Sturgeon through the Ice!

[DTro]

Holy Cow I haven’t stopped by in quite a while.  Just thought I’d share a couple vids from the past few weeks.   We now have a catch and release sturgeon season here on the St Croix and a bunch of us are taking advantage of it through the ice.  They are a blast to catch, and while I will admit it does take a lot of patience, once you get on em, there is not much else like it in the State (we caught 35 one night).   If you decide to give it a shot, don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, be prepared with a med/heavy or heavy rod with at least 20lb test and enough line spooled to accommodate a few long runs.    Baits we use are crawlers, fatheads/rainbows, suckers, and shad.   25-35fow is a good starting point and we drill 3 overlapping holes so that the bigger fish are easier to land.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_05v2BbNck0

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjEi19qedf0

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwWjgjlCzmk

[leech~~]

Wow, yes it's been a while. I think I even posted a where is DTro Q's?

[fishinnut_3446]

Very nice DTro ! Last winter we were on lake Winnebago in the channel of the river walleye fishing and the Son caught a 54"er about a hr.later our buddy got a 57".

[mrklean]

Good to see you back Dtro

[leech~~]

59 minutes ago, fishinnut_3446 said:

Very nice DTro ! Last winter we were on lake Winnebago in the channel of the river walleye fishing and the Son caught a 54"er about a hr.later our buddy got a 57".

To me that would be fun but a little nerve racking fishing in spots like that being setup with Walleye gear never knowing when your going to get spooled, broken off or turn around not to see your rod anymore at all!

But, it would be fun if you get them in!

[Bdeanpete]

That looks awesome!  I may have to explore this some more. Thanks for sharing. 

[BartmanMN]

35 in one night.  Dang.   Welcome back.

[fishinnut_3446]

6 hours ago, leech~~ said:

To me that would be fun but a little nerve racking fishing in spots like that being setup with Walleye gear never knowing when your going to get spooled, broken off or turn around not to see your rod anymore at all!

But, it would be fun if you get them in!

Oh believe me leech we had no idea they were in with the eyes !                              Here's a couple pics. Son got his on a DH walleye stinger with 6lb.fireline. 

[leech~~]

14 minutes ago, fishinnut_3446 said:

Oh believe me leech we had no idea they were in with the eyes !                              Here's a couple pics. Son got his on a DH walleye stinger with 6lb.fireline.

I think I would just craap myself if I was not ready for it and pulled one of those babies up!

[IceHawk]

Good to see you back Bud! Nice fish that has to be a blast!

[jgrimmz]

Wow that looks like a blast! I'd love the chance to get on some sturgeon but haven't found em like you guys. Very impressive!

[leech~~]

Where about's on the St Croix would this be? Bayport?  Not looking for your Hot spots or GPS cords.

Well why lie. He!! yes I am!

[DTro]

Like I said….we are fishing for these on the St Croix.        Honestly, it doesn’t matter where; they are spread out all over in the river.    It’s definitely a type of fishing that takes a lot of patience though and you have to sort through quite a few smalls to get a couple big ones, but the chance of hooking up with a 100+ pounder is always there, which makes every hook set pretty special.  Not only that, but the smalls are going to be bigger than anything else you can catch through the ice.     

[Jim Uran]

Wow what an experience!!! I better head north and try that river out!!! 

[leech~~]

7 hours ago, DTro said:

Like I said….we are fishing for these on the St Croix.        Honestly, it doesn’t matter where; they are spread out all over in the river.    It’s definitely a type of fishing that takes a lot of patience though and you have to sort through quite a few smalls to get a couple big ones, but the chance of hooking up with a 100+ pounder is always there, which makes every hook set pretty special.  Not only that, but the smalls are going to be bigger than anything else you can catch through the ice.     

 

Ok, lets play getting warmer. River above or below Taylors falls?

[Surface Tension]

Thanks for sharing Darren.

  You guys on on'em good. Did I see some hot sauce too.

 

Leech they're fishing under a bridge, you should know where.

[DTro]

We all know what lives under a bridge right?        

 

As far as location goes, the river is full of Sturgeon from the High Bridge North of Stillwater all the way down to Prescott.  I mostly fish the stretch from Stillwater to Hudson, but there are some areas down towards the Kinni narrows that I’ve had fantastic nights too.   The fish move around a lot in schools, you can either move around a lot to try and hone in on them, or set up and wait them out.   We have a dozen or so spots in which we know we can just wait them out, it makes it much easier to ice fish that way.  There is a lot of down time and skunks involved, but when they come through and hang around a bit, its pretty chaotic especially when a big girl finds you bait an eats it.

 

We did all right last night with 8 fish in 4 hours.  1 of which was an very nice one and probably bigger than all the rest combined.