Sturgeon Spearing

[Sturge1]

Are there any Sturgeon addicts out there that go after MR.Ugly after the soft water season? We have a very limited season in Michigan and I wonder how difficult your rules are.
Sturge

[PikeTipper]

I don't think it is legal to spear Sturgeon in Minnesota but I know they have a season in Wisconsin on the Winnebago chain I believe. I read about it last year and they have a quota that usually is met the same day that the season opens so it is only open for maybe 10 hours max. I think a guy broke their state record last year.

[psegriz]

Ineresting cause I've always wanted to do that

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Goosin now but Ice is coming soon!!
GRIZ

[Sasquatch]

Not an option in Minnesota. To my knowledge it has never been. If it was it has been more than 50 years since we had a season.

[I'llTakeWhatiCanGet]

I'm not positive on the laws for the entire state, but I know that sturgeon in lake superior and the st louis river are protected in conjunction with the restoration effort. Since you can't keep them from a hook and line, i don't think that spearing is allowed.
I've never even heard of guys spearing sturgeon, it sounds like it would be a blast. What is all involved? Is it similar in setup and technique to spearing pike? Just curious...

[Blaine]

They are protected here in CT. There are a few in the rivers. Most are shortnosed but occassionally there are some atlantics mixed in. The atlantics are the monsters and can grow well over 200 lbs.

While screwing around a couple of years ago on the CT River, I found a wintering hole with my Aqua-Vu and shot some video of a large group of sturgeon...
Here is a clip of some of what I found

[EBass]

Thanks for sharing the video. Way cool! There was some larger minnows down there to. Do they eat them?

[Blaine]

Thanks... Most of the small fish were baby suckers and dace. According to the state biologists, the sturgeon don't feed much at that time of the year, note the water temp. They are nearly dormant and are just waiting for spring. The video was shot in one of the deepest holes on the river, about 70 feet. They are doing their best to stay out of the current. If you go back and look again, you can see many of them have the pectoral fins angled so that the current pushes them tight to the bottom. A couple even have their tails bent over from the strong currents.

Just upstream from the sturgeon, I found a huge group of wintering cats ... These fish were eager to hit anything that was dropped down to them

[This message has been edited by Blaine (edited 10-15-2004).]

[Ihateriversnags]

Wow and here I was waiting for one of those cats to hit your camera. NICE VIDEO I have shared it with a few family members and are looking to find a school like that around here LOL.

Keep your stick on the ice!!