sturgeon fishing help

Hello all,
I want to catch big fish, and I think the best chance I have at doing so is by fishing for sturgeon. I grew up on the Texas coast, and I miss the intensity of hooking fatties. I would appreciate any info. or help you guys feel like sharing about sturgeon fishing. What is the biggest they get around the St. Croix…6 feet, 5 feet? How many pounds do they get up to? From what I’ve gathered on this forum, it seems like a ball of crawlers in a stocking is a good bait presentation, but would cut, smelly suckers work well also? Would you want to slow-troll for these, or cast into the depths, or fish flats/current/channels? What general section of the river (or specific spot if you want to share that) would be productive for big sturgeon? Could I expect to catch 1 a day if specifically targeting them, 3+ a day, or would I be lucky to get one? I’ll probably contact DNR and ask them for some tips also. Thanks!!

First and foremost is the legality, or lack thereof, of targeting sturgeon in the St. Croix. You have a 30 day season every fall (I think it’s only 30 days…..) from mid-Sept to mid-Oct (if I remember right). Beyond that, it is illegal to target sturgeon. There are species preservation concerns regarding Croix sturgeon so they’re getting professional attention as well. My advice is to take up catfishing if you want monsters. The accidental sturgeon tends to come along but you must target another species if you plan on fishing any time soon.

There’s also some big muskie in the Croix………… a challenge no less, but worth the celebration when you get one!

The kid is right about the season on lake sturgeon. The lake sturgon are the big ones. What else you will find more of are the shovel nose. They are not as big. State record might only be 15# or so. They are plentyful and I’m not sure if they have the same season as the lake sturgon.

Hunting for big cats might be a better past time.
A second choice might be looking into what wisconsin has for a lake sturgon season. Might be more opprotunities there.
Carp chasing might be anouther idea. Plenty of them in the 10# to 20# range.
Good luck with what ever you decide to chase and make sure to post the results and photos.

Why don’t you try catfish?
Here’s one I got a couple weeks ago.

Ferny.

Hey Ferny – Did you pick the flathead up in the Bayport area? Nice fish!! I normally chase big flats north of Stillwater and have tried the Bayport-Hudson area the past couple of years. Where did you find this guy?

I got it trolling shad raps in bayport. I thought it was going to snap my rod in half in the holder! So much for hooking the world record walleye. After about 30 seconds I realized it was a cat I’ve gotten most of my cats on the Croix on artificials while fishing for eyes!

Ferny.

Nice “Moby” there Ferny! She looks like a hefty one!

Hmmm….maybe that’s what I need to do…become a died in the wool walleye fisherman and start hooking flats

Didn’t know your rod could bend that far huh?