Sturgeon Excursion 2008......Stories and Photos

[cluelessfisherman]

Did most of you fish in or near the bay or more up river?

I wasn't able to join everyone this past weekend, but I am staying at Schusters next weekend for my round of fun. I hope we can do half as well as everyone else did this weekend!!

Crazyice - how long after dark did you stay out for that piggie? I have always thought about the night time bite - but have always been too sore by then to try it!!

[Eric Wettschreck]

Day one we launched out of ClementsonAccessOnRainyRiver (Spelling?). We fished up and down the river. We got into a few sturgeonfishies and suckers. Most of the river reports were one here, one there. Of course there were exceptions, but that was the report.

Day 2 we hit the bay. I can't explain the excitement I was feeling as we motored out there and every boat had a bent over rod. There was a boat by us that had a TRIPLE going when we dropped anchor.

So, for us the fishing was better in the bay. There was good fishing to be had in the "S" curves of the river heading out to the bay, also.

That was last weekend. What these fish will do in the days to come I can't say. Honestly, I'm far from a sturgeon expert.

[Team Otter]

Great photos and recap all.

Boilerguy, you have to be ready for a break after spending all of that time with Rick and Tom. Ha!

[Ralph Wiggum]

We did well on the river, but a lot of folks we talked to did not. My advice is move around till you find them. A 50 yard move can yield big results. And if you start catching suckers/redhorse, relocate.

[huntnfishsd]

This was my second year at the event and can honestly say it was the best fishing weekend I have ever had! Our group landed over 80 sturgeon with 7 over 50". We had better luck in the bay overall. I was lucky enough to catch 32 sturgeon on the trip with 3 being 50+ inches (biggest was 56" and weighed nearly 48 pounds)and several in the 40-49 inch range. The really cool thing was that all 3 of the 50"+ were tagged! This was definately exciting and has me looking forward to next year!

[crazyice]

I think if I remember right, I hooked up with that fish around 9:45, finally landed it 45 minutes to an hour later. Our group, which was 8 guys in two boats landed 145 sturgeon, with 15 going over 50 inches. 2 of the 15 were over 60. Mine, and one more that was "guesstimated" at 62. I say guess, because their ruler ended at 60, and it went just past it I guess. It was in the other boat, so I really don't know for sure. We definitely had better luck in the bay area, we fished the river out of Vidas landing thursday, and friday. But we switched to the bay after hearing some good things about it friday night. Saturday was by far the best day of fishing for our group, I don't remember exact numbers, but I know I personally had only 8 or 9 fish, but only one was under 42 inches. Most of what I happened to catch was in the upper 40 inch range, with one more pig over 50.

[aanderud]

 Originally Posted By: LFC

Brian A..... Don't loose that orange Monkey.... It took a while to shake the curse...

I now have the "can't catch a 60 inch" monkey on my back. Shamu and Papa Grump caught their 60s, and I think Larry had one a prior year, and of course Darren got his 2 this year to go make it like a half-dozen or whatever in the last few years for him....John got his first 60 incher right away, first year. Maybe next year will be my year.

Friday morning, after catching only a few small ones and thinking "oh no, I think this might be a disappointing trip for WWG", I tried to encourage him by saying "hey, you never know how the fishing might turn around after lunch or the next day"....well, afternoon brought a new spot to try and a total turnaround on the fishing.

After trying 4 different spots upstream from Schusters Friday morning, covering a total of 18 miles of river before lunch, we tried out in the bay and never looked back. The cool thing about it is that even if you run into a lul where you don't catch any for a couple hours, sitting in the bay is still fun because of all the other fish you see caught while waiting for yours. It's great to look around and see 10 or more fish being fought at the same time, sometimes 2-3 in a single boat. I can't count how many doubles I saw, and I heard of several triples!!! Wow, the action was just that good.

[hanson]

I've said it once but I think this post deserves another comment to everyone who went to the Sturgeon Excursion...

Nice job guys and thanks for sharing!! Awesome Fish!!

I sure wish I was there with you, but I got to watch my Mom get honored for "Teacher of the Year" at her district's retirement party after 35 years of service to our children! I don't get emotional that often but it was very touching to see all the other teachers and administrators praise & thank her for her years of service and dedication.

[iffwalleyes]

 Originally Posted By: hanson

I sure wish I was there with you, but I got to watch my Mom get honored for "Teacher of the Year" at her district's retirement party after 35 years of service to our children! I don't get emotional that often but it was very touching to see all the other teachers and administrators praise & thank her for her years of service and dedication.

Yes that would be pretty cool in itself Chris. Hey man the offer still stands if you want to come with my crew this weekend pretty tempting isn't it?

[hanson]

 Originally Posted By: iffwalleyes

Hey man the offer still stands if you want to come with my crew this weekend pretty tempting isn't it?

Its tempting but after the $200 in gas my truck drank this weekend, I can't do it 2 weekends in a row.

