell by all the north-and-south running lakes in the Great Lakes area.