Sturgeon Contest Sept 16th !!!

>Moore’s Bait & Tackle< is hosting its 1st Sturgeon Contest on Saturday September 16th on the St Croix river.

Contest hours will be from 6 a.m. – Midnight on Saturday Sept 16th.

Entry Fee is $15 per participant, one fish can be registered by each participant.

Winning Fish will be determined by length + girth and a photo of the angler holding the fish is required.

Payout is 100% and will be determined upon the number of participants. If a maximum number of participants is reached, the top 5 fish will recieve payout.

Registration can be done at >Moore’s Bait & Tackle< in south Minneapolis at any time until Sept 15th at 5 pm(closing time day before contest). The entry fee is $15 per participants. There is a limit of 30 participants.

Contest boundaries are from Taylors Falls south to Prescott.

Special Rules: All MINNESOTA border waters laws apply, even if you are a resident of another state, you must abide by Minnesota border water regulations. Two rods per angler, bait restrictions, etc.

This is STRICTLY a catch and release only contest. All fish caught must be released to qualify for the contest, NO EXCEPTIONS.

Registering a fish and Contest Payout: Measurements and photos must be brought in to Moores Bait by 3 pm on Sunday Sept 17th. The payout for the contest winners will be handed out shortly after the 3 pm deadline.

We have never had a problem with any contest on determining winning fish, but Moores bait has the final say in winning fish if a questionable circumstance would ever arise.

The catfish contest Moores has hosted this year have been a great success for the anglers, I suspect the sturgeon contest will be the same! Its a great excuse to get out and have some fun while fishing, and enjoy some of the best fishing the St Croix has to offer!.. and maybe make a little cash while your out there! Please help support the site sponsors, and the local bait shops and pick up some bait for the contest from either Moores Bait, or we have >Jimmy’s Bait & Tackle< right on the St Croix river that would love to help point you in the right direction!

Dave, you gotta be poopin’ me man.

Is Bob gonna have flats of crawlers?

What a great and strange tradition to start.

So I can’ EAT the sturgeon?

only if you don’t want to win the contest…have a MN DNR tag and it’s over 50 inches.

Tastes like chicken…heavy metal chicken…but chicken none the less.

What the E’ll is a Sturgeon!!! Even though I’ve never fished for one much less caught one. They got whiskers though. Better Count me in. First time for everything.

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DNR tag and it’s over 50 inches.

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Just to clarify for first time Sturgeon fisherman. Do we need to purchase a tag to fish for Sturgeon if we are planning on releasing all fish?

I don’t have a copy of the regs right in front of me.

The tag is needed if you plan on keeping the one sturgeon your allowed per year, that has to be over fifty inches.

No tag is needed for catch and release.

I’ve only fished them once before… but worms, fatheads and cut anything works well for them.

I’m in this one…the FW said I could! I’m hoping she’ll change her mind prior to the event and keep me company.

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Do we need to purchase a tag to fish for Sturgeon if we are planning on releasing all fish?

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Nope….your good to go…

Five dollars for the harvest Tag.

As everyone has stated, no tag needed to fish for sturgeon.

Maybe we can get a couple guys on here more familiar to sturgeon fishing to get a post started to help those out new to the specie. Sturgeon fishing is not that difficult.. its much like the old river days of drowning worms and cutbait.. with much heavier equipment. What is more important than how to catch these fish, is how to handle these fish with care once you have caught them. It would be a shame to kill a 50 year old fish so someone can get a *cool looking* picture while holding the fish up by the gill plates in a wreckless fashion.

Here’s a picture I’ve been saving for next years Sturgeon Excursion…to show how not to hold a fish.

I’ll locate more “how to’s” later.

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*tiptoes in and peeks around*

can I play?

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dtro… I wouldnt peek around the corner like that, Sherry might poke you in the eye.

Of course your welcome to join! We need our chances to get your prir contest money back out of you.. even $15 at a time!

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*tiptoes in and peeks around*

can I play?

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dtro… I wouldnt peek around the corner like that, Sherry might poke you in the eye.

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Dave’s right, dtro… you better watch it! You and Larry are getting on my bad side lately winning all the contests and taking all my money!!
BUT I won’t be here for this contest… so you’re safe.

Darn I finally get home court advantage and I cannot make that date. I’ll get out the week before the contest and let you all know how the bite is. I’ll give you a big fish to shoot for. Good Luck to all. This should be a fun contest. Here is a pic of a 56″ St Croix sturgeon from last year.

