St. Louis River/Lake Superior included in CPR Sturgeon season!

[Jack Stasney]

Check it out here.

http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2015/04/30/new-fishing-regulatoins-aimed-at-improving-fisheries/

Should be fun!

[Northlander]

Dumb thinking to me. Why open a "catch and release" season? Let them get bigger and then we can start fishing for them. I see no fun in catching even the biggest St. Louis River Sturgies.

[DTro]

Are you high? I’ll catch and release a 40” Sturgeon over a dumpy walleye anyday! Not to mention the STL river fish are over 50” now and some even bigger. It’s a great move and a win across the board for MN fishermen. We need to expand more catch and release fishing to other species as well so people can get out and fish whenever they like and not sit around on their thumbs waiting for some silly “opener”.

[FowlSki]

I agree with DTro. It's great to see more opportunities for fisherman. Personally I think it should stay c&r forever. Why would you want to keep a fish that old?

I've seen sturgeon over 60 inches come out of the river. If that doesn't do it for you it's probably time to move on to salt water.

[live4chrome]

I saw the pictures of the 7' caught last winter out there. Can't tell me there are no big fish in the system. It was bigger than any of the pics of rainy river fish by a long shot.

[Washing Lures]

Lets see the pics of the 7 footer.

[live4chrome]

I wish I had them. I didn't believe the guy until he pulled his phone out and showed me. He said they had to cut the hole out to land it.

[Big Country]

A seven foot sturgeon is 84 inches. That's pretty hard to believe without the picture. Not pointing fingers, and I certainly hope it's true, but that seems a little far fetched. I've seen pictures from the rainy of one pushing seventy inches and that was a beast. I'm all for the CPR season. The Rainy has it and with all of the people targeting them I have never ever seen one floating. They are a very resilient fish and a hoot to fight. Closest thing to fishing in the ocean right here in the Northland. BC

[Schollmeier]

Legit Lake Sturgeon over 80", much less 84", are a rare find. Even in Winnebago. Certainly possible, I think the longest harvested out of the Chippewa River was 82" - and that's not a serious trophy water like LOW, Yellow, or Bago. That said the number of claimed 7' Sturgeon caught probably exceeds the number of 7' Sturgeon that exist. I do have to wonder if SOME of the 7' Sturgeon where actually 70" when they were caught...

BTW there are definitely 70"+ Sturgeon in Chequamegon. And those tagged fish have turned up in the St Louis and even the Pigeon, from time to time. The first batch that were stocked was in 1983, so they are 32 years old now.

[Schollmeier]

Oops, lost the end there. So that first batch of stocked fish should be pushing mid- to upper- 50's, maybe even 60" for females. Sure it has a long ways to go but If you can't have fun catching 50"+ Sturgeon then...