These last two weeks chasing channel cats on P4 have just been nothing short of amazing! With the largest running 16 pounds and many many more in the 10 lbs range.
Most chunky channels have been coming from 20 or more feet of water using the standard slipsinker catten set up. I’ve been using a 2/0 Gamakatzu circle hook with a crawler and a whole shad on it. For some reason the combo bait seems to work better than one or the other. One experiment the other night puzzled me. I had a 3 crawler gob of worms on for around an hour without a single bite. There are sheepies, flatheads, channels and sturgeon in the area, I would have thought that something would have picked it up.
Here’s the Clothing Dept Manager of the Woodbury Sportsmans Warehouse, Stacy with a chunky channel.
Shad was the bait of choice. With the billions and billions of shad making a ruckus in the water it seems that matching the hatch is the way to go. I get questioned every time I mention shad as to where do I get them. Bob Moore of Moore’s Bait and Tackle in Mpls (an IDA Site Sponsor) sells baged shad for $2 a doz frozen of course.
I think shad work the best for bait for two reasons, one being that it’s the bait fish that everything is feeding on and two…leave shad on your hook for a half hour then check it…it still stinks to high heaven! These are a very very oily fish.
It’s know wonder that the walleyes and sauger grow so big in this area!
Here’s Brad and Stacy with there 42.25 inch Lake Sturgeon that gave Stacy a run for her money!
I asked Stacy if she was ok during the fight of the fish…I think she was too busy hanging on to the rod to hear or answer me. 
I met Boone and his freind John on the river Tuesday evening.
Boone was set up for big channels with his new rod/reel combo that he bought from Ryan at Sportsmans Warehouse in Woodbury…but John on the other hand…well, John either needs to see Bob Moore or make a trip to Sportsmans Warehouse. Sorry to use you for an example John, but it ended up being a good learning experiance for you and I hope others might learn from this post. The good thing was that when I offered John one of my extra rods he said "that might be a good idea" when he comparied them to his walleye trolling rod.
Both Boone and John got into some good fish. I’m thinking when Boone was holding a sturgeon for a photo he got a little flustered as he took off his cateye lights and tossed them…or at least tried to toss them into his boat. I wonder how long those batteries last in 30 feet of water. Oopsy!
Pictured here is John with his first Lake Sturgeon…and not to be his last. This one was about 48".
It seemed like the channel cat bite had ended because the sturgeon were on the prowl and that’s all we landed with the one exception of a very small 3 lber. It was 10:15 and I said that I was going to give’er 15 minutes and then head in…just settled into another good conversation with the guys and noticed a little tap tap with the rod slightly bend…my back still had a little ache in it…so John took over the duties for me…Thanks again John, I only had to take two Advil in the morning!
John figured it was a sturgeon but kind of a little guy…until…like many larger fish do…it got close to the boat. I was watching the line going where ever the heck it wanted to…and the rod bent to the water… Everything was going smoothly…until…
John moved to the back corner of my boat and the fish started heading under both boats…and got caught in the anchor of Boone’s boat. Boone sprang into action and the fish was free…but still seemed to be hung up on something…the line had tangled on one of the motors! John was now down on his knees holding on to the rod with both hands as tight as he could. The look on his face was of "what fun" and "HELP"! at the same time! He couldn’t let go of the rod to adjust the drag… as I was moving in to lighten up the drag for him…off to the left somewhere there was an explosive splash, much like the sound of a muskie hitting a bait right next to the boat. Boone yelled "he hit the kicker motor"! With that I heard a twanggg…and I thought the 80 pound Power Pro was cut or broken by the motor…but after taking up some slack…it was FISH ON! Boone figured it was time to bring in the other rods (very good idea I might add..as one rod had another smaller sturgeon on it). The only thing that was out now was the front anchor rope…and sure ’nuff…that’s where this big boy was heading…Boone leaped…no…flew to the front of my boat to pull up the anchor…I believe this little guy made it around the anchor once but with coordination between John and Boone the anchor came up without too much trouble. With all obstructions out of the way…we could focus on bringing this guy in. He came to the top once to get a look at us and must not have liked what he saw…There is NOTHING like the look on an anglers face when a sturgeon decides that he’s heading straight down 30 feet. The Power Pro makes such a cool noise as we all stood there watching the drag slipping and 30 feet or better of the line running out the guides with no way to stop it.
Throughout John would say "he’s coming up!"…then in a moment…he would counter…"he’s going down!" I laugh only because that’s what everyone says including myself…the more times a persons says it the bigger the fish.
We did get her in the boat eventually. According to my GPS the two boats were only pulled up stream about 30 feet.
Once in the boat we taped her at
57 inches long
21.5 inch girth
and spring scaled her at
39 lbs
She also had a MN DNR tag on her and the info has been sent in. I’ll post it here when I hear back from them.
With a couple pictures to make his fish story real…she was release as were all the fish.
Here’s John and myself with the highlighted sturgeon tag.See what the DNR had to say about this sturgeon below!
Brian…
Here is the information you requested about the Lake
Sturgeon (tag number 81326) that you recently caught. This fish was
originally tagged on September 22, 2005 in the narrows of the St. Croix
River at the mouth of the Kinnickinnic River (St. Croix River mile 6.5).
