The plan was simple. Take a day off, drive to International Falls, get up at the crack of dawn and catch huge Sturgies until our arms fell off. I shared a boat with a coworker (lifelong musky fisherman) and some guy he knows (I gather he is primarly a wet-rag dude). They wanted to see what the Sturgeon stuff was all about. They had both caught some through the ice on wet-rag gear and neither expected a great fight... I seem to remember some comment about "crankin' 'em through the guides" on the XXXXXHeavy musky rods and 100lb test braid they were using...
Well, we had hoped to be on the water before 6am. Due to various circumstances (a late leave time from the TP - an over consumption of barley pops - way too many breaks to pick up beverages, fast food, cigs, and extra bait - and the fact that there were too many captains in the boat...) we didn't actually have lines in the water until 8:30am.
We proceeded to check out every single landing on the Rainy between the mouth at LOW to the dam at I-Falls. I learned at lot seeing all that water and talking to the locals chasing the Sturg.
By almost 4pm we deceided to try one last spot...
There we hooked up. Many times. A few 44"ers, a 48"er, a few babies, and a bunch of 50" class fish. Seems like just over 50" is now the "average" fish on the Rainy. Of course monster 70"ers are caught a couple times a year and it seems like somebody gets a 60"er almost daily durning the run.
The simple crawler ball on 3/0 circle with a 3 ounce pyramid was the go-to. All our fish were caught in 12 FOW on a big tapering shoreline flat. There were plenty of White Suckers and a few Shorthead Redhorse around as well.
PIcs of a couple of the 50's and a baby:
Even after the 3 hour drive home they were still talking about how hard the Sturgeon pulled and how they couldn't turn anything that didn't want to be turned. They'll be back. Good to see a couple anglers broaden their horizons... I'll be back too. I want a 60" - then I'll want a 65" - and then a 70" - and then...
A couple recommenations for everyone:
Comments
Corey
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 00:35
Permalink
Nice Sturgeon
Great report Tony.
Ken
Wed, 10/17/2012 - 23:48
Permalink
.
.
Bubbajoe
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 10:12
Permalink
Awesome Tony! Opening the
Awesome Tony! Opening the eyes of a dedicated Muskie guy is no small task.
Oh, and that baby sturg is adorable, sharp of course, but still adorable!
TonyS
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 10:41
Permalink
The Musky Guy actually wasn't
The Musky Guy actually wasn't that tough to turn over - he grew fishing suckers with his grandpa so he had a starter. He is still a pretty died in the wool musky hound but today at work is still talking about several days later. Says he'd go up in the morning if it was just an hour or two closer. The walleye dude was tougher but he seemed to appriecate catching something that tugged harder than a dead stick...
Deftik
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 11:48
Permalink
Those are some slobs, could
Those are some slobs, could only imagine how fun that was!
Bubbajoe
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 12:29
Permalink
Your Muskie guy probably just
Your Muskie guy probably just enjoyed, ya know.... catching fish!
Walleye guys are tough, but persistence pays. We've been working on a dedicated walleye guy at work. It's been a long road, but he's coming around.
AvidFly
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 13:17
Permalink
A walleye guy, a muskie Guy
A walleye guy, a muskie Guy and roughfisher go fishing...Sounds like the making of a good joke!
Sounds like you got some good action even though so much of the day was spent driving around. I have to start making it a goal to get up there in the spring. Thanks for sharing!
TonyS
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 14:56
Permalink
Yeah the action was great
Yeah the action was great once we got baits in good water. The musky guy was actually getting annoyed with the lack of action for the first half of the day, he has fished the same river for Muskies for probably 15-20 years. He says he almost never goes more than a few hours without at least seeing fish. Interestingly it probably took the Walleye guy twice as long to land a fish the same size on the same tackle as either the Musky guy or I - not sure why that might be...
Hengelaar
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 15:02
Permalink
Awesome Stuff
Those are some dream fish right there.
So amazing.
About how old would a 50-60" Sturgeon from that area be..?
Fishn sure is neat
TonyS
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 15:16
Permalink
According to the data from
According to the data from Baudette (on the Rainy River) approximate ages (and "average" weights) are:
-50" - 23yo - 29lbs
-55" - 28yo - 39lbs
-60" - 34yo - 53lbs
-65" - 42yo - 68lbs
-70" - 51yo - 89lbs
Jason E.
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 19:45
Permalink
Wonder how they would have
Wonder how they would have reacted if they tied into a 200 lb. monster sturgeon?
TonyS
Fri, 04/27/2012 - 21:55
Permalink
Wonder how they would have
If it had been walleye-guy we'd still be there waiting for him to land it... ( I kid)
I'm pretty I would have soiled myself had any of us hooked a 200lber...
Eric Kol
Sat, 05/19/2012 - 16:19
Permalink
Thanks Tony. For the shore
Thanks Tony. For the shore fisherman, are these public access points or through resorts? Was the bite steady throught the day? I know at times on the Croix time seems to matter.
Carpy Diem!
TonyS
Sun, 05/20/2012 - 12:59
Permalink
There are quite a few public
There are quite a few public access points that offer Sturg worthy water. For starters any of the boat launches that I saw would likely produce most of the time. The bite came in waves, no strong correlation to any time of day.
If you (or anybody) wants more shore recommendations I'd gladly share more specific info via PM. Really a lot of water between I-Falls and LOW.