Crazy Insane Sturgeon fishing on the Rainy River

and I didn’t get to experience it….

I missed it by 3 or 4 days this year, but the past 2 weeks have been nothing short of choas and mayhem up there. Boats catching 10-20 60″ fish a day was not uncommon.

I’ve been running a small contest with 30-50 people for the last several years. Format is biggest 5 total measured in length, and this year’s totals were mind blowing! 35 people entered this year and to even crack the top 10 you had to average 64″ (320″). 267 total fish were entered with 125 of those over 60″, 39 over 65″ and 5 over 70! Biggest fish was 73.5. 45% of the fish entered were over 60″. The winner finished with 337.5″ (a nearly 69″ average).

What an awesome Sturgeon fishery MN anglers are getting to experience, and my oh my have things changes since Sturgeon Excursion 2005. LOL

That is insane

3Rivers wrote:

and my oh my have things changes since Sturgeon Excursion 2005. LOL

You mean there’s more then one resort open now?

In 2004 the Dnr reported netting it’s first 100 lbs sturgeon.
In 2005 the goal was to hook into a 50″ fish.
Today, the goal is a 70″ fish and people are doing it!

It’s really cool to watch a success story unfold.

In 2030 will the goal be to tie into an 80″??

The comeback of the lake sturgeon up there is a great story of success and conservation. I have never been up there for it, but I hope to some day.

That is just awesome.

We got a piece of that action last weekend. We got 23 sturgeon over 50″. 9 were over 60″. We got 3 that had girths bigger than 30″. Absolute piggies. My kid upgraded his PB with a 67 x 28.5″. The photo has a sturgeon with a 30.5″ girth, and it was only 63″ long. I think it is my heaviest to date. My kid was in heaven. He got to reel all the fish in as I’m still recovering from rotator cuff surgery.

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That is awesome, I’ve been following your posts a little on it Darren. Do we have any idea how big sturgeon will get in the Rainy? I know they are slow growing, so it may be long after I’m dead, but are there records of their size back when it was netted out?

Awesome!

gizmoguy wrote:

We got a piece of that action last weekend. We got 23 sturgeon over 50″. 9 were over 60″. We got 3 that had girths bigger than 30″. Absolute piggies. My kid upgraded his PB with a 67 x 28.5″. The photo has a sturgeon with a 30.5″ girth, and it was only 63″ long. I think it is my heaviest to date. My kid was in heaven. He got to reel all the fish in as I’m still recovering from rotator cuff surgery.

Your kid also finished in 5th place with 330.75″ (66″ average). That’s awesome!

BigWerm wrote:

That is awesome, I’ve been following your posts a little on it Darren. Do we have any idea how big sturgeon will get in the Rainy? I know they are slow growing, so it may be long after I’m dead, but are there records of their size back when it was netted out?

Hard to say. You talk to enough old timers up there you hear of many stories of 80+. One guy I was chatting with told me about a 8’4″ fish he found that washed up on Zippel Bay shore. I reminded him that 8’4″ was 100″ and as he took his swig of vodka he said “YEP”.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

You mean there’s more then one resort open now?

Heck, they are now running the big charter boats out there for Sturgeon and running ads on KFAN. LOL

Man, I recall in the early years (somewhere in the ’06-’10 range), AquaJoe, Audemp, and I put 4-5 over 60″ in the boat, and that was an unreal trip. Aquajoe had a 67″ x 31″, and that was one of the biggest most had ever seen. It’s great to see that the fishery is improving remarkably!

I haven’t been up there in ages. I need to go again.

3Rivers wrote:

Your kid also finished in 5th place with 330.75″ (66″ average). That’s awesome!

He went back this last weekend to upgrade his total. Looks like it was worth his effort. That’s a great average.

A video was just posted of the sturgeon running out here. Most people dont know they are there until a 7 foot shark silhoutte goes sliding under there kayak or tube.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

Man, I recall in the early years (somewhere in the ’06-’10 range), AquaJoe, Audemp, and I put 4-5 over 60″ in the boat, and that was an unreal trip. Aquajoe had a 67″ x 31″, and that was one of the biggest most had ever seen. It’s great to see that the fishery is improving remarkably!

I haven’t been up there in ages. I need to go again.

Weedis’ Dad Big Jer (RIP) caught a 65″ up there around that same time, and those mid-60’s fish were something that hadn’t been seen in 100 years!

BigWerm wrote:

Weedis’ Dad Big Jer (RIP) caught a 65″ up there around that same time…

I remember seeing that photo in the Star Trib(?).

I seen elena posting about all her big fish and sleeping nights on the river and in the truck. Just destroying old records. That’s so awesome, we were going to go back after our walleye outing up there but never made it back up.

here are the top 10 sturgeon on record speared from Lake Winnebago. the Rainy River fish might have a slightly shorter growing season, but given time – and release rather than harvest – could they reach these sizes too?

Place Weight Length Year
1 212.2 84.2 2010
2 188 79.5 2004
3 185 80.2 2011
4 180 79 1953
5 179.8 79.6 2012
6 179 80 2013
7 177.3 79.9 2023
8 175.3 78.5 2012
9 174.3 82.4 2022
10 172.7 76.9 2011

Is it good for numbers and size when it opens back up in the summer?

I’ve done it once in the spring a few years back and had a good time. Might be fun to try in the summer when conditions are a little nicer.

Michael C. Winther wrote:

here are the top 10 sturgeon on record speared from Lake Winnebago. the Rainy River fish might have a slightly shorter growing season, but given time – and release rather than harvest – could they reach these sizes too?

Place Weight Length Year
1 212.2 84.2 2010
2 188 79.5 2004
3 185 80.2 2011
4 180 79 1953
5 179.8 79.6 2012
6 179 80 2013
7 177.3 79.9 2023
8 175.3 78.5 2012
9 174.3 82.4 2022
10 172.7 76.9 2011

I think they are close enough now (73.5″) that it’s safe to assume they will reach those sizes. The question is if they will grow larger, and if so, how much larger??

Oh yeah, eventually they will reach that Winnebago level. Just a matter of time. Lake of the Woods is massive and a great place to get BIG!

I don’t believe this was from LOW/Rainy River, but not too far away either.

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But also not accurate and I don’t believe any of those claimed numbers. A 15ft Sturgeon will easily weigh 1500lbs. There are some documents in lake of the woods museums that have some stuff about 10fters, so I do think that is a possible top end for these fish.

3Rivers wrote:

But also not accurate and I don’t believe any of those claimed numbers. A 15ft Sturgeon will easily weigh 1500lbs. There are some documents in lake of the woods museums that have some stuff about 10fters, so I do think that is a possible top end for these fish.

That was my thought as well, but seemed verifiable from some legitimate sources. Here’s a Manitoba Historical Society link on it. Weight could still be off due to some scale issues of the time.

http://mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/biggeststurgeon.shtml

Here’s some more Historical Society information:

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