2008 Fall Sturgeon Season

[Ralph Wiggum]

I have a garage door opener, entry door, closet door, flooring project, and small siding job that says I won't be seeing that river anytime soon this fall.

Plus, you have to come over and install the swing-tongue on my trailer for me

[hanson]

Plus, you have to come over and install the swing-tongue on my trailer for me

Did you order it up yet? I'll definitely help you.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Yeah, I got it yesterday. Got the entire kit (not just hinge) for $110 shipped

I'm sure I can handle it. Sounds like you've got plenty keeping you busy. I figure it'll be a good project for a rainy day.

[Tyler Holm]

Finally, a 50"er.

Congrats.

[ec30_06]

Good to hear you finally has a good trip Dtro. I would like to get out a couple more times yet this year.

[A.W.Wolfram]

Nice fish guys. I like to hear they are going now.

Im going saterday. I hope the forcasted cold weather will keep the big boat traffic down.

[aanderud]

Nice!!

I have a garage door opener, entry door, closet door, flooring project, and small siding job that says I won't be seeing that river anytime soon this fall.

Sounds like somebody has a new house? Ahh, the joys of homeownership.

[DTro]

I tell ya what, these Sturgeon are a funny fish to figure out. There are times when you can do no wrong, and times you can do no right. Quite a lot like other species, but it seems more prevalent with Sturgeon.

And why are doubles so common? If you are fighting a fish, you best keep a keen eye on all other poles in the boat, because it seems like they always gets bit when you are fighting a fish. I think it happened like 6 or 7 times last night. Heck on Tues, I almost lost a pole watching John fight a fish.

A guy really forgets how impressively hard these fish fight. IMO no other species in the state even comes close.

[wastewaterguru]

Two true doubles and a couple of hard bites while other fish were being caught.......then nothing in between for 20 minutes or so.......

Seems like more than a coincidence.

14 fish last night with a 44 and a 40 as the top fish......which were caught as a true double! About 30 seconds apart on the hooksets.....and an absolute blast with both of us dodging the other rods and the two anchors at the same time.

The 40 I got was on a piece of cut shad...(Thanks Phil).

[crazyice]

I wonder if they mayber travel in schools like other fish, maybe that would explain the common doubles.

[wastewaterguru]

Sounds as good as any other reason I can think of........or they are following the schools of shad in groups.

[DTro]

As with a lot of things this year, the Sturgeon bite sure seem to be a few weeks behind schedule.

The bite has finally picked up with only a week to go in the season.

Spent a late night out there with Shamu, WWG, and Capt Fireman. We ended up with 26 fish the biggest being 47" and another handful over 40.

Thanks again Andy, that was a lot of fun!

This poor guy not only had a Lamprey on it's head, he also got a bad nose job

This is kind of cool:

[Shack]

Very nice fish guys! Glad to see you guys are gett'in on them.

Had to pass up a trip yesterday on the Croix North for sturgies and flats, because I had to play Mr. Mom and let mommy go out with friends

Ah, well. I am saving up my GOOJ free cards for ice time right now

[croixflats]

Looks like the evenning is what is happeng right now. Ilove it when they jump like that.

I know you know but for the newcombers the small sturgeon was a shovelnose stureon witch run smaller than the lake sturgeon. The differance you can tell buy the narrower and upturn to the nose and also you can tell buy the two rows of spines on the belly the shavel nose has.

To be honest I really didnt know the differance till this year. This year was the first time I caught a shovelnose and has been 4 so far.

[DTro]

Actually, that is a Lake Sturgeon. I've never caught a Shovelnose on the Croix. I catch them quite regularly on the Minnesota though.

They are quite obvious when you catch them. The tail section is pencil thin and the head is very wide.

[croixflats]

Cool, Thank thank you for correcting me, Sorry all, on bad info. Do the bigger ones lose those double rows of spines down the belly as they mature because I didnt notice them on the bigger ones. Must be a defense system when younger

You definatly can see the differance there.

[DTro]

Their spines become very less noticeable the bigger they get. You will be surprised how much different a shovelnose looks when you catch it. No mistaken.

You will will immediately say to yourself, "what the heck is this?"

[Tyler Holm]

dtro & WWG, Care to share the approx depth these larger fishing have been coming from?

[DTro]

The same depth you were anchored at when we crossed paths recently

[Tyler Holm]

The same depth you were anchored at when we crossed paths recently

Good answer. Thanks. I'll be out there Friday night till Sat morning. Anybody else?

[croixflats]

It looks like we are going to have a full moon the 14th any ideas if this will help if the weather patern is stable and the water temp drops. Lots of variables there but it would be cool if it all worked out.

[Eric Wetteland]

Can any one give me any advice for sturgeon fishing. A good place to go in at on the river or just any good things to bring. Also depths to look for fish. All or anything will help thanks

[DTro]

Look for areas that neck down and depths from 30-50 ft. If you look at a contour map or GPS chip, these areas really pop out at you. Crawlers seem to be a good locater bait, but most of the bigger fish I've seen come on some sort of meat (fathead, shiner, shad etc). Being patient is key, these fish move around and you can have no action for a couple hours and then can't keep them off your line the next couple hours.

[Eric Wetteland]

dtro

Thanks for the help. I will be going out Tuesday at 3:30pm if you see a old 1957 alumacraft # k with 25 hp merc say hi. Good day

[Wiskers]

I sure would like to make it over there for one last hooraa before summer slides away.. I have never fished the St. Croix.. would be fun.