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Sturgeon Excursion, April 18th and 19th 2009


wastewaterguru

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We will deffinatly be back!

I still can't beleive how huge that fish was PDOGG, it was almost unreal to see something of that size come out of the water.

slicker-style of sinker made a huge differnce, 4 and 5 ounce bank sinkers were much better than no-rolls for holding in the heavy current, pyramid sinkers worked well also.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Another great trip!

We heard you guys from up river and figured you got into a nice one. Congrats on the hog. We pulled up to move and you had already left. The guy next to us said a 66"er was just caught from where we set anchor.

We fished 4 mile Fri and part of Sat. With the cold wind and chop on Sat we decided pickup and move to the the river. Conditions there were much nicer and the good part, there where Sturgeon around there too. smile

Our boat landed 28 sturgeon with the 2 boys doing most of the heavy rod work. We had a wonderful time and the kids got another life time experience, one they said they definitely want to do again.

There was some amount of debris but we don't let lines soak for more then 10 minutes without checking and if you watch your rod tips you can usually detect it. In other words, conditions weren't ideal but very fishable.

A few pictures of a great trip.

Jr's First Sturgeon.

JRDadsturgeon.jpg

Mark and Nate with Nate's Sturgeon.

NateMarksturg.jpg

FrankStrug.jpg

Thanks to those and organized this and those that attended.

It was definitely a fun time.

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Very cool fish guys! Nice hog PDOGG!

Frank, your boy sure got one heck of a sturg for his first! A big congrates to him! smile

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Very nice fish guys!

All I can say is WOW!!!

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What an absolute blast!! I can't wait til next year, and already have 2 other guys interested in going. The ghost fish was only a 46 but still put up a fair fight.

We do have some video footage that bunt2k aned I will put together and get on the U tube site.

See you all next year.

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slicker-style of sinker made a huge differnce, 4 and 5 ounce bank sinkers were much better than no-rolls for holding in the heavy current, pyramid sinkers worked well also.

Slicker,

Nick makes a great point. Thinking more about it this morning, I can only remember 1 - 3 fish coming to the boat when using a "no-roll" sinker while the the pyramid-style and bank sinkers royally kicked sturgeon butt.

We had no trouble staying down in the river (or bay) fishing in 12 - 22' of water with 3 - 5 ounces of weight.

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Looks like a blast, thanks for sharing the stories and pictures.

It is beyond a blast. Mark your calendar for next year. We've already started planning. Ha!

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Almost sick to my stomache for not being able to make it up there, think I am going to need some counciling. Them awesome pics did not help.. lol..

Great job fellas.. some real nice fish.

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Obviously a great time!! Good to meet and hang out with all my old friends as well as meeting some new ones as well!

This was my 3rd Sturgeon Excursion in 4 years, would have been to all 4 but my Mom's retirement party fell on this weekend last year. Mom's still more important than sturgeon! grin

Here's the highlights...

Sturgeon tag #86,197

55" Length x 22" Girth

041609excursion1.jpg

Buddy Adam with a big boy!

His first time Sturgeon fishing, HIS first 3 Sturgeon were all over 50"!

041609excursion2.jpg

Here was the BIG DOUBLE!!

In the Right Corner... its Adam!

041609excursion3.jpg

In the Left Corner... its WasteWaterGuru!

041609excursion4.jpg

Who's the winner? 57" for WWG & 58" for Adam! Unbelievable!

041609excursion5.jpg

Last night... one for the road!

041609excursion7.jpg

Adam stole the show as a first time sturgeon fisherman should. His first 3 fish were over 50 inches and ended up with a 55", 56", 57", and 58" for the trip for HIMSELF! Fish hog, eh? grin

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Chris,

Hopefully the motor issues aren't too serious......It was a blast having the whole crew in one boat. I have a few more pics to share.....but I am travelling for work this week and haven't had a chance to download the pics.

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Wow, fishing in the fall for these beasts can be pretty productive. I can' wait until October!!!!!!!!

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We did good again this year. I had two first timers in the boat and they will both be back again. I will get some pics and video up soon.

