Sturgeon Lake, MN bass report 7-31-05

My wife Becky and I spent 4 days fishing Sturgeon Lake just north of Hinckley, trying to figure out the lake’s bass population. Becky would be fishing a ladies only tournament Sunday morning, so our goal was to find the best 5 fish we could so she could try to win the tournament and make it 3 in a row. The last 2 events were held on Hubert Lake.

The first thing we noticed on Thursday when we got to the lake was how clear it was. There was weed growing down to 20′, but it was stringy grass. Try as I might I could not find and deep coontail as I figured it would for sure hold good fish. In shallower there were huge cabbage flats from 5-12′. This was a nice change of pace from fishing milfoil, but while we caught fish, we still didn’t find the bigger ones we were looking for or the numbers to quite keep it interesting. We tried the reeds, but many on them were in such shallower water with clean sand, we didn’t find many fish there, especially with the bright skies we had.

Our last option was the docks, and boy were they loaded with fish. We managed 50-60 fish each day fishing docks. The best bait was a 4" Outkast Stick Worm texas rigged weightless. The best colors were black/blue and pumpkin/chartruse. Most of the fish were small, running between 1-2lbs. Each day we managed 1 about 3lbs, and decided come tournament day she would start on docks and run them the entire time. The hours for the tournament were 8-12, so the ladies didn’t have to be up too early, or spend too long of a day on the water. In less than an hour Beck had a limit in the boat. Her 6th fish ended up being one of her big fish. It hit on a long cast along a dock and made for some tense moments until it was landed. She put it in the live well and culled a 1lb fish, definately a nice upgrade. I told her if she managed to upgarde her other 2 small one to 2lb fish, I tought she had a good chance to win. It took about another hour, but she got those 2lbers we were looking for. With about 30 minutes to go she had skipped under a boat lift and when she reeled in I noticed a nice fish follow a bit and then head back for cover. 6 casts later in the same spot she managed to hook that fish for her second big one in the picture. They weighed 4ld 8oz and 4lb 10oz and she easily won big fish. Her total weight was 16lb 2 oz on 5 fish and won by nearly 6 lbs. I was very proud of her for winning again, and doing so mainly by improving her skipping ability each day out. Way to go Beck!!