sturgeon out of baudette

[ethan77]

WEll we diecided to go sturgeon fishing out of baudette... we are satying at the baudette motel and wondering where a public acess is at? We will be going on the 1-2-3 of april... any sugesstions? Can a guy find a decent map of the river to find a few good holes? Any help would be great since this will be the first time for both of us....

[ethan77]

also.. what is the river like up by birchdale area? can I get my 16 foot in there with 70hp? I mean is it shallow and rocks sticking up or is it pretty decent to where I wold not have to worry about my lower unit being ripped off?

[CabinBoy]

There is a public access right in Baudette, just east of the big walleye - April 1st though I'm not sure that part of the river will be open. Looking at the forecast I doubt it will be open. You'll be fine at Birchdale - many a big boats go in and out of there. Good Luck.

[HARDWATER]

I go out of the clemenson landing and i run a 16.5' with a 75 h.p so you should not have any problems....

just make sure you get to the landing before dawn as the landing fill up fast when the ice is gone..hope that helps you out..

[LEECH21]

We are going to being fishing for sturgeon around Baudette later on April 17,18, and 19th. A good map would be awesome for me too because this as well will be my first time up. From what I understand you need to find the deep holes because that is usually where they are at, not sure though?

[BDR]

I have only seen 1,3 piece, map of the Rainy. It is the DNR map. It is not very accuate at all. The river changes some everytime there is real high water. You can probably get it off the Lake Finder feature on the DNR website.

[Wiskers]

Pretty much anywhere is good for Sturgeon when the water opens up. If you can get to that Inlet just west of Clemenson landing, that is a pretty good spot. Or you can just look for any depth changes and hit the upper side of the dip. I was fishing the River just infront of Pine island a few weeks ago and seen more sturgeon on the cam than I ever have.. they were just thick in there... Had to pull the jigs away from them...

I am thinking that it is almost that time of year again when we all start Hounding Sandy about the river condiditions LOL.....I know Im starting to get the feaver...

[ethan77]

Well thanks for the advice guys. SAo inother words.. find deep holes and also where other streams and currents come in? OR should I just go with a deep hole? I am new so any help would be great.....

[Wiskers]

Yep you got it.. the sturgeon are pretty abundant in there and in the spring you will have good chances of getting into one by accident if your fishing Eyes, If you fishing for Sturgeon you should be able to get into some. Holes, and inlets.. top side of holes. Good fishing........................................

[LEECH21]

We are planning a trip up to Rainy April 17,18, and 19th. My question is...is the sturgeon fishing better around Baudette or International Falls? We are just wondering which town we should stay at. Thanks for any responses, even though your answers may be totally opinions.

[LEECH21]

TTT

[Sandee]

I know the MN DNR will say the highest harvest rate is from the area of the gap in Baudette. This is part of the reason for the reduction/change in sturgeon regulations. During the days you are coming, it is catch and release, sturgeon harvest seasons open April 23 for 2 weeks. Good luck!

[LEECH21]

Quote:

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I know the MN DNR will say the highest harvest rate is from the area of the gap in Baudette.

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The gap??? What is that exactly? We plan on finding a hotel or motel in Baudette now if the sturgeon are a little "thicker" in that area. Are there any key areas that we can easily find around Baudette. We don't have a depth finder so any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks Sandee for all your help.

[Sandee]

That is the area where the river runs into Lake of the Woods, this side of Four Mile Bay.

[LEECH21]

Sandee, looking at a map on the web, it looks like there is a narrow spot in the river right before it dumps into Lake of the Woods. Is this a dam of some sort? Or is it just a bunch of rocks and such? Which side are you speaking of that is real good for sturgeon? The lake side or still in the river? Thanks again.

[fiskyknut]

LEECH, what your seeing are two narrow islands, 1 on the US side and the other in Ontario. these are sandy and the narrows are about 100 yards or so wide, this is known as 'the gap'. The water between here and back upstream to the rivers mouth is 4-mile bay.

I won't tell you that just anywhere on the river is a good spot for Sturgeon, though you may luck into one anywhere! I will tell you that if you get on the right spots they are pretty darn easy to catch and the right spot on the right day you can sure catch alot of them. Sturgeon are availiable up and down the river for sure. I like spots from around just above the Clementson area and downstream myself. The deepwater in 4mile bay pumps out alot of Sturgeons. On the river itself find the deeper holes and fish the front of the hole and tailout of the hole, somtimes right in the hole. Narrower channel runs on the river can be productive too. Between the area couple miles upsteam from the ramp near Clementson and on down to 4mile bay there are perhaps 10 spots I would consider good reliable Sturgeon fishing locations to throw your anchor and drown some crawlers.

Tackle and such.....

Good to bring some heavier gear, these fish can go over 100 pounds. I use a 8 foot composite rod with an ABU6501 usually. Spooled with 30 or 40 pound power pro, same as I favor for Baitfishing those BIG Pike on the pond, and I also use it on the Red for those BIG Catfishes too. Quite surprizing sometimes how light a 5 foot Sturgeonfish that may be anywhere's from 45 to 70 pounds or so can bite! Good backbone needed during the battle, and a sensitive tip helps with bite detection when they are just niblin. Good stout Bass tackle will do alright with a reel with a smooth drag needed for sure.