St. Croix Sturgeon Tips:
-Fish the drops from 20 ft to deep water pools. We usually set up in 30ft of water to reduce the sheepshead.
-Crawlers work fine
– the majority of the fish are in the 30-35 inch range
– use a rod with a soft tip, sometimes the bite is incredibly light, you miss a lot of bites with a stiff rod tip
-the drag setting on your reel is important (I caught a 66in fish on 12 lb test line), they don’t have teeth and there are really no obstructions in the river other than your anchor rope for them to wrap the line around (they love to do that)
– never put your fingers in their gills
– I prefer to pinch the barbs down on my hooks because its much easier to pull the hooks out
-the MN DNR has only tagged 400 sturgeon in the river, so MN tagged fish are hard to come by
– pull those lamprey off of them and kill them parasites
– they seem to prefer sandy or soft bottoms

“I’ll locate more “how to’s” later.”
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I’m looking forward to this as long as I can get off work.

What size hook would be good to use for crawlers and/or cut fatheads?

Do you use the same set up as we use for cats, no rolls, etc?

Thanks!

This should be fun! Let the games begin!

1acipenser,

Welcome to IDA!

Thanks for the tips. Hope to hear more from you here!

OUTSTANDING FIRST POST!

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1acipenser
Member

Reged: 08/31/06
Posts: 1

(63.225.128.230)
Re: Sturgeon Contest Sept 16th !!! new [Re: Fisher Dave]
#375842 – 08/31/06 08:18 AM
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St. Croix Sturgeon Tips:
-Fish the drops from 20 ft to deep water pools. We usually set up in 30ft of water to reduce the sheepshead.
-Crawlers work fine
– the majority of the fish are in the 30-35 inch range
– use a rod with a soft tip, sometimes the bite is incredibly light, you miss a lot of bites with a stiff rod tip
-the drag setting on your reel is important (I caught a 66in fish on 12 lb test line), they don’t have teeth and there are really no obstructions in the river other than your anchor rope for them to wrap the line around (they love to do that)
– never put your fingers in their gills
– I prefer to pinch the barbs down on my hooks because its much easier to pull the hooks out
-the MN DNR has only tagged 400 sturgeon in the river, so MN tagged fish are hard to come by
– pull those lamprey off of them and kill them parasites
– they seem to prefer sandy or soft bottoms

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A little bird on my shoulder told me the sturgeon are biting out there!

Either that or it was my ears ringing from dtro’s scream of terror

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! Dont let it look at meeeeee!!!!!

I can’t believe the rod didn’t break!

Holy sheeeeeeet batman- That’s great advertising for whatever rod company that is Looks like a King Kat or Ugly Stick to me.

That was a king kat rod. He really can handle some big fish on that thing. I asked him about that big sturgeon he caught on it, he said it was making some rice crispies sounds!

Well ya know, Darren, if you guys had left at 9:00 like you were supposed to it wouldn’t have been so bad! Dave says you 2 forced him to stay late… but somehow I don’t think it took much convincing.

Nice fishies! Looks like you all had a great time. I wish I had been there to hear Darren scream “like a girl” (as Dave puts it).

Yeah, that’s Dave. Always the educator.

Nice Fish Mates!!!
Looks like you got into a pile of nice fish. It was a beauty of a night out there!!!
Great pics! Never seen an EEL (spelling) before this. Yikes.
Though Dave has told a couple good stories.
thanks for Sharing.

It was a great night to be out.. we earned it after riding the wakes all day.

As for the eel(correct spelling), we were lucky enough to immediately identify it and NOT net it. I thought dtro was going to jump into audemp’s lap when the eel accidently ( ) swung over his lap a couple times.. his scream was in no way as high pitched as hanson’s, but it was a great *valley fair* scream none the less

I think we all had hightened concern when it was hooked on mono and flipping like crazy over a boat that started the day with a little left over rain water on the bottom.. and had a bit more added in. Every time we put a fish on the floor it would feel the water and try to *take off*. If that eel had come off the line, if those 2 guys could get past it I think they both would have been sitting in my lap

Save me! Save me! Fisherdave!! You are my hero!!!

fun night on the water, the bite was pretty steady we boated between 20-25 fish from 730-1115pm, lost count of the fish but the last fish was the biggest of the night, it was tough to pull anchor right after releasing it.

CA

Nice fishy CA! Did you get a lenght?