[crazyice]

I hear you on that Hanson, we spent about $270 on gas round trip to go from Rochester. That was for sure the most expensive part of the trip.

[Tyler Holm]

54.5"x23" 43lbs - Rainy PB

huntnfishsd - rocking several PBs

Frydaddy - 5 PBs over the course of the weekend.

[Team Otter]

Nice to see the weather cooperated too.

[Bigeye30"]

Wow nice looking fish all, I knew I should of made this trip. There's nothing getting in the way next year after these reports.(note to self, less late ice fishing= earlier prep time for boat)

[huntnfishsd]

Holmer-

Thanks for gettin some pics up there of me with some of my PBs! Like I said, it will be a weekend to remember forever and can't wait til next year!

[Tim_Anderson]

Congrats to all on your great fishing! Lots of nice sturgie pictures and it looks like a great time was had by all. I may just have to stay longer next year...

[bassNspear]

awesome photos guys. Awesome Recap of the trip as well. Im sure it was a blast. Looks like there was alot of fish caught

[iffwalleyes]

 Originally Posted By: hanson

 Originally Posted By: iffwalleyes

Hey man the offer still stands if you want to come with my crew this weekend pretty tempting isn't it?

Its tempting but after the $200 in gas my truck drank this weekend, I can't do it 2 weekends in a row.

I know Chris I put in $94 in Durmax yesterday and I have not even left town yet. It is just ridiculious.

[troyfideldy]

Does anyone have any suggestions on locating and catchting the sturgeon in the river? What baits and locations seemed to put the most sturgeon in the boat? Thanks

[Ralph Wiggum]

 Originally Posted By: troyfideldy

Does anyone have any suggestions on locating and catchting the sturgeon in the river? What baits and locations seemed to put the most sturgeon in the boat? Thanks

Find the deeper water in a stretch, lob a gob of crawlers out there, and wait. It's that simple.

[crazyice]

Yep, very simple.

[DTro]

Here’s my thought for the day:

In my limited experience (3 yrs) I’ve noticed some real patterns.

The fish tend to follow a path while in the river and might even hold in some key locations. Once you get out to the bay, they spread out.

I think they felt a little pressure on Sat as some of the outer edge boats were doing real well (in water as shallow as 9ft!). However they still would move around as there were times when I couldn’t find a boat NOT fighting a fish.

Also I think bait selection makes a difference. I used about 6 crawlers all weekend and that was early on Fri. Yes there were A LOT of fish caught on crawlers, but I don’t recall catching but maybe a couple dinks all weekend.

Last thing is that bite detection is crucial if you want to maximize you catch rate. I downsized this year to a pole that would not fatigue me holding all day long. I also either wrapped the line around my index finger, or at least against my finger. A lot of times I could feel the fish hit my line and I would then get ready. Even if I wasn’t feeling anything, I would lift up on my pole about every 45 seconds just enough to feel my bait lift up slightly.

I bet 25% of my fish came on that lift. If I felt pressure I would continue to lift and that would set the hook. Just a big gentle lift and fish on.

[Eric Wettschreck]

This was my first sturgeon adventure but I have to hands down agree with DTRO. For a fish that big, they sure do bite light. I was expecting a big hit only to have numerous missed hook sets.

Rod holders will provide 99% missed fish. You have to feel the gentle tap. If you get clicker you're lucky. Once again, I learned the hard way. Almost all the fish I boated I never felt the tap tap. I lifted the rod and felt the resistance on the other end.

Something to think about- Lake of the Woods is a stained water lake. Are the fish feeding on sight or smell? My bet would be smell. I picked up more hits on soggy shiners that were full of fish juice and ishy stuff than I did on crawlers. Sucker cut bait worked well also. Was it due to the smell? I can't answer that for sure but if I were a betting man, and I am, I'd say yes.

One very interesting thing I noticed- Watch the sonar. If you pick up a bait ball coming through you need to get ready. We marked numerous fish surrounding bait balls (schools of minnows/shiners/chubs) for 2 days. When bait balls came through I'd look around and notice guys getting hits. You could look down the line of boats and almost follow the fish movement by watching the hook sets.

[Ralph Wiggum]

 Originally Posted By: boilerguy

Rod holders will provide 99% missed fish.

I think that's more so the case when there's wind. We had pretty calm weather upstream on the river and we had no problems picking up bites with rods in the holders.

I guess it boils down to whatever works for your situation.

I'd imagine they feed pretty much exclusively by smell. Their eyes are pretty small and not really located on their head in a manner that would be advantageous to locating food on teh bottom by sight. Plus, they've got those four barbels hanging down that I imagine are sensitive like a catfish's barbels.

[Surface Tension]

That was our first time fishing Sturgeon but it won't be our last. This will be one of those annual trips for sure.

To say we had a great time would be an understatement.

Things started off slow for us but boy did that change. Two fish had tags. A 48'"er tagged back in April 2005 at 39.8" not far from where we caught it. A big Thanks goes out to the guys who got this thing started.