Rigging is straight-forward simple slip rigs for me. Baitholder hook around size 1 to 2/0, mono/floro snell of around 20-30 pounds and about 2 foot or so long, swivel and a weight. I like a no-roll myself but any sliding type will work. 3/4 to 3oz should cover you for various flows/depths found on the fishy areas of the river or the bay. 2 hook spinner rig is another good rig for some, use a bigger set of hooks than what you find on a Walleye rig though. Jigs get em too.

Various ramblings and observations....

Way back when I was wee, end of the 60's and early 70's one of my uncles had a trailer at Ballard's and a family friend and neibor named Desi. Desi owned the old white house that sat on the river right between ballards and what was then Gerharts and is now the Riverbend. He was a former commerial fisherman, and was wise in the ways of the pond, the river, and all things fishy! He was also quite the fish eater and relished his smoked sturgeonfish. I can remember from my childhood staring with wide eyed wonder at the whopper sturgeon him and his buddy vern would bring in from fishing. Now my Dad bought our property up there in 1976 and old vern was our nextdoor neibor. Thru then and till Desi's sad passing in the early 90's I was blessed and lucky to get to share a boat and be mentored by one, the other, or both many times. Old schoolers they were, and set in there ways for sure and I learned much of what I know from them about the Walleye fishing on the pond, trapping minnows, and jiggin for them walleyes in the fall on the river, and the river's sturgeon that's for sure. One thing they/we did back then was use that black braided dacron for our leaders, Desi's rational for this was that heavy mono is harder and stiffer than dacron and the sturgeon could feel it as they have very sensitive mouths and barbels and that they suck your offering in and out too quick. I have'nt done it in years and I maybe should.

I have a friend now who really likes those darned cicle hooks, I myself would'nt use one unless I was comercial longlining somewhere's on the Atlantic. Sturgeon have a rather unique vacuum cleaner tube kinda protruding mouth which is quite different from your typical bony fishes mouth with a defined set of lip/jaw/tooth structure with corner to it's mouth. They don't normally run off and away with it, often times they bite way light and you may want/need to set the hook on em, or they'll pick up your bait and come right on upstream with it, no good for circle hook users in either case. Wanna out fish your bud's? Have them use the circle hooks and you most likely will no problem!

Bait....a couple 3, 4 crawlers is standard and works great usually. Minnows of various types get them, as will cutbait. Crayfish and crayfsh tails are darn good too. Try some crayfish scent on your crawler ball too.

I see alot of folks who cast their rigs way back behind their anchored boats. I like to just drop the rig into the current boatside and let it settle, or make a short toss allowing enough line out to just get to the bottom and allow for any boatswing off the anchors scope to avoid dragging my rig. Why? Light bite detection is better with less line out as you have less belly from current and swing.

Keep an eye on your line as well as your rod tip. Sometimes them Sturgeon will pick up your bait with out so much as a detectable twitch on the rod tip, they are usually heading up stream on a mission and they will be upstream of your boat in no time. Seen this happen often too!

My Bday 1st week of may '62, for many years I have made a tradition of Sturgeon fishing around my birthday. I bring this up because many of the fish in here are much older than I am. These are precious ceatures and were once nearly gone from the system alltogether. Tough as they are we should all treat them with respect and handle them gently and with care when doing the CPR thing. This is a very unique fishery, the Sturgeon are more abundant now than I can ever remember thanks to regs and angler ethics, and awareness of their true quality as a sportfish. 10-15 years ago I would go out to fish em in the bay in April and around my Bday and there would'nt be a boat 1. The past few years the popularity of these great fishes has grown bigtime and I now can pretty much count on 20 to 40 other boats out there! Forunatly the upstream spots I learned from Desi and Vern years ago still see them Sturgeon visit each spring and fall.

Regards....fiskyknut

[LEECH21]

Thanks fiskynut!

[Sandee]

Naw, that's "Thanks Friskynut"

[Wiskers]

If the river is open up as far as Clemenson, then that river that runs in from the south is also a great spot to search for some piggies... of both the walleye and Stergeon.

Happy fishing..................................

[LEECH21]

Correct me if I am wrong. So any spot on the Rainy is good where other rivers and streams dump in. And fishing actually in Lake of the Woods in Four Mile Bay where the Rainy dumps in is good. But, pretty much anywhere you have a chance to hook up with one.

What kinds of hooks, leaders, wieghts do you sturgeon "pros" reccomend? I already bought a new rod amd reel for this trip and spooled on 50 pound power pro. Thanks again.

[Ed Carlson]

For tackle I would recommend 65# Power Pro, a spool of Gama Tech Fluorocarbon leader material in #30 - #40, heavy ball bearing swivels, 3-4 oz Scenic Tackle No Roll weights, 1-2 O/T Gamakatsu baitholder hooks or 6 O/T Gamakatsu octopus style circle hooks, and a handful of 1 silicon tube spacers to be used to protect the knot above the swivel from the No-Roll weight.

