I’ve heard the Boss #3 rods are the best rods for sturgeon fishing because of their sensitive tip to detect light bites and a strong backbone to handle larger fish. I have one and like it, and would like to buy a couple more but they seem to be out-of-stock. What would be a good second choice? I also have a Glow Stick (can remember the rating)and it seems to work fine too.
Thanks for the advice,
Boone
I’m back and forth on this one. I have a couple of Surge rods. They are big glass rod with a nice sensitive tip. At times I truly believe they are too big for the Croix.
There are a couple things about the Boss that I would change. Change the color to white, and add a hook holder. Other than that they are great rods, and work wonderful for sturgeon.
I know a few guys that use glowsticks and they are also nice.
One thing to think about, a lot of bites are not detected by rods that are placed in a rod holder. I always hold one in my hand now. The big glass rods can get mighty heavy after 8 hours.
I guess my ideal Sturgeon rod would be Med/Heavy 7-8ft graphite or graphite/glass composite with cork handle, and white.
Bob Moore has them at his store! I was looking at one to go with the Tekota. Actually he told me to go with it and the tekota I love so much and have been dreaming of 
I hate rods that aren’t white. 
It really comes down to backbone and a sensitive tip. Darren has a point that really heavy rods are sometimes overkill on the croix.. but at the same time, when you do hook into a big fish they fight just as hard. A bass rod might be fun with small fish, but will be way underpowered when you get a big fish on the end of the line. The croix puts out several 60″+ fish every year, and I know its capable of putting out larger fish. It takes some time to get those fish in the boat on heavy gear… light gear would be hard on the fish.
I am actually working on building some sturgeon rods for the exact reasons dtro stated… they get heavy if your holding them for a while. The difficulties I am running into is we are using saltwater class blanks, and its difficult to locate rods of that class…. especially white rods.
I am improvising on the rod I am building now… highly visible guide wraps will make up for the gloss black blank. Over-sized cork handle with a long fore grip, light tip, plenty of backbone, high quality guides that are light. It was easier to make a rod than it was to find a rod I wanted.
Boone, next time your down to Everts, tell Dean you want to try one of his rods.
I think everyone looks for the things mentioned above but there are some personal preferences involved. Many of us have gone through a number of rods before setting on what’s right for them.
With Dean’s “on the water demo” you’ll be able to test one with out the hassle of buying and then selling it to someone if you don’t like it.
To the makers of The Boss rod…WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!? No hook holder??
It is a great sturgeon rod. Arguably the best production rod on the market for Sturgeon.
For the record..I wouldn’t own a white rod…and here’s were personal preference come in.
Many use the chemical lights and they work great for them…I gave mine away…. 
Now that I think about it…I hold white rods in the same reguard as bells on the end of the rods. 
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Bob Moore has them at his store!
I got my Boss #3 from Bob last year but he’s currently out of them and is waiting on his supplier to get more.
Thanks for all the advice. As a rookie to this species, I’ve been following your guys advice on rods, reels, line, hooks, etc. to help choose what’s best for my situation.
Boone
I’ve lost count on how many times people have commented about wishing they had a white pole while watching mine at night.
It makes a huge difference in visibility.
I guess I’m a fanatic about studying the movement of my rod as I fish.
If you just sit back and wait for clicker, then it really doesn’t matter I guess.
Clicker??
Ok Dtro…shoot me a pm with the evening next week. You bring your feminine white rods and I’ll bring my manly black rods.
We’ll measure personal preference AND number of fish. 
Size does not matter.
I’m not sure if I mention this, but I do have the reflective tape at the end of my rods. This is generally lite up by the anchor light. 
Hey Guy’s, Can’t you just spray paint the rod sections of your rod white like putting glow paint on your tip section? I know it probably look the best but who are you trying to impress fishing for cats and sturgeys anyway?
Ferny.
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Can’t you just spray paint the rod sections of your rod white like putting glow paint on your tip section?
Adds weight. 
Its really hard to put paint on a rod you just dropped $80 for… especially when the new reel and line put the bill over $200.
Brian… dtro’s Surge rods are the best *white rods* I have ever seen. Great tip and a ton of backbone.. but VERY HEAVY in blank weight.
Well…that’s not saying much Dave. 
Come on chicken …waiting for a response. 
Put your rod…er…never mind. 
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Clicker??
Ok Dtro…shoot me a pm with the evening next week. You bring your feminine white rods and I’ll bring my manly black rods.
We’ll measure personal preference AND number of fish.
I’m not sure if I mention this, but I do have the reflective tape at the end of my rods. This is generally lite up by the anchor light.
Anchor light??
You got yourself a challenge…..
We get to wear our normal clothes though right?
Sweatshirt and jeans for me and pink dress for you 
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Now that I think about it…I hold white rods in the same reguard as bells on the end of the rods.
Ditto on white rods. Though I don’t usually use the anchor light. Tip lights periodically.
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Clicker??
Ok Dtro…shoot me a pm with the evening next week. You bring your feminine white rods and I’ll bring my manly black rods.
We’ll measure personal preference AND number of fish.
I’m not sure if I mention this, but I do have the reflective tape at the end of my rods. This is generally lite up by the anchor light.
Anchor light??
You got yourself a challenge…..
We get to wear our normal clothes though right?
Sweatshirt and jeans for me and pink dress for you
Oh OH…..
this one will be pretty interesting.
BK take him out on Thurs….. LOL
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Ditto on white rods. Though I don’t usually use the anchor light. Tip lights periodically.
Way to practice and promote safety Larry 
I can see were that could be taken out of context Dave.
I think he’s talking about using the anchor light to light up the tips of the rods.
I was watching you guys on the Croix the other day. The red light sticks do stand out and I think I could tell when you got a bite!
it’s funny you mention that, because in the dark of the night we noticed the red tips from some shore fisherman. I was watching them and all the sudden this tip light go’s flying through the air……whoa dude just threw his gear…..nope, bobbers
Did you guy’s notice Jakes Boat the other night 4 matching GREEN rod tip lights, they looked pretty cool bouncing up and down….
Nice boat by the way Jake pefect little river Rig!
#4 Boss and Shimano 600
Marc,
It doesn’t matter if you are catching the anchor 
Rod color really doesn’t matter much when you put an led tip light on. 
Reflective tape also glows great with a red headlamp.
Painting a rod isnt an easy task if you want it to look nice. It requires mixing paint and epoxy to get a good looking durable finish.
I have a 15-40lb e-glass rod I built last month I am looking forward to trying on some sturgeon this weekend. Very sensitive tip but plenty of backbone. I experimented with Some “glow in the dark” thread underwraps on the guides but the thread doesn’t glow that well.
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Rod color really doesn’t matter much when you put an led tip light on.
Only Sally’s use white rods…except for Steve D. He can use whatever color he wants when fishing from his porch.
When white rod users come to terms with their Sallyiness I could build them a Hot Pink rod. I’m sure you could see those pretty well at night too. 
Dtro? Did you read this!
For you red head lamp guys.. try putting something bright red on the tip of your fishing pole.. it shows up better than white reflective material… I found this out by accident recently.
Good point Dave! Boon had some red honey combed tape that’s made by 3M. I’m in the process of changing over now.
I spose if a person completely covered a white rod…they could be looked in the eye.
What about a glow in the dark rod. Technically, that isn’t white, right?
Pug…it really don’t matter what rod you use…it’s hard to look you in the eye.
(I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!) 
That’s what my girlfriend says too. 
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