09-05-2004, 08:04 PM
the Sturgeon are sitting back in the deep slow moving pools or in dark corners of the river during the day. At night, they will come into the shallows or swim up to the base of a rapids.
Sturgeon are bottom feeders. They basically eat anything edible that they find on the bottom. Bugs, crayfish, dead fish, dead animals, snails and worms that are washed into the river are all on the menu. With this in mind, Sturgeon fishing is like fishing for big Channel Cats. An easy rig to use is a bell sinker and a hook. Slide the bell sinker on then put a small slit-shot about 3 feet from the hook. Let the sinker sit on bottom and have the hook and bait swirl around on the bottom freely. When you get a bit, let you line out to make sure the fish has it for a few seconds then set the hook. The Sturgeon will be in the deeper pools behind rapids. Sturgeon in the average between 20 and 80 pounds but fish up to 150 pounds have be caught. With this in mind, try using a medium to heavy rod with 15 to 30 pound test line. Use a heavy leader and a #10 or #12 hook. Make sure they are strong hooks.
For bait, you can use a big glob of worm, cheese or salmon eggs in a nylon sack like a big spawn bag. You can also use a chunk of meat off a sucker or carp. Remember, in Ontario, it is illegal to use any game fish, whole or part, for bait. This also includes Perch which are not game fish.[font "Arial"] [/font]
Lake Fishing
It's a lot harder to catch a Sturgeon in a Lake because they have more room. They tend to swim back and forth between points at the mouth of a bay or between islands / point to island. When fishing in the lake, you can have four hooks on one line. Get a three way swivel. Tie a 30 inch piece of line to the three-way-swivel and then to a 1 oz bell sinker. Tie another 30 inch line to the three-way-swivel and then tie to a small float. The float has to be big enough to raise your line off bottom a bit but not effect the sinker. Then about 30 inches apart, tie four hooks on the line coming from your reel and then tie the line to the three-way-swivel. Drive the boat over to a point or near an island and drop the line. Then back the boat away keeping the line tight so the baits spread out. Try taking the boat over to the other point or island, pull the line tight and wait. The float helps keep your line from tangling or getting hooked on the bottom while you are moving the boat to a different location [font "Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"]
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Sturgeon are bottom feeders. They basically eat anything edible that they find on the bottom. Bugs, crayfish, dead fish, dead animals, snails and worms that are washed into the river are all on the menu. With this in mind, Sturgeon fishing is like fishing for big Channel Cats. An easy rig to use is a bell sinker and a hook. Slide the bell sinker on then put a small slit-shot about 3 feet from the hook. Let the sinker sit on bottom and have the hook and bait swirl around on the bottom freely. When you get a bit, let you line out to make sure the fish has it for a few seconds then set the hook. The Sturgeon will be in the deeper pools behind rapids. Sturgeon in the average between 20 and 80 pounds but fish up to 150 pounds have be caught. With this in mind, try using a medium to heavy rod with 15 to 30 pound test line. Use a heavy leader and a #10 or #12 hook. Make sure they are strong hooks.
For bait, you can use a big glob of worm, cheese or salmon eggs in a nylon sack like a big spawn bag. You can also use a chunk of meat off a sucker or carp. Remember, in Ontario, it is illegal to use any game fish, whole or part, for bait. This also includes Perch which are not game fish.[font "Arial"] [/font]
Lake Fishing
It's a lot harder to catch a Sturgeon in a Lake because they have more room. They tend to swim back and forth between points at the mouth of a bay or between islands / point to island. When fishing in the lake, you can have four hooks on one line. Get a three way swivel. Tie a 30 inch piece of line to the three-way-swivel and then to a 1 oz bell sinker. Tie another 30 inch line to the three-way-swivel and then tie to a small float. The float has to be big enough to raise your line off bottom a bit but not effect the sinker. Then about 30 inches apart, tie four hooks on the line coming from your reel and then tie the line to the three-way-swivel. Drive the boat over to a point or near an island and drop the line. Then back the boat away keeping the line tight so the baits spread out. Try taking the boat over to the other point or island, pull the line tight and wait. The float helps keep your line from tangling or getting hooked on the bottom while you are moving the boat to a different location [font "Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"]
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