Important Sturgeon Questions

[Tyler Holm]

I know there are several other posts with great information out there (and I’ve read them), I wanted to start another with some questions pertaining to my situation, and some that haven’t been addressed.

I have a lot of questions, so feel free to only answer a few if you wish.

1) Reels – I’ve got several size 40 (4000) series spinning reels. I recently bought a new spinning reel with the bait clicker on it in the 50 series size. Would you recommend the 50 series with the baitclicker, or 40? I’ve never used a baitclicker before, but understand the concept (I think). Is this baitclicker a feature I should use while fishing for Sturgeon, or just watch the line and rod tip.

2) Line – I do a lot of carp fishing and their mouth is so fragile that the stretch of mono is necessary to avoid pulling the hook out of their cartilage mouths. Have you had any problems with this in sturgeon? On that new 50 series baitclicker reel, I haven’t put line on it yet. What would you suggest (ideal for Sturgeon)? I’ve got 2 spools.

3) Rods – I recently bough a few rods for this occasion, but don’t know which one to start with. I’ve got an 8’ King Cat Pro that is Medium Heavy. I like the backbone, but question whether the tip is light enough to indicate bites. I also have another 8’ rod that I picked up for cheap because it has a softer tip, but is only Medium Action. I also have an 8’ Medium downrigger rod that I’m going to bring. The tip is fairly soft, but the eyelets on the rod are terribly small so I’m guessing casting would be affected a bit. Why do they make those eyelets so small? From the sounds of we’re not casting super long distances thou, right? Is it more important to have a softer tip, or a sturdy backbone?

4) Presentation – I know people often anchor upstream of a hole and then cast back to the hole, but I’ve also heard of people drifting for sturgeon. What do you recommend and why? If anchored, would you recommend just casting and leaving it sit, or occasionally hop it back towards you. Like move it 10’ every couple minutes.

5) Hookset – Do you give a sturdy bass hookset, or more of a sweeping hookset? What about setting the hook blindly? While fishing for carp, I grab my rods every few minutes and just blindly set the hook. More times than not, you’ll have a fish on. If you slowly reel up to feel the fish, it can spook them. Are blind hooksets a good idea with sturgeon? How often do you check your bait?

6) Night fishing – Do Sturgeon feed after dark? All night? Low lights better that daylight?

7) Netting or Tail-grab – Do you typically net a fish, or can you grab it by the tail to bring it in the boat?

[tearin' lips]

Tyler that is definately an intricate series of questions. Here we go.

Reels: Any decent baitcasting reel with the ability to hold a lot of line is more than adequate. I use an ambassaduer 6500 series on my one rod. On the other, and I like it much better, is an old flueger of my grandpa's. Fishing sturgeon its easier to forget the drag feature on these reels and switch it so you can control how much the fish will take with your thumb. As far as bait clickers go, it probably is a good reel, and it will work, but you don't need the clicker on. I just watch the rod tip and how your line acts.

Line: I have never carp fished so I don't know what pound test you use, but for sturgeon fishing a mono around he 18# pound range is sufficient enough. I have gotten by with 14# and not had any problems. A good friend of mine uses 20# fire line because he says he'll be the one to have the next state record on and it'll snap regular mono. So I guess it's just a matter of preference. As long as you are not horsing the sturgeon and letting him run when he wants to, regular mono in the 14-20 pound range in more than sufficient.

Rods: You are right, most distances that we cast are not that far. I prefer 7' fenwick medium heavy HMX. A good backbone is crutial, but a fast tip is also important for detecting bites. The same friend that likes the fire line also uses his rigger rod and they work just fine.

Presentation: The best way I have found is anchoring In the channel. Most sturgeon will follow the channel up into rivers and creeks. You can catch them in twenty, but I normally fish about 14' or so. I ocassionally hop it back a little, just because it gives me something to do, or just reel up all together, bait, and relocate that way. That is less crutial than being in a spot where the sturgeon are. May main goal before anything is finding a good spot.

Hookset: You'll want to give a pretty hefty hookset. I usually lift my rod every once an awhile to make sure that I didn't miss something, but for the most part you'll be able to tell when something is there. You won't spook the fish if you reel slowly to feel them. We do that on just about every fish to see if they are there. and I usually check my bait every twenty minutes or so.

Night Bite: I can't really answer that one. No one ever

fishes them after dark. They pretty much just bite all day.

Finally Netting: A good tail grab is often sufficient, but sturgeon are very strong. I've seen people brought to their knees by a sturgeon after its in the boat and flopping. A piece of rope is helpful on really big fish to lasso it around the tail and then worry about getting it in from there.

As far as the fishing right now. We were out last night and only caught 20 or so suckers including a silver redhorse then went 7 lb. 8ounces. Not bad for three hours of fishing. The littlefork, bigfork, and black have all broke this week, creating very murky water(1/2 inch visibility). The definition of the mudline coming out of the river last nite was crazy! Anyhow I'll give it another week before it starts to really pick up. Despite what people say, murky water does effect sturgeon, just not in the way that it effects walleyes. With the murky water and runoff, comes food for the sturgeon, hence shutting down a good bite for awhile. When it picks up I'll let you guys know.

And here ends my essay. Hope this helped Tyler and best of luck to ya.

[Cooter]

I'll just add that they have tough mouths - usually takes a pliers to get a hook out of them.

[Guest]

Your 8' King cat will work fine, its not too heavy.. in fact, I will lay odds it will be making funny noises just like mine does while fighting these fish. Heavier reels tend to stand up much better when fighting large fish. Your bass gear would probably work for the weekend, but it may never feel the same after that weekend.

Quite often the bites just look like sunfish, other times they just bend the rod over and you have to wrestle it out of the holder. Their mouths are like leather. The hooks set prety easily into them, and dont rip out like it can on carp thats barley hooked.

I like to be anchored. Some people rig a float to their anchor line to disconnect it from the boat to chase a big fish. This may or may not be practical.. all depends how many people are fishing the area(dont want to play bumper boats fighting a fish).

I prefer power pro, but I have used 20# big game also with good luck. The heavier power pro has more strength, better bite detection, and a smaller diameter that wont create as much drag in the current... It comes down to personal preference. The superline is unique because you feel absolutely everything the fish does, the mono is like fighting them on a big bungee cord.

[Jim Uran]

I would like to add that on the Rainy River I had more luck right at dark and after dark than I did during the day for stugeon. I usually fished off shore so I don't know if that holds true while fishing from a boat but I know they came in shallower at night to feed and I had a lot of luck.

[I Da Man]

Sturgeon feed more heavily (like most other fish) at the golden hour prior and just after sunset and then again in the morning. Generally the night bite is better than the day bite...however when your landing 20+ fish in the daylight, why hassle with the night bite?

Just my penny and a half...

[ratherbefishn]

Tyler, I have always used circle hooks for sturgeon. Its pretty much the same setup we use for channels. With circles you dont set the hook at all... just a slow sweep if that. Usually I reel back to the fish and just keep reeling and once the hook grabs the fish sets himself. The best part about circles is I have never gut hooked a fish and dont know if I ever will. Also the fish wont feel the hook point when chewing the bait.

[Tyler Holm]

Thank you all for your responses. I've maded the necessary purchases and in 24 hours I will be putting my arsenal to the test.

Thanks again for the great information.