It was a fun Fall Sturgeon Season!

[DTro]

Just to change things up a bit I thought I'd post a report here in the Open Water forum. I've been keeping a semi up to date report in my HSO Premium post as well as the Carp/Sturgeon forum and also St Croix forum, but maybe some of you might not get around to those so a little change of pace.

The St Croix Sturgeon harvest season (60" or greater with purchased tag) goes from Sept 1st through the 30th with an additional 2 week in Oct of C&R fishing. I have some pretty strong opinions on the short season and would love to legally C&R these fish for a longer time period, but it is what it is I guess.

At any rate, we spent a LOT of hours both on the road and on the water pursuing these cool big old fish this year. They are so much fun to catch and I've said it a million times, but they will put your gear to the ultimate test!

Basically we used a standard bottom rig with about 2oz of weight a 4 or 5/0 circle hook and bait of choice is crawlers, fatheads, shad, or any combination of the three. A rod that is stout yet has a sensitive tip works well at detecting these light biters.

Here is some of our booty from this year....already looking forward to next year!

[DTro]

....and some more

GOOD TIMES!!!

[jwmiller33]

Great pics Darren. It looks like you had a heck of a sturgeon season out on the Croix. I agree with you on the concept of a longer C&R season. It sure would be nice to have a longer window to target these beasts. Nonetheless, you hooked into some monsters! thanks for sharing

[Chad Peterson]

Nice going Darrin. Boy that looks like fun!

Sniffer

[pushbutton]

Man, you guys/gals sure look like your having fun, wether chasing the kitties or those prehistoric monsters. When do you sleep though? Thanks for all the reads and pics!

[DTro]

Sleep??

[TruthWalleyes]

My alarm clock for many nights in sept/oct was a clicker!

Nice fish darren!

[EBass]

Quote:

Here is some of our booty from this year

Booty or Bounty? I don't think I want to see your booty - no offence DTRO

Good pics - some of those are true hogs.

[TruthWalleyes]

Did Jimmy Johns deliver to the boat?

[Jim Uran]

Man I am jealous! Good quality time on the water that is for sure!!!

[cbrooks]

Cool pics Dtro. Caught a sturgeon by accident out of rainy river a couple of weeks ago. I think I got the sturgeon bug now. Maybe next year I can contribute to some sturgeon reports on this site.

[silverbulletguy]

Wow. Nice season...even if its too short.