DNR accuses man of illegally catching four of Minnesota’s largest fish in an unusual way

A northern Minnesota man has been charged with catching four lake sturgeon, the state’s largest fish, out of season and in a most unusual way.

With his bare hands and a rope.

Moses Vilory Simutkin, 28, of Littlefork was charged in Koochiching County District Court on Feb. 17 with eight gross misdemeanor counts and another four misdemeanor counts alleging violations of state fish and game regulations in connection with taking the prehistoric bottom-feeding fish from the Littlefork River on May 17, 2025, outside of the fishing season.

Also charged on the same day with the same counts was his brother, 19-year-old Stephen Olegovich Simutkin, who the state Department of Natural Resources allege helped with the haul, according to a court filing by the agency.

The Simutkins were charged by summons and await scheduling of his first court date. Court records do not list an attorney for either brother. The Minnesota Star Tribune reached out to both brothers for their side of the fish story.

“It’s not easy to catch them,” Moses Simutkin said in an interview one day after charges were filed. “I do work out, I guess.”

Moses Simutkin said how long its takes to pull off the barehanded landing of a sturgeon can vary, explaining, “it depends on how thick they are.”

The DNR court document pointed out that sturgeon eggs are “eaten as a delicacy and commercialized on the black market. It is unknown at this time [when the filing was made, in late October] if that was the intended destination for these fish.”

Lake sturgeon in Minnesota are capable of reaching 6.6 feet in length and nearly 100 pounds, according to the National Park Service.

The DNR’s related court filing noted that “lake sturgeon are protected in Minnesota, and the harvest is highly regulated through seasons, length limits, tagging and registration requirements, and only one fish is allowed to be harvested per angler.”

Specific to the cases against the Simutkins, the filing continued, “Sturgeon season was not open at this time, and fish are not allowed to be caught by hand in Minnesota.”

If convicted, the brothers would be on the hook to pay into the DNR’s restitution program, which collects money from people who killed, wounded or possessed a wild animal in violation of the state’s game and fish laws.

According to the criminal complaint and the DNR filing:

On May 17, 2025, a tipster sent a photo to state conservation officials of Moses Simutkin holding up a sturgeon.

The tipster shared with the officers where he saw Moses Simutkin fishing just south of town. One of the officers went to the location and found a 4½-foot-long sturgeon laying up against a house beneath a sled.

Two other officers went to the brothers’ home and saw Moses Simutkin walk past a van parked outside. One of the officers saw sturgeon on the vehicle’s floor.

An agent questioned Moses Simutkin about the the fish in the van. He first denied they were there before eventually acknowledging the sturgeon in the vehicle and the one left outside a residence. The four ranged in length from 54¼ to 60½ inches.

From there, he said, his younger brother hauled the sturgeon in a sled up to the van, the filing continued.

This is Moses Simutkin’s second encounter in recent years with DNR hunting and fishing enforcement. In November 2023, he got out of an SUV twice and shot a whitetail deer each time, according to charges filed in Koochiching County.

The deer were then loaded into the SUV and dumped 11 miles away, the criminal complaint read.

Moses Simutkin was convicted of wanton waste, a misdemeanor, and put on probation for a year. That probation was active when he allegedly caught the sturgeon illegally.