A very good rod & reel combo I would recommend for both sturgeon and cats would be the Bass Pro Shops Pete Maina Signature Series Baitcast Combo (38-930-329-09) PMX80XHT-T 8' 9 GUIDES, 15-40 LB test, lure wt 2-8 OZ, handle C. The reel a 4.2:1 gear ratio for maximum power or screamin’ 5.2:1 ratio for buzzbaits, plus an audible clicker for live bait. Also: smooth 4-bearing system, PowerLock™ instant anti-reverse, 1-pc. aluminum frame, machined-aluminum spool, 6-pin centrifugal brake system, titanium-coated levelwind guide. The Cool gold finish looks nice too.

The rods feature powerful IM-6 graphite blanks with ”Power wall” design and Fuji® Hardloy® guides. Includes weight balance system for comfort and fatigue relief. They sell for $139.99 and are a super deal at that price.

[LEECH21]

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1-2 O/T

Gamakatsu

baitholder hooks or 6 O/T

Gamakatsu octopus style circle hooks

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Ed, aren't these two hooks way different in size? The 6 O/T is quite a bit larger right?

Also how long do you usually make the leader?

[CatManLee]

The 6 O/T is Larger, but with a circle hook, you want a little larger gap. The tip points back towards the shank making the gap smaller, so you need a little bigger hook size for the gap to be large enough to roll around the mouth and ensure it gets all the way in before turning.

I'm sure this is the reason for the larger hook size. Atleast that's why I always go with a bigger circle hook than I would a normal bait holder.

[Royal Dutchman]

Leech21,

Just my opinion but I would much rather battle a 6-foot sturgeon on my medium action walleye rig spooled with 8 lb. mono than on some winch & boom set-up. Just seems a bit more of a challenge.

Suppose I'm setting myself up for a blasting about playing the fish to exhaustion but they don't appear to be that fragile of a critter. Should probably ask my fisheries biologist buddy about it.

On the other hand, if I'd been using a "winch & crane" set-up I probably would have seen the one I fought for an hour and lost with out seeing. Don't think that fish even knew he was hooked.

What ever you use, good luck and let us know how you do!

[LEECH21]

Dutchman,

This is going to be my first trip up to the Rainy and my first time fishing sturgeon. My goal on this trip is just to catch one. It doesn't even really matter all that much about size. I just want to catch one to say that I HAVE caught one before. If I only have one chance to get one in the boat I don't want my gear to fail me.

Sure if we get a few on this trip, there will probably be another trip next year or later this year. Then after I have caught a few, I will for sure move to lighter gear just for the battle, because then I really won't care as much if I lose a fish boatside.

Thanks everyone for all your help, and I will post how we do. LEECH21

[Ed Carlson]

Yes they are different and circle hooks tend to need to run larger to accommodate the proper gap for the desired species. Compare a VMC 6 O/T to a Gamkatsu once. Each company has a slightly different size aspect for there circle hooks...they vary widely.

The straight eye 6-7 O/T octopus style or Nautilus style circle by Gamakatsu will serve you well. Scrimp can be treaded on a circle well and at times a sturgon has a hankering for shrimp. Shrimp are a crawfish imitator and they often love them craws.

The larger 1-2 O/T Gamakatsu B/N Baitholder will make gobing on a wad of juicy Night Crawlers an easy task.

Rods and rigging, yea you can go light but expect more lost fish then landed. You will also be chasing a sturgeon around in the boat with light rigging, and that may not make other walleye anglers all that happy. I prefer to match the tackle with the expectations of the gamefish I intend to peruse. Extended fighting times is not a wise conservation minded method. Yet in cold water of early spring it may be less of a factor then in the warmer waters of summer or early fall.

[CatManLee]

One more thing, I don't care how your set up. If you get a big Sturgeon on heavy test and a good heavy rod, IT WILL STILL BE A BATTLE! It's not a fish you can bring in with ease. If anything, set your drag a bit lighter. Then if you have a wopper on, you can still land it by tightening your drag. If it's only a 20-30lber you can play with it a bit to make it fun.

I fish with 30lb fireline and a good medium/heavy cat rod with a soft tip. In my opinion that's pleanty for any size sturgeon you're gonna catch up here, but you'll still have to be smart about the way you play it.

Either way your set up, you'll still have fun catching 'em.

Once you catch one, you'll be hooked. Good Luck.

[Traxxx]

Caught my first one on Wednesday. That was definitely an awsome battle. Caught it on a med rod and 8lb fireline. It went 53 inches. Does anybody have a guess on weight and age of a fish like that?

[LEECH21]

Traxxx, were you trying to catch sturgeon, or was it by "accident"? What area of the river did you catch it? We are heading up in a few weeks to fish sturgeon and are starting to get real fired up!

[Traxxx]

Leech,

It was luck. We were 1/4 mile down from Frontier by the eagles nest. I had a bigger one on earlier in the day. That one I tangled with for about a half hour and decided to try and horse it in. We drove right on top of it and I pulled as hard as I could and couldn't even move him and then the hook popped out. They sure are a fun fish. I'm hooked.