I have a simple question I’ve been thinking about lately. It seems most St. Croix Lake Sturgeon fishermen fish after dark for the night catch. When I talk to or see people fishing on Rainy in the spring they mostly all fish daytime hours. This seems to be the same on the Columbia river also Western U.S. They are catching many fish in the daytime too. Why the difference in fishing times?
I spend september through mid october (ENtire sturgeon season) fishing 3-5 day weekends on the Croix. Camp right in the boat and keep lines in the water mixing it up between Sturgeon and Flatheads.
Anyway, coming from a guy who fishing 24 hours a day and several days a week for sturgeon…Hot times change DAILY.
Sure, most peak periods come between 6pm and 2am, but i’ve also had many times where the peak is 2am – 9am (DOn’t get much sleep 
)
Most people on the Rainy fish only in the spring. It’s cold and sometimes miserable cold/wet/windy and often times it’s just more comfortable to go sit in a cabin than to fish nights. DTRO has been one to go away from the crowds and fish dark periods on the Rainy and has done very very well.
My advice, spend as much time in the boat as possible. Bring a zero gravity chair or an air mattress, lay back and relax – wait for a bite. I use bells on my rods for bite indicators (Must have while sleeping or Awake IMO). Fish whatever times you can and eventually you shall be rewarded.
I have a tendance to not fish around midnight to 2am because that is when NOBODY is on the river and a great time to catch fresh bait for the next day.
BTW I’m really starting to get pumped for this september!
Steve DeMars took me out for the first time sturgeon fishing on the St Croix at 2 pm on a Friday afternoon. We fished until 4:30 and boated 31 fish.
They bite during the day, but I think you’ll find the tuna boat traffic hard to deal with. That and normally the wind dies in the evening so there’s another problem that won’t effect your fishing.
If a person can only get out during the day or doesn’t feel comfortable with night fishing…do it during the day. The best time to go is when you can…as they say.
Hope that helps.
PS there’s getting to be more and more folks night fishing on LOTW’s as well to avoid the crowds.
Good advice FBRM!
As everyone has stated, fish whenever you can. I typically fish early mornings because of personal convenience and lack if boat traffic. Sometimes evenings and nights too. I’ve had some 30+ fish mornings and afternoons before too.
Steve DeMars took me out for the first time sturgeon fishing on the St Croix at 2 pm on a Friday afternoon. We fished until 4:30 and boated 31 fish.
They bite during the day, but I think you’ll find the tuna boat traffic hard to deal with. That and normally the wind dies in the evening so there’s another problem that won’t effect your fishing.
If a person can only get out during the day or doesn’t feel comfortable with night fishing…do it during the day. The best time to go is when you can…as they say.
Hope that helps.
PS there’s getting to be more and more folks night fishing on LOTW’s as well to avoid the crowds.
Do Lake sturgeon have any nocturnal feeding instincts? Similar to Flatheads?
I dont think they do. They bite day or night. Seems to me the sturgeon is the only one that knows when he wants to bite and it changes all the time.
I was out last night and the sturgeon are jumping all up and down the river. Lots of sturgeon activity right now. I caught one on my cut bait rod on 12 July – nice 48 inch sturgeon. I caught him in a backwater in 8 feet of water. They are spread throughout the whole river even in spots you least expect them.
Most people fish the big water from south of Stillwater all the way to Prescott. You can catch them any hour of the day. Trouble is on the big water the big boat traffic is brutal during the day. Those folks have no appreciation of the impact their boat wakes have on fishing boats. It can get dangerous at times when the traffic is heavy.
If you can find a nice spot in a No Wake Zone it makes sturgeon fishing a lot more pleasant. The big No Wake Zone around the new Stillwater Bridge site has some good sturgeon water. If you can tuck up in the No Wake Zone it makes the experience a lot better.
When fishing sturgeon on the BIG water at night always ensure your navigation and anchor lights are in good order and having a good handheld spotlight is a safety requirement. Don’t assume everyone can see you – it is easy to have your boat lights lost in all the background light clutter from Stillwater and other shore lights around Hudson. I have a LED yellow safety strobe light I bought at Northern Tool for those nights of heavy boat traffic – I want anybody driving a boat at night to be able to see me. It hooks on my bimini top and can be seen from all around.