At that time, the fish measured 1455 millimeters (57.28″) in length and
weighed 21.365 kilograms (47.1 pounds) on a digital scale. The girth was
541 millimeters (21.3″) at the time of initial tagging. The fish was
reported recaptured by an angler on April 24, 2006 at river mile 5.5 of
the St. Croix River. The length and weight that he estimated and
reported was 60.0 inches in length and 60.0 pounds. Obviously, this was
a bit of exaggeration from the actual size of the fish. The next record
we have of this fish is your reported capture on October 11, 2006. The
length and girth that you reported is consistent with the size we
recorded at the time of initial capture and tagging of this fish. I
suspect that your spring scale may be underestimating the weights of
your fish unless the fish exhibited very poor condition at the time of
your capture. From your e-mail, I gather that this fish was caught just
below Lock and Dam #3. This would be approximately mile 796.8 of the
Mississippi River. That would mean that this fish has relocated at
present approximately 21.2 miles downstream from the site of the initial
capture and tagging.
Minnesota DNR Fisheries is currently tagging Lake Sturgeon
on the St. Croix River to assess their population size and monitor their
growth rates, movements, and catchability. This will enable us to better
understand and manage this remarkable fish species in the St. Croix
River into the future. To date, over 200 Lake Sturgeon have been tagged
in the Upper St. Croix River (above the dam at St. Croix Falls, WI) by
the MN DNR Hinckley Office, and 281 have been tagged in the Lower St.
Croix River by the East Metro Fisheries Office.
Thank you for leaving the tag in the fish when you
released it. This will enable us to learn more from this fish when it is
recaptured in the future. I would be interested in feedback from you on
your observations of how the tag looked and if there were any signs of
inflamation of the tissue around the tag site. Also, if my
interpretation of where you recaptured this fish is in error, I would
appreciate a more accurate measure of the river mile where the fish was
caught and released. Also of interest to us would be information on the
tackle you used, the bait, depth, the duration of the fight, landing
method, and any other observations that you could provide. I thank you
for your contacting us about your capture of one of our tagged fish and
I will look forward to any additional information that you can provide.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to
contact me at any time!
Sincerely,
Rod Ramsell, Fisheries Specialist
Minnesota DNR, East Metro Fisheries
1200 Warner Road
St. Paul, MN 55106
651-772-7960
[email protected]
These outings pretty much wrap up my first year guiding experiance.
I have to say Thank YOU! To all that I had the pleasure of sharing my fishing passion with and also to the many that have helped me along the way…and there have been MANY!
Continue checking my website through out the winter as it’s going to be update and photos added…Who knows, you might be on the front page!
Although I’m putting my boat away..that doesn’t mean I’m putting my gear away
.
Thanks again to all of you that made this a summer that I’ll never forget!
It’s the Favorite Wife’s turn to cook tonight…so it’s off to the Bungalow Restuarant for grilled prime rib!
Kind of cool information concerning your “tagged” sturgeon!
Love the play-by-play story. I can just picture the fiasco. Good to hear you got er in the boat.
Did John’s sturgeon lose 10 lbs in the past year or are you operating a bum scale?
So the sturgeon shrunk???
That is the question of the day Matt…I haven’t checked it since that night…but I have checked it throughout the summer and it’s been…well as close to a digital as a spring scale can be. My battery in the digital died just that night! Of course it’s the only piece that uses 9 volts.
The health of the fish was good…I’m sure the scale was/is off.
The length and weight that he estimated and
reported was 60.0 inches in length and 60.0 pounds. Obviously, this was a bit of exaggeration from the actual size of the fish.
Hope this guys is the boat with me tomorrow
Thanks for the story.
Very interesting.
Except did you really just publicize where you caught it?
I’ve really never been one to keep a secret…
The DNR report opens more question for me than it answers!
Although the season is over this Sunday, I’m going to see how much info I can get from the DNR…
What a fantastic report Brian. It was VERY fun and exciting to read. Its like reading a story but yet you feel you there. Great!
Don’t put the boat away yet. Theres some good walleye, sauger, and panfish action to be enjoyed. Fall has just started and warmeer temps with less wind on the way. 
Thanks, Bill
Awesome fish, Brian! I gotta tip my hat to Rod Ramsell of the DNR, too!
I thought his response to you was prompt and he actually went out of his way to do his job and give you a very detailed follow-up on this tagged fish….nice to know atleast one state employee who is doing his job and making good use of our tax-monies! A lot of DNR employees get a bad rap from time to time and I think Mr. Ramsell set a good example of how many of these guys are actually not just going thru the motions. 
Congratulations again on the nice sturgeon, looks like we’ll have to go back thru all your old posts and bump the reported weights up a bit….you won’t mind that will you!
Larry Schlomka of Welch told my Buddy Tim Deiman that he and a guy he was fishing with caught a 74″ sturgeon last night on the St. Croix. I believe him, he has never steered us wrong! But I really beed to see the picture!
I agree, great story. Wish I could’ve been there. I did see a three footer caught and released on Saturday afternoon, up by the dam on the Wisconsin side. These guys were in about 15 FOW and faught this one for about 10 minutes. It sure looked like fun. Again, great story and follow up from the DNR. Thanks!!!
Nice Sturgeon Brian…
Putting the boat away, YOU NUTS, or is the honey do list getting toooooo long????
Jack..
I know Jack…Many reports of saugers and (walleyes) up to 8 lbs coming out of P4 today…
Fish ON!
Brian,
PM me your phone no. you can join me on a trip or few this Fall. If you like, Just keep that CatFish gear close by….
Jack..