Sturgeon virgins!! Help needed please:)

So my buddy and I got to talking just now and we thought we should head to the croix tonight for some sturgeon fishing. We have never fished sturgeon before and looking for some advice. I have a bunch of crawlers and know how to rig that part of it, but need some help on where to launch for the night fishing. We plan on heading out around dark and return sometime after midnight. Also would be appreciated if someone could point me to a structure to fish. Not looking for any secret spots, but if your feeling generous I would take a spot or two by private message. Otherwise as I said just looking for general info on structure that we should be fishing. Thanks in advance and I will bring the camera and with any luck can post a pic or two.

Thanks in advance guys

So how did you Do out there?

Thanks for the info. We fished until 0430 this morning with no luck at all. We did not even manage a bite, but sure had a fun memorable trip anyway! I am going to have to do a bit more studying before heading out again, but plan to try again sometime this week. Thank you again for the pointers I would not have had a clue where to start! All we had for bait was crawlers but will have to invest in the others next time. What is the shad bait?

You should catch plenty of fish on crawlers alone. I think beginning sturgeon fishermen miss alot of bites. If you’re rod doesn’t have a really light tip, a sturgeon isn’t going to move the rod tip much at all. Watch very carefully!!! Check it if you see anything out of the ordinary. I have caught my fair share of sturgeon, and I can only remember one or two that actually bent the rod over, especially on the St. Croix.

Here’s a thought (or maybe it’s just a brain-fart…)… so with sturgeon, you have the potential to hook into a 5 to 6 foot fish that can fight like it’s even bigger, thus you need a stick with a lot of backbone. On the other hand, you have a fish that bites so lightly, even a soft-tip rod might not show the bites…

Some one should build a sturgeon spring bobber, something like is used on ice fishing poles only a lot bigger! I could see either going with the wound spring type or flat-ribbon type… I wish I had a cool workshop in my garage so I could play with this idea…

Well I guess I wasted my time the other night We had our rods in the holders with bail open and line clicker on Newbie mistake I guess So a person should hold the rod and when you detect a bite set the hook? Gotta love not knowing what your doing

A big spring bobber would be cool!

I don’t use a clicker because 95% of the time they won’t pick up a bait and run with it. They just eat it and chill out.

Get your bait to the bottom, let it sit with a tight line, and watch your tip. When you see the tip dance a little bit, pick up the rod and you can generally feel them mouthing the bait. At that point, I reel the tip of the rod to a horizontal position, then set the hook (remember a slow hook-set if you’re using circle hooks). If it’s a sturgeon, your hook-up ratio will be very, very good.

You can hold one rod and have the other in a holder, but the rods I usually use are pretty heavy, so I put them both in the holders and just sit back and wait.

Good advice here guys! Fisher Dave took me out on the StCroix for them last Saturday and I was the last one to get one. After I did hook my first and realized what the bite actually felt like. I was pretty sure I’d missed about four bites earlier. I held onto my rod the whole time too by the way, just because I was new and Dave said the bit was so lite. IT was hard to feel the bite even with small waves.

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A big spring bobber would be cool!

I don’t use a clicker because 95% of the time they won’t pick up a bait and run with it. They just eat it and chill out.

Get your bait to the bottom, let it sit with a tight line, and watch your tip. When you see the tip dance a little bit, pick up the rod and you can generally feel them mouthing the bait. At that point, I reel the tip of the rod to a horizontal position, then set the hook (remember a slow hook-set if you’re using circle hooks). If it’s a sturgeon, your hook-up ratio will be very, very good.

You can hold one rod and have the other in a holder, but the rods I usually use are pretty heavy, so I put them both in the holders and just sit back and wait.

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The average sturgeon bite probably moves the rod tip 1/2″.. quick little thumps. I would say they are very comparable to a sunfish bite.

A good rule of thumb on Lake St Croix is to look for about 30′ give or take a couple feet and some baitfsh. Areas near structures usually hold more for baitfish. Sturgeon dont only feed on baitfish, they also feed on aquatic bugs, etc. I have had better luck in areas with a softer bottom, but often that is silt covering rock/gravel.

Look for areas that concentrate baitfish, and have some deeper water.

Or just book Dave for fishing. If he could get me one, he can get anyone a fish!

is there much differance between the day and night bite on the st croix?

It varies. I have had fantastic days and nights. I haven’t deduced any pattern to it yet.

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is there much differance between the day and night bite on the st croix?

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Bite times vary. It’s usually a night bite early season, then it switches over to a day bite with decent action through the night too.

It seems the transition time is now, the daytime action has been picking up some, but the fishing is still on the slow side from the cold front(can change from one minute to the next).