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Wind and debris made things a little tough this year, no doubt about it. Biggest for our boat was 54" and we saw way more 'razorbacks' (young sturgeon covered in sharp scutes) this year. Stole a page from the Tyler Holm playbook and tried a little fishing of the late, late night variety. Caught more fish after dark than in the daytime, but it was Saturday night when all the wind settled down. It was hard to leave on Sunday when you knew the weather was most conducive to fishing, but every once in a while that's the hand you're dealt.

I have to say, it's a little more enjoyable having most of the river to yourself after dark than being boat to boat during the day. I'm always a little on edge about pulling up to somebody because you don't know how far out their lines are and what their 'boat personal space' comfort level is...I remember last year one boat having some words for one of our admin here about fishing too close and he was light years away relatively speaking...

Had another great year of sturgeon fishing but found myself underwhelmed with our boat's average size and # of fish compared to other years. I'll be back some other year, but next year I'm leaving April open for some steelhead chasing with the old Grand Superior Lodge crew.

Good to see lots of big smiles and big fish for the new customers.

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After this last weekend I think I'm going to have to go back before opener for a few more days!

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Stole a page from the Tyler Holm playbook and tried a little fishing of the late, late night variety. Caught more fish after dark than in the daytime

Very true for us again this year.

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It was our first trip to LOW to battle the mighty sturgeon. Man what fun. We ended up staying at Wheelers and didn't hook up with any FM'ers. Will have to make it to Schusters next year. This will def. be an annual trip.

My sons first sturg was a little one...But his second gave him a good fight... P1000059.jpgI think I had more fun watching him than catching my own fish. P1000060.jpg The biggest for us was a 54"er. I ended up with 16 sturges total and only 26 for our boat. It was also my first time river fishing and with that current it was definately a learning curve. Good times were had by all and my boy has a lifetime memory.

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Nice pb Sturgeonfish Tyler. Fish actually looks bigger than your measurements state!! You are good {read honest} with a tape and that pic turned out great.

After dark who'd of thunk! Good to hear you got that rod back too.. Good catch Chris!

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man those are some great fish and i'm getting fired up cause Merkman and his bro and myself and a coupkle other guys are going up this weekend and that looks like such a blast.

thanks for a the stories and pics

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Hey tyler, a couple questions. I went up sunday, and am hopefully gonna be going up again this weekend.

Were you out on the main lake, past pine island, or right at the mouth where the river dumps in? I talked to a couple of guys that were past pine and they got 15 fish, 2 at 65". We were out right where the river dumps in, about 1/2 mile from pine and did ok on Sunday, but nothing too great. Also, did you try fishing really early in the morning, or were those night-time fish?

Here's the only one I got, right around 54".

1240325900.jpg

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Tyler was out in the bay nearly the whole weekend, right smack dab in the middle of the boat flotilla. Our crew wasn't all that far away from them either. Guys who were fishing the River stretch from Schusters to Wheelers were catching fish as well.

I'm sure there were some places a guy wouldn't want to drop anchor but it sure didn't seam to matter too much. Try the river for awhile, if nothing is going on, hit the bay, and vice versa.

Hopefully that debris starts to disappear for guys heading up this weekend, that will help for sure. Just make sure your bait is fresh (we used crawlers probably 4 on a hook), hook and sinker are weedfree (check it every 10 minutes), bait is on the bottom (took us 4 ounces), and you hold your rod to feel for that bite (most of our fish would tap 2-4 times and if you didn't set then, they were gone).

We knew some guys who were out fishing at midnight and were doubled/tripled up in the boat most of the time. I don't recall if they had any pigs but they had a ton of action.

Nice fish Tyler!

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I'm going to have to put this back on my "must do" list next year.

I think what makes this such an appeal, is that not only are they the biggest fish in the state, the fishing couldn't be much simpler.

Great place to get the kids "hooked" and also a great place to repay the older folks in your life that have spent so much time taking everyone else in the past.

They should rename that area "The Big Smile Zone" because it's tough not to when you hook a beast.

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Anyone heading up this weekend? We will be staying at Schusters. What are the thoughts regarding night fishing? Should this be something we look more into? How late?

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