Three times in my life I have seen a full rainbow and last Monday was one of them. We stood for a moment in awe at the breath taking beauty of the National Scenic Riverway’s momentary burst of colors. You would think this was a good omen for sturgeon fishing. Unfortunately, it was the worst fishing all year for my boat. Not one sturgeon. Not even the scads of bait fish that we normally see busting the surface, not a seagull around….just a dead sea. But just as fast as things go south, they turn on again!
Tonight my partner was IDA Member "Chappy". The last time we went fishing together was to catch him an early season flathead catfish…which turned into a pig walleye evening with a 26, 28 and 29 inch walleye to the boat. I was hoping that we wouldn’t be catching walleyes tonight!
Pictured here is Chappy with his first little guy. I call them “practice fish”.
I’ll be going through a detailed set up on rigging on Friday if the weather holds on Thursday evening…so I’ll skip that here.
I stopped in on a little know sturgeon hot spot and checked with a local sturgeon angler. He said it was real slow today. He did tell me that the other day, using 30 lbs line and a heavy catfish style rod his sturgeon fought him for four hours, before breaking his line. Think that’s a fish story?? I don’t. There are some heavy sturgeon in the Croix. Enough fish stories!
Chappy is always a hoot to fish with. When he hooked into his second fish…I was giving him so much guff that he gave me a look that (I thought) only my wife could give me. Here’s the Chapster trying to gain control. I think this picture was taken after we got the fish out of the back anchor and before it tangled in the front anchor. I was expecting to be into Fisher Daves anchor in just a few more minutes as he was a couple hundred feet from us.
Chappy’s using one of Bob Moores "The Boss" rod is size 3. I just love the way that rod bends!
After taping this fella at 47.5 inches and letter her go. We watched Fisher Dave skillfully, single handedly land a 61,5 inch fish. He did it gracefully with our boat side supervision! LOL!
In taking this picture, Chappy was stating how ugly of a fish sturgeon were….here’s a side by side comparison…I’ll let you decide.
What an awesome sport fishery we have so close to the Metro Area. The sturgeon season is open until Oct 15. Anglers are allowed one fish over 50” per year with the purchase of a sturgeon tag. Please practice catch and release with these (after looking at the comparison photo) beautiful creatures!
Almost forgot to show Chappy’s big one for the night!
47.5 inches! Nice work on the boat dance Chap!
Here’s Fisher Dave’s 61.5 incher. An AWESOME job of landing a fish that size alone!
As long as I’m at it…here’s Whisker Hooked’s winning fish from last Saturday’s sturgeon contest put on by Moore’s Bait and Tackle out of Mpls.
Whisker Hooked (pictured in the center) had quite a time landing this 64 inch gal. Estimated weight….60+ pounds.
This is the largest sturgeon that I’ve heard of caught this year.
Holy Moly that is one big fish!
The fish is better looking than Chappy, IMHO.
Jami
Thanks for taking me Brian! We always have a good time on the water! AND……we actually caught the fish we were targeting!
Thanks again…..I learned alot.Sorry for all the questions. Fisher Dave, Good Job on the monster!Wass fun giving you crap about it. People……..Give Briank if you want a good workout! Thnaks again. 
According to this chart, Chappy’s fish was over 15 years old and Fisher Dave’s and Whisker Hooks fish were into there 30’s.
Age (years) Length (inches)
1 11.0
3 23.0
5 33.0
10 40.0
15 47.0
20 51.0
25 56.0
Wow Brian! If you were a sturgeon you’d be way over 100″
Great report sir!
dd
I didn’t see that one coming….
You must be related to Tuckner.
Actually, I kinda am related to Tuckner. His cousin (“Drakesdemise” on IDA) is my sister’s husband. So we are cousin-in-laws
………. I’m not expecting to inherit anything.
dd
yeah.. seeing a full rainbow is always awesome.. thats one thing that was really crazy in alaska… maybe cuz it rained 15 straight daze… but there were rainbows galore in the afternoon… heres a photo of me and my honey standing under the brightest one Ive ever seen.. we were in Denali National park… its raining hard enough that the background is pretty much obscurrd… but in alaska its cool.. cuz the rainbows usually run across the mountains…. this is also a full rainbow… just couldnt fit the whole thing in and get us in it too…
Hah! I was thinking about you when I was taking the picture!
Having trouble getting the whole rainbow in the frame…I said to self…what would River Eyes do??
Now I know! I sure wish I would have a better camera for photo’s like that one!
Nice shot buddy! and I see you did get the pot-o-gold at the end of the rainbow!
Great report Brian! Thanks for some interesting info!
We thought my fish was a lot older than that!! So, crazy to think how big she’ll be if she lives even 30 more years!
Dave-nice job with the fish!
Can’t believe you got that in yourself! Wish we could have been there! I can’t see the picture here at work, because of the way it was put on here, which really sucks, but I’m sure it’s a beauty!! 
Brian, as far as looks go, the fish has you both beat.. badly. And the look Chappy gave you, we call that “The Holst”.
Nice little fishies boys! I’m glad you two avoided landing walleyes all night!
I had no idea they grew that fast. The only facts I knew is the fish dont mature enough to spawn for about 25 years (50″ fish?), and then they only spawn every few years with a minimal amount of offspring.
All I can say is, there is a whole heck of a lot of big fish out there somewhere because ther are no shortage of fish under 40″!
Great report…..thanks.
I thought it was roughly one inch per year for the age of Sturgeon depending on the body of water…..
Every DNR report that I’ve read mentions that they grow real fast while young, then slow down.
Females sexually mature around 25 years, while males are around 15 years old. Males mostly spawn once per year, whil most females every other year…although there are some that do spawn every year. One report cited that 97% of all sturgeon over 50 inches were females (on LOTW’s I believe).
Got that right!