Abstract: Attraction of sturgeons to fishway entrances is poorly studied but observations on adult Shortnose Sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum, entering one of two fish lifts at Holyoke Dam, Connecticut River, MA, USA, indicate the benthic sturgeons need a bottom entrance with a submerged orifice if the water is deep. Sturgeons can pass upstream in nature-like or ramp fishways, or in technical fishways, like fish lifts, but not so good in traditional fish ladders. Keys to passing sturgeons in fish lifts is 1) attracting fish to the entrance by induced currents, 2) operating the lift during the seasonal (and daily diel period) of migration, 3) cycling the crowder trap within the time period fish will remain at the barrier without departing, and 4) designing the appropriate lift hopper. Adults have a moderate swimming ability and can ascend fish ladders, but they ascend best when the fish ladder design enables them to continuously swim upstream. Unfortunately, most fish ladders (e.g., pool & weir, vertical slot) have cross walls that prevent sturgeons from continuously swimming upstream: an important aspect of their swimming style. Also, observations in an artificial ladder showed a series of ascents and descents before fish reached the top of the ladder. This suggests that any ladder for sturgeons should allow fish to descend without injury and loss of upstream ascent drive. Experiments with several species of sturgeons in a prototype sidebaffle ladder allowed fish to swim continuously during ascent and did not harm them during descent. Fish moved freely upand downstream like they might use a seminatural channel. Plans are to install the prototype at a dam in 2015 or 2016 to field test the design.