Jump to content

  • GUESTS

    If you want access to members only forums on HSO, you will gain access only when you Sign-in or Sign-Up .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member. ?

Sturgeon Tips

big musk411

By big musk411
in Carp-Sturgeon-Roughfish

 Share

Recommended Posts

big musk411 Community Regular

big musk411

Posted
Posted

I am fairly new to Sturgeon fishing, but had some success last year on the Rainy. My favorite rig is a barrel sinker in the 2-3 oz range and a 12-18" leader with a medium circle hook. Night crawlers for bait. A smaller hook seems to keep the crawlers on better. Just drop it straight down to the bottom and put the rod in the holder and set your clicker.

I have also had good luck getting fish in the boat using a Muskie Cradle.

How does everyone plan on catching their Sturgeon this year?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ralph Wiggum Grand Master

Ralph Wiggum

Posted
Posted

I prefer bank sinkers. 2-3 oz is good. I have had success with Gamakatsu and Mustad circle hooks. The Mustad's are a lighter wire, which I like, but I did have one snap in half last year, so I have a bit more confidence in the Gamakatsus.

I like a 12"-18" leader with a big barrel swivel. Leader is the same line as my main line. 20lb Big Game and 80lb Power Pro have served me well. You could go lighter on the braids, but that is just what I spool with for catfish.

I have caught them on lots of different rods. My preferred is a 7'6" MH Quantum Big Cat. The tip is fairly sensitive yet you can really put pressure on the fish to land them fairly quickly. I prefer baitcasting reels, but I have used spinning, too.

As for bait, crawlers work good, but catch anything and everything in the river. I had plenty of success last fall on dead shad, cut sucker, and cut drum.

I have only fished them on the St. Croix. Next week will change that. grin.gif

Here's an action shot of my buddy battling it out with the Quantum Big Cat I mentioned above.

dsc02342hz5.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
big musk411 Community Regular

big musk411

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Ralph, Excellent post! I like the action shot, the Sturge is sure to put a bend in the pole! Here are a few of my action shots.

Here is me with a good bend in the Uglystick

p1010174uu9.jpg

And my bud with some action on the Whoopin Stick [Roller Guides]

p1010189vo9.jpg

This year I plan on using some 40lb maxima mono and have a few extra reels spooled with super braid.

For reels it will be the trusty ABUs and amd new Shimano Corvalus.

Sturgeon are fun to catch!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
troyfideldy Enthusiast

troyfideldy

Posted
Posted

Hey guys when is your sturgeon get-together (EXCURSION)? I am planning on heading up to the border to fish the Sturgeon tournment. It is mainly a locals tournment and it is blast to fish. There is guys fishing out of anything that can float. Plus there is almost always someone with a fish on. Everyone is pretty close together so alot of dump is given to people with a fish on. Our friend Bruce lives on the rainy river, who invited us along, caught a 50 1/2 fish and I caught a 49 3/4 fish. Neither of us placed. The first place was 62" fish and third was 55" fish. Only rules of the trny were catch and release, hook-up and fish had to be landed by end of trny. Best thing was afterwards everyone went to the only local bar.

LETS SEE YOUR STURGEON PHOTOS

Here I am Battling my sturgeon.

camera087-1.jpg

Here Is the Sturgeon.

camera100.jpg

Bruce our friend with his sturgeon.

camera075.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Scott M Grand Master

Scott M

Posted
Posted

Quote:

As for bait, crawlers work good, but catch anything and everything in the river. I had plenty of success last fall on dead shad, cut sucker, and cut drum.

Just wondering, what sort of bycatch should I expect? Are those pig 30" walleyes picking up crawler messes? Or what else do guys catch in the river this time of year?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tim_Anderson Rising Star

Tim_Anderson

Posted
Posted

I started out years ago catching sturgeon incidentally while walleye fishing. It was great fun, but after while, the other walleye fanatics in the boat got tired of waiting for me to land it. A couple of years ago, we started targeting them with our musky gear. 80# superline, short leaders, 2-3 oz of weight (I like the flat ones that don't roll) and either kahle or circle hooks. Then we just lay it on the bottom with minnows,crawlers, or both. Then it was just a matter of finding them. Usually it's in the deep holes.

Last weekend was kind of wierd though. We didn't have as much success in our tried and proven deep holes, nor with our musky gear. They just didn't seem to want to pick it up, and other guys I know were having the same problem.

We finally went back to our walleye gear (10/4 fireline and fireball jigs), and fished shallower water. Got three big ones, a 62, a 58 and a 53. I highly recommend the fireline. If you know the limits of your gear, these fish can still be landed fairly quickly. All three of these were landed in less than 15 minutes, and great fun was had by all!

Good luck sturgeon fishing...

b24e70e0db.jpg8aabea679e.jpg8066e9b083.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tim_Anderson Rising Star

Tim_Anderson

Posted
Posted

Troy,

We used fireballs with stingerhooks (too lazy to change from walleye gear) tipped with minnows, crawlers, or a combination of both (crawler sandwich).

