11 October St Croix Sturgeon Report

dtro and I chased sturgeon last night on the St Croix. Weather was Partly Cloudy, Low of 38 degrees, NorthEast winds 5 – 10mph. St Croix pool elevation was 677.4′, up about 2 feet in the last couple of weeks. Water surface temp was 56 degrees.

We started at 5:30pm and the bite was dead until 8:00pm. At 8:00pm it was like someone hit the light switch to turn them on. We boated 9 sturgeon and 1 big carp quitting at 10:00pm. No large fish boated. Here are the stats:

Darren: 6
Steve: 3

Fatheads: 3
Crawlers: 3
Shad: 3

20″ – 29″ = 5
30″ – 37″ = 4 (37″ our biggest fish)

Anybody heading out this weekend I recommend you overdress. The wind has a cold bite to it, so dress warm. You can always shed clothes but I’m betting you will be glad you brought everything you did. I brought my Mr Heater last night and it was a welcome addition to the boat.

I was out from 11am to about 6:20pm. We fished the community holes for a very short period of time which yeilded 5 fish all in the mid 30″ range. I fished several other locations which havent recieved any fishing pressure and put 8 more fish in the boat of approximately the same size, and a fat 14lb channel for a night-cap.

The fishing was slow, but a fish came in once and a while. We caught nothing on fatheads, all of our fish a came on shad, and only a couple on shad/crawler combo. The previously frozen shad works much better than super fresh(very firm) shad.

I’m with Steve on bring extra clothes! I froze my butt of 10/10, so I overdressed wearing boots, bibs, carhart jacket, and a winter hat on 10/11… I was glad I did! I unzipped my jacket when I seen the sun to let the steam out, and zipped it back up when the clouds were overhead, and the wind picked up. I was toasty… my partner wasnt as he was seemingly running laps around the boat tightening lines and checking baits constantly(always there). He was doing all he could to stay warm.. but caught very few fish because his baits were always moving.

Thanks for the report guys! I had much of the same yesterday also. 1st spot yielded a walleye(I feel confused because I was dissappointed by catching it)….what is happening to me? , the second spot we got a few, then proceeded to relocate in that area 4-5 times and ended up with 9 between 23-33″. All on fathead/crawler combo.

Some days it seems like it doesnt matter where or what, the big ones are not biting.

I hope things turn around for whoever gets out there these remaining days. Their there boys, go get’em! Best of luck!