Today opens the Lake Sturgeon season on the St. Croix River from below the Taylors Falls Dam to the confluence of the Mississippi River.
For those of you anglers that would like to fight a fish that will test your gear and your fish landing skills, this is the fish for you!
I've covered the gear needed to successfully land Lake Sturgeon in past blog posts, so I'll not go over that again. Today, let's talk about the bite, the fight and the release of these gental giants of the St Croix.
First off there still seems to be some confusion about the purchase of a MN or WI Sturgeon tag. The tag ($5.00) is only needed if you plan on taking home a fish. Remember, the minimum size will need to be 60 inches. Follow the instructions on the tag about reporting the harvest . For many of us, we prefer catch, photo and release fishing. This does not require the possession of a Sturgeon tag.
Since we're fishing a border water, the use of two lines per angler is allowed, this is a good reason to use a good rod holder. I use The Folbe Advantage rod holders because they were designed for White Sturgeon and Salmon over on the Columbia River. If the bite is slow, both rods end up in a holder. When the bite is a little faster I like to hold one rod. Using a graphite rod with a braided line like Courtland's Master Braid, it makes the slightest bite travel to your hand to put you on alert!
One would think with a fish this large the bite would me a slam dunk. Quite the opposite is true. We've had 60 pound sturgeon on that looked like a sunfish was nibbling on the bait. Further many times a fish will swim towards the boat making the angler either think that it's a small fish or that it was lost or the hook didn't connect in the first place. I tell all my first time clients to pick up the rod and take all the slack out of the line as they lift it out of the holder. Then start reeling and always reel up to the boat. We'll need to freshen up the bait anyway and this will eliminate the possibility of a fish hooked but not detected or a little Mud Puppie running around with your bait.
With Lake Sturgeon, the fight is generally right at the boat. The larger 50+ inch fish will have the angler dancing from one side to the other. The sturgeon always leads in this dance. If you're lucky enough to get into a 56+ inch sturgeon, plan on her wrapping your line around the anchor line. It's just to be expected. When this happens be best practice is to pull the anchor line in until you can see the fishing line, then unwrap the line using the coiled up end of the anchor rope. This is another advantage to using 80 pound braided line as one run of an angry sturgeon with the line around the anchor and it's "see ya later big girl"!
So, now she's in the boat with you. It should be noted that a small sturgeon has sharp points along it's body called "scoots". The smaller the sturgeon the sharper the scoots. A 24 inch sturgeon will make you bleed if they wiggle while you're holding them in the wrong spot. When they reach the 40+ inch mark, these scoots become dull and not really a concern. I suspect they are for protection in their younger/smaller years.