All of our fish came out of water shallower than 12 feet, which was strange this year as I usually get them really good in the holes. We found them on the long straight stretches of 8-12 foot gravel, and had to be more patient than usual. Normally I move if I don't get a bite in 15 or 20 minutes, but that wasn't working this year for us. We, and most of the other guys I talked to all had better success staying in a tried-and-proven spot. They are migrating up river, and will eventually find you, and when they do, there's usually more than one!

Good luck and have fun up there! I might see some of you up there Thursday and Friday. If you see me, swing by and say "Hi".

Link to comment
Share on other sites
eyepatrol Grand Master

eyepatrol

Posted
Posted

That looks familiar! wink.gif

I gotta give you a big thanks Tyler for helping us 1st timers find some darn big fish! We tried to stay away from your spots, but those fish seemed to be everywhere!

Coming up on Thursday I thought this was a deal where you're lucky to catch a couple the whole weekend....like musky fishing.

NOT! cool.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      Just Food and Drink

      By smurfy · Posted

      By The way that didn't work either!! Screw it I'll just use the cellular. 
    • Wanderer
      Just Food and Drink

      By Wanderer · Posted

      It’s done automatically.  You might need an actual person to clear that log in stuff up.   Trash your laptop history if you haven’t tried that already.
    • smurfy
      Just Food and Drink

      By smurfy · Posted

      😂 yea pretty amazing how b o o b i e s gets flagged, but they can't respond or tell me why I  can't get logged in here on my laptop but I can on my cellular  😪
    • Mike89
      Just Food and Drink

      By Mike89 · Posted

      I grilled some brats yesterday, maybe next weekend will the next round...  
    • Wanderer
      Just Food and Drink

      By Wanderer · Posted

      You got word censored cuz you said        B o o b ies….. haha.   Yeah, no… grilling is on hiatus for a bit.
    • smurfy
      Just Food and Drink

      By smurfy · Posted

      Chicken mine,  melded in Mccormick poultry seasoning for 24 hours.  Grill will get a break till the frigid temps go away!
    • Mike89
      Problems with Yetti

      By Mike89 · Posted

      good luck!!!   
    • rundrave
      Problems with Yetti

      By rundrave · Posted

      we had some nice weather yesterday and this conundrum was driving me crazy  so I drove up to the house to take another look. I got a bunch of goodies via ups yesterday (cables,  winch ratchet parts, handles, leaf springs etc).   I wanted to make sure the new leaf springs I got fit. I got everything laid out and ready to go. Will be busy this weekend with kids stuff and too cold to fish anyway, but I will try to get back up there again next weekend and get it done. I don't think it will be bad once I get it lifted up.    For anyone in the google verse, the leaf springs are 4 leafs and measure 25 1/4" eye  to eye per Yetti. I didnt want to pay their markup so just got something else comparable rated for the same weight.   I am a first time wheel house owner, this is all new to me. My house didn't come with any handles for the rear cables? I was told this week by someone in the industry that cordless drills do not have enough brake to lower it slow enough and it can damage the cables and the ratchets in the winches.  I put on a handle last night and it is 100% better than using a drill, unfortatenly I found out the hard way lol and will only use the ICNutz to raise the house now.
    • Wanderer
      Problems with Yetti

      By Wanderer · Posted

      I haven’t done any leaf springs for a long time and I can’t completely see the connections in your pics BUT I I’d be rounding up: PB Blaster, torch, 3 lb hammer, chisel, cut off tool, breaker bar, Jack stands or blocks.   This kind of stuff usually isn’t the easiest.   I would think you would be able to get at what you need by keeping the house up with Jack stands and getting the pressure off that suspension, then attack the hardware.  But again, I don’t feel like I can see everything going on there.
    • rundrave
      Problems with Yetti

      By rundrave · Posted

      reviving an old thread due to running into the same issue with the same year of house. not expecting anything from yetti and I already have replacement parts ordered and on the way.   I am looking for some input or feedback on how to replace the leaf springs themselves.    If I jack the house up and remove the tire, is it possible to pivot the axel assembly low enough to get to the other end of the leaf spring and remove that one bolt?   Or do I have to remove the entire pivot arm to get to it? Then I also have to factor in brake wire as well then. What a mess   My house is currently an hour away from my home at a relatives, going to go back up and look it over again and try to figure out a game plan.           Above pic is with house lowered on ice, the other end of that leaf is what I need to get to.   above pic is side that middle bolt broke and bottom 2 leafs fell out here is other side that didnt break but you can see bottom half of leaf already did but atleast bolt is still in there here is hub assembly in my garage with house lowered and tires off when I put new tires on it a couple months ago. hopefully I can raise house high enough that it can drop down far enough and not snap brake cable there so I can get to that other end of the leaf spring.

  • Topics

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

  I accept