Mentioned was something that i don’t even think about anymore…Boat traffic. However, it is very true that MANY anglers avoid high traffic times because they haven’t figured out how to deal with it yet.
Casting away from the boat and trying to keep the line tight in a rocking boat is a losing battle…Though i like to spread out my lines, a ‘non-tight’ line is a non-effective line. So during those times, i keep it vertical. Use very small amount of weight (1/2oz or less) Use longer leaders (15-35″). Keep rods in rod holders and angled away from the boat where they have the least amount of vertical movement when the boat rocks. During heavy rocking, weights don’t plunge and pound the bottom, longer leaders allow for less flopping around of your hook when your weight does lift up and down.
Has been extremely effective for me!
Bungees on your anchors help them hold during large waves and also reduce boat rock. Two anchors helps keep boat sway to an absolute minimum.
These are things i’ve learned spending countless hours in all kinds of weather and boat traffic over the years on the Croix and some of my best days were blowing 40mph boating over 60 fish.
Someday i’m going to develop a rod holder that will make fishing for bottom feeders in rough weather simple (Possible retirement plan 
)…For now, that secret stays in my boat as i fine tune it.
How about the 1/4 oz jig on the line right in front of the reel?
Who was it that told me about that…Nick?
It takes out the slack and rises up when the boat turns tight.
Works good!
You’re welcome
How about the 1/4 oz jig on the line right in front of the reel?
Who was it that told me about that…Nick?
It takes out the slack and rises up when the boat turns tight.
Works good!
Nice! Concept sounds great when the line is slack, but what do you do when the tap tap comes and your reel down to double the rod over? Where does that weight go or does it need to be removed?
Now that i think about it, your using the hook from a 1/4 oz jig and not going through the eyelet. That’ll make for quick removal!
Sweet idea thanks for sharing.
I might have to try that tonight channel cat fishing.
Now that i think about it, your using the hook from a 1/4 oz jig and not going through the eyelet. That’ll make for quick removal!
Sweet idea thanks for sharing.
I might have to try that tonight channel cat fishing.
Now you got it. I actually use the 3/8 oz jighead. You’ll lose a few here and there, but I usually just use the cheapos that I get from the bargain bin. I let the jig hang 1-2′ below the rod putting the jig between the first eye and the reel. The length all depends on the size of the waves.
It takes a little bit to identify a bite, but if you river fish at all, you’ll catch on pretty quick.
It does not work well with mono though. The mono doesn’t see to slide consistently thru across the hook.
Sorry for the Nick Matt. LOL!
Most people on the Rainy fish only in the spring. It’s cold and sometimes miserable cold/wet/windy and often times it’s just more comfortable to go sit in a cabin than to fish nights. DTRO has been one to go away from the crowds and fish dark periods on the Rainy and has done very very well.
You may also have to dodge more debris on the Rainy that time of year due to high water events. The time I was there had high currents and a decent parade of trees.
That is a pretty cool idea. I’ve tried various things throughout the years with no success. That hanging jig sounds like a winner.
Can you expand on the hanging jig thing? I’m not quite picturing it.
So i took the “Hanging Jig” and modified it this past week.
Between the 2nd and 3rd eyelet on my casting rod i have a bead, weight, bead.
This acts like the jig, but doesn’t need to be removed.
I’m not entirely comfortable with this yet, and prefer my methods of simply keeping the line tight, but do feel like this may have it’s opportunities to be effective.
1st problem i noticed is that if your rod bounces just right, the weight can ‘jump rope’ around the rod. A simple tap of the rod base typically undo’s this problem. So far, fighting a fish with the weight on there hasn’t been an issue.
Only concern i have is if it is ever making my bells innefective by having that bow in the line. I’ve only got 1 rod like this for now, and will continue experimenting with this.
That’s a great idea. I’ll have to play with it as well. Some days I’ll lose 4 or 5 jigs so this is a great idea that should eliminate that problem.
I also prefer the tight line without the jig, but I mostly fish during the day when the wind and waves are present and this helps me quite a bit.
I tried hanging a jig on my line the other night when I was out and ended up cutting the barb off and bending the hook into a circle around the line in between the first and second eyelet. Kept them from falling off when bigger boat wakes made them dance and seemed to not affect fighting the few fish I caught.
BigGill’s Jig and Stay™ !
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