This years Lake Sturgeon season on the St.Croix has been an interesting one this fall of 2008. The bite had been a little slow to start with warmer water temps early in the season. People were finding the Sturgeon were not as aggressive as in seasons past, until recently when water temps started to drop did the bite pick up dramatically and it was action that many jumped at and took part in.
We arrived on the water a little after 5:00pm. We were pleasantly surprised at the lack of boat traffic, given the beautiful day. The action was a little slow for the first couple hours. It wasn’t until we pick up our 3rd Mate: WWG (Waste Water Guru) and the delivered Pizza’s that we saw the action pick up.
For the rigging we were primarily doing the standard, but with a few different twists, my preference was using a 2oz weight with a 12 inch leader and 2/0 circle hook, I would just suspend my weight 2-3 inches off the bottom and wait for the tap. Bait of choice was frozen shad and cut shiner or night crawler. WWG has spent enough time on the St. Croix this year that he was really taking a shine to jigging only with cut bait. It was pretty interesting to watch him hook into some nice fish when they would bump on his jig.
We managed 17 Lakers, 2 Channel Cats, 1 Sheephead for a great night of fishing, that included 4 doubles. (Reminder to keep a close eye on the other rods when your fighting a fish) We crossed paths with some other IDOers that night with reports of Triples!!!! being had. Talk about excitement!
The season is coming to a close this Wednesday. If your able take a shot and get out on the water. Very few things top the excitement of a 30-60 inch Lake Sturgeon.