Sturgeon fishing how toos?

Looking forward to the up coming trip to the rainy. Since myself and it sounds like alot of others have not done any fishing like this before I thought a post with some how toos might be inn order. Here are a couple of my questions.

Boat positioning. I take it we will be anchored up for most of this fishing. What type of areas do you look for?

Can we fish to rods per person. We will be on border water, right?

What is the best way to get these fish in the boat? What should we expect when they are in the boat? Will these fish be sluggish or out for vengance?

Thanks for any tips.

look to anchor above holes, there are a lot of them on the rainey. Drop a jig like walleye fishing, if you basically leave it on the bottom you increase your odds of catching sturgen. They fight pretty hard coming to the boat, but are fairly doscell in the boat. Gold jigs work well for walleye and sturgen on the Rainey. Have fun, Ron

If you fish the river, you will be in border waters, and unless you are legal to go and fish in canada, don’t cross the imaginary center line of the river, or you could be fined!!. I am not sure about the Canada side, but you can only fish one line per person in Minnesota as far as I know, the only exception to this is for ice fishing. I do not think there is an exception for sturgeon fishing, but am not sure. Sturgeon are a heck of a lot of fun to catch, they take a while to land, and once in the boat, they are not too wild, all of the sturgeon we have caught have always been on walleye gear while fishing walleyes, and that fun. Here is a pic of a 42 incher my dad’s girlfriend pulled in a couple of weeks ago on a St Criox Legend elite jiggin rod

Mike, good post and I’ll sticky it.

There are a number of ways to fish sturgeon.

I’ve had the most luck with a circle hook (Catdadmn recommends a 2/0). Very important to remember NOT to set the hook with a circle…this is hard to do…at least for me in the beginning. Let the fish hook it’s self. You will know when your rod bends over..or when setting the hook just use a slow sweeping motion. Any hard hook set and most of the time a circle will come right out.

Worms will produce the most although cut bait is good too.

2, 2.5 or 3 oz no roll, egg or bank sinker will get the bait down for you. Use a swival to keep the sinker 6 to 12 inches from the hook.

One rod per person.

No reason to go on the Canadian side…unless you want to.

I wonder if you cross the “imaginary line”, could you pay the fine with “imaginary money”?

Good questions, Mike. I was wondering the same! I have a few other questions to add. I can’t make it until Saturday morning and have never been on LOW or the Rainy, how will I know where to go to start fishing? Also, what is the average size of the sturgeon we will be catching? One more, does the DNR want to tag any of these fish, do we flag em over when we get one or just release the fish? Thanks for any help!

On a side-note, anyone up for cribbage Saturday night????

Slipsinker I think some cribbage would be fun… Count me in fore sure!

Mike sturgeon fishing is pretty easy for the most part. I have fished the Croix for them and it cant be much different from LOW. Like Brian said circles work great and are much safer for the fish. Sounds like Crawlers are the ticket but I plan on bringing some cut just in case. With crawlers not a whole lot of weight is needed 1-2 oz. These fish pull like a volx on the bottom of the river and will even make a surface busting run from time to time but once there to the boat just grab hold of the tail and hoist them in. Once in the boat there a pretty gentle fish. Bass gear with 25-30 lb test will work but I like using my cat rods. 7-8 foot med-med/heavy action and baitcaster.

I have a few extra circles and plenty of weights if you dont have any. I would be more than happy to trade you some for some pointers on trolling P2. I just moved up to st paul park from hastings and have yet to run shads in the area. Heck I might even try and talk you into hooking some kitties

Would you guys tell me:
* How deep of water is typically fished?
* What part of 4-mile bay is fished?
* Is there much current from the river where we fish?

Thanks

FAT (haw…that’s funny!)

I posted this in the INFO thread.

Not sure of the depth…25 to 35 feet I’m guessing..
250 yards to a half mile out from wigwam is the area fished…look for the boats…eye season is closed…shouldn’t be too many out there.

Last I heard there was some pretty good currant for up there. Nothing wild…that a 2 oz sinker can’t handle.

Is it time to go….yet!