Lake Sturgeon Gear

I am wondering what some of you are using for rods and reels?

I am using two St. Croix PGM80H rods with Daiwa STTLW20H-C reels. I really enjoy this setup and I have seen an increase in hook ups over my last setup. I started out with a cabelas graphite muskie rod and Abu 6600 c4 but I did not like the rod, it was very stiff and did not work well with circle hooks. The Abu reel did not stand up to the abuse of big sturgeon.

I currently run both rods with 80lb braid, one with power pro and the other with suffix. On the other end of the line I usually use coin sinkers on a slide and with a heavy welded swivel. I don’t not cheap out on swivels as they can be the weak link with heavy braid. Then 85lb fluoro leader line with 7-0 or 8-0 gamakatsu circle hooks.

I love that your using heavy gear!

I like reels with 15-25#
And rods with fast tips and bend you over the boat backbone.

Think I’ve got 13 combos in that range right, I’d say majority musky quality.

No time for anchor wraps when a 5 footer heads for the rope. Got to have the rod and reel to avoid a fire drill.

Here’s the thing though.
A good rod is a must.
Cabelas IM8 rods, heavy or extra heavy musky sized are often on sale for $40 and found in the cave for the same.

Sturgeon fishing doesn’t require great musky reels for their casting and constant reeling abuse. They just need a good and strong drag.
Shakespeare tide water is a amazing reel. I bought 2 for $10 refurbished from the outlet store 8yrs ago, never serviced, never used for any casting besides catfish and sturgeon. Amazing drag and clicker. I think they’re $45 new in stores.

So getting into the 15-25# drag range isn’t too expensive.

FishBlood&RiverMud do you get consistent hook ups using a heavy, fast, graphite rod? When I switched to a heavy, mod, glass rod it definitely made a difference. I lost some backbone but I can still put 10+ lbs of drag on them when needed.

I prefer Extra Fast tips.
Yes i get consistent hook ups.
Here’s a lengthy explaination if interested.
http://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/boating-big-sturgeon/

I can catch more fish by spending less time reeling in fish too.
Run 3 rods and have to reel them all in because i have a 45″ fish on…Mmmm…No Thanks. NOt a big fish IMO. I’m not fishing for <48″ fish. My gear is what it is because i’m chasing 5 footers. Under 4 footers give a short spurt of drag pulling but that’s it. Caught quick and Released boat side.

Team Catfish I-Cat Carbon Fiber rods for me. Great bite detection with a backbone. The only time I had to clear my lines was when a 65″ wrapped around the anchor rope and we lifted the anchor.

Garcia 6500 with the drag tight and 80 pound Team Catfish Tug O War braid.
Horse them in!

I chose the 6500 because there normally isn’t any structure around that I need to winch them away from un like flats.

I’m using the I-Cat rod because it’s an awesome rod not only for sturgeon but channels over 3 pounds and flats as well.
It’s made for cat fishing with an over sized hook keeper, stainless guides and a life time limited warranty.

Price is a bit higher but now I only need 4 rods instead of 8.

IMO,
Abu 6600 shouldnt even have the Abu name on them, ive ruin a couple. they arent anything like their 6500/7000s. then again those 6600 are only $60 vs 6500/7000s are normally over $100.

i have about the same amount of setups as andy. mostly cat/sturgie setups, but a couple skie setups also, rods ranging from MH to H, 8-9′, reels spinning 55-90s n casting abu 6500/7000. spooled with either 65-80 superlines. sum PP, sum suffix reg braid or 832 and sum Tug-O-war. “as u can tell, i havent standardize yet lol”
i like them all but i will say the suffix832 and Tug-o-war seem to hold up better to abrasion then PP.
2-4oz bank sinkers, #225 barrel swivels, 12-24″ #80 mono leader to 6/0-8/0 gama C-hooks

im not sure if my hook-up ratio is diffent between my slower action rods vz my fast action rods
then again, i have a horrible hookup ratio
thank god i get alot of bites lol

Ok all this talk about struggies i mite have to sneak out from the fam and go this wkend….

I have Ugly Stik Tiger Rods for all of my setups. That goes for everyone in my wife’s family. Probably 30 setups between us all. They have a super soft tip and a great backbone for horsing those big fish around. I prefer the spinning combo so I have Okuma Avenger ABF B-Series reels in the 65b model. They have up to 33lbs of drag and can hold a lot of 80lb braided line for a spinning reel.

Tiger rod with Abu 6500C3 with 65lb PP for one, and my Shakespeare Alpha 9′ rod with an old school Mitchell 302 spinning reel with 65lb PP. If the girl is with, gotta cobble together some other heavy cat gear for her to use

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Horse them in!

If you can. Those 5 footers have been known to drag my anchors around.

biggill wrote:

If you can. Those 5 footers have been known to drag my anchors around.

Ain’t that fun!

And that’s a sign your putting some pretty heavy pressure on a fish. Just a blast they they’re moving boats!

I use a St Croix legend 6’6 mh. Basically a broomstick with a Abu 6500c3 80# braided. 50# mono leader. 3/0 team catfish double action hook. Although after seeing the pictures Mr special posted I really want a nine foot rod.

Brian, you should have James get in touch with whoever framed that shot in your post. What composition! Used the rules of 3s even! He’d could fill that position that is open for a videographer!

@JamesHolst

^^ Pug.

If your worried about weak swivels just get Spro barrel swivels. They’re quite strong for their size.

In my swivel breaking tests, the swivel itself never broke. It was the line that broke though the ring it was tied to.
My 80 pound test line broke before the swivels did when testing the spros… Get what you pay for.

Gander Mountain Brand Vortex MH bass rods are on sale for 20$ right now. I picked one up and paid the extra 3$ for full warranty. Gonna throw a 6500 C3 on there and go out tomorrow night. After using a St. Croix Premier musky rod for the last few years this should be fun. At least the sturgeon should make the tip of this rod move when they bite. Also my son bought some tiny LED lights at the dollar store that come in different colors and have rubber bands to slip them on your fingers. Of course my first thought on seeing them was to put one on the tip of my rods for night fishing. I’ll let you know how they work.

I picked up couple war rods r2s, with shimano charter speicial lever drags. Maybe overkill but damm, them s some pretty sticks. DK.