St Croix Report – 5 Oct 06

A beautiful full moon night on the St Croix and the sturgeon bite is still hot. Water elevation is stable at 675.4′ and the water temp was 58 degrees. Nice evening for fishing, clear sky under a beautiful full moon with a light south breeze that turned calm about 9:00pm.

I picked up 11 sturgeon but most were small fish in the 30″ category with the biggest fish of the evening 40″. I got them all on cut medium suckers. I fished from 7:00pm to 10:00pm, things started slow but from 9:00 to 10:00pm I caught 8 fish. The bite is really light and you have to watch your line closely to detect the bite. Got all the fish on circle hooks – once you detect the bite just pick up the slack until you feel the fish and just start a slow steady reel – never missed a fish all evening.

Here is a little tip that seemed to work effectively tonight. Initially I just had the front anchor down and the boat was swinging in the south breeze. I got a few fish but once I put down the back anchor and steadied the boat I seemed to have better luck. I may be wrong but they don’t seem to want the bait to be moving around. It was a fast bite after I steadied the boat. Next time you are out and the bite seems slow, give that a try, it might improve your luck.

I found a pod of saugers last night. Incredible action for about an hour. Like panfishing.

Ch15, great report. I wish we had more…just 1 for the night. I thought that was you, we took off shortly after you got settled in. I guess we left too early.

What kind of anchor do you use in the back? Just something heavy enough to keep you from swinging?

My wife hooked into something that we could hardly budge off the bottom. We tried for over 40 minutes to get it to move. Sounds like a snag, but this thing was pulling line out, not very agressive but it was tugging. Finally the hook came out. No bait on the circle hook, and the hook looked fine. I think there is something really big down there. Any idea what is was?

(7 foot Catfish Ugly Stick with 80 pound PowerPro on a spinning reel).

Big sturgeon, almost positive. It amazes me how much power those things have. If they don’t want to come up, you’re not getting them off the bottom.

Hello HB – I use a 12# Digger Anchor for my back anchor. When the boat is swinging I wait until it reaches it’s limit on one side or the other and then I toss it out to the side and tie it off on a cleat in the back. That will usually hold fine and stop the swinging. The trouble with anchors and sturgeon is that sooner or later you will get a nice one and he will wind you up in the anchor.

That fish you missed could have been a big sturgeon. The big ones tend to hold deep and just give you a tug of war for a long time. The trouble with using that 80# PowerPro for sturgeon is that you will get impatient with the fish and tug too hard and pull the hook loose. I always counsel patience – set your drag fairly loose and just keep a nice steady pressure and sooner or later they will come up. I am running 30# PowerPro on my sturgeon spinning gear. It is more than adequate for the conditions where we are fishing. There is no cover for the fish to run to so lighten up and enjoy the struggle – on a big fish it will take a while.

I have been really happy with 25lb Trilene Big Game. You don’t need the sensitivity or head-turning power of braid and I think the mono helps the circle hooks do their job better, plus you have stretch to help keep a hook from pulling out.

My buddy leaned into a big one a week or so ago with 80lb Power Pro…snapped the hook right in half.

Another benefit…it’s cheap!

Hayward.. thats typical of big sturgeon.. they stick to the bottom and glide around for a while… usually around the boat for several laps, or out the side of the boat. They often dont *panic* until you get them near the boat and then they will run you back to the bottom a few times.

Too bad we didn’t boat this one…I kept telling her it is the MotherLoad of all fish!

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The trouble with using that 80# PowerPro for sturgeon is that you will get impatient with the fish and tug too hard and pull the hook loose.

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Thats exactly what I did, I gave it one good yank and pulled the hook out. Actually, I’m glad the hook came out instead of my line breaking (leaving the hook with the fish).

Thanks for the info guys…At least the wife wants to get out and try again!

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I am running 30# PowerPro on my sturgeon spinning gear. It is more than adequate for the conditions where we are fishing. There is no cover for the fish to run to so lighten up and enjoy the struggle – on a big fish it will take a while.

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Smart move! On a similar note about line strenght, the fish that gave Dave Anderson the Minnesota State record catfish, him and Jim Hertzer his partner used either 17 or 20 pound mono, one or the other. They must have played that big one like you said – with patience. Good report by the way.

Turk