Want Big Sturgeon?

[67Elmo]

If you want big "prairie sturgeon", the kind that swim in the North Saskatchewan River (not the huge BC kind) head east. My brother-in-law just sent me the below photo of his 62 lbs sturgeon he caught a couple of days ago. This is the Rainy River which flows into the south east part of Lake of the Woods. The north side of the river is Ontario and the season is closed. The south side is Minnesota and the season is open. They caught several over 50 lbs, this being the biggest. Plus a 9 lb walleye that bit the ball of worms they were using for bait! Naturally were released after a quick photo.

[TUFFBUFF]

Interesting, I didn't know they were out that way at all. Never see any TV shows or people talking about them.

[Poppa]

Originally Posted by TUFFBUFF

Interesting, I didn't know they were out that way at all. Never see any TV shows or people talking about them.

Manitoba has MASSIVE sturgeon fishery all through the Winnipeg River. And that Rainy River area just south....it's something else. Lotta MB guys heading down there now because it's such a short trip...

[does it ALL outdoors]

Very nice! No matter how many ya catch, you never forget your first

[JD848]

There's old photo's in kenora of frozen sturgeon on train box cars that was caught years ago and there big,winnipeg river at the norman dam has 200 pound plus sturgeons,i seen one big bugger while fishing there as kid,they roll over right in front of you big heads and tails,plus the water is nice on lake of the woods,has 13000 islands,so buy a map and gps or you better have rubber bottom end on your motor,lots rocks up the on the north part ,but you fish south near beaudette min usa.
I stay right off it for decades now to many tobins that are fish hogs,the lake is big,but in can only take so much pressure,guy's I talk to say it's changing fast,it should be a 2 fish limit with nothing above 18 for walleye.it's going to happen to late if they don't back of for a few years.

If your into muskies that's your baby ,lotsa nice size ones,i believe there's a world record in that lake,i seen some nice ones,but most of it is watched hard to keep the muskie population strong and I use to fish it at night ,all night and head home in the morning,so if your into that go hit it hard,you won't regret it and more fun than bottom feeders, best of luck.

[fishin_guy]

I'm in Manitoba with the family cottage on Lake of the Woods very close to the Rainy River. It is where Manitoba/Ontario/Minnesota all meet. The Rainy is wonderful for fishing. You really have to plan the spring fish. Right now fishing is horrible when the Fork River and another one said lets go (start melting). I had my buddy go the beginning of April for walleye fishing and the rivers had already let go making the Rainy very dirty and fishing shut right down. Yet the typical....if you were here the last few weeks before.......it was walleyes in the 100's for a boat. And those are huge football shaped walleye. I have sat and watched the sturgeon jump on the river. I have seen up to 7' sturgeon....not bad for middle of nowhere. The lake isn't as scary as some believe. Yes you need a good lake map. I use the Navionics app. It does a good job showing me the danger areas and contours. The Rainy does have a lot of flooded logs but it shows you the areas and if you value your gear you will always go slow in virgin territory. The lake has a lot of rock reefs where trolling I have gone from 25 feet to 2 feet within the length of my 16 foot boat. I knew it was there, just not that steep of transition, but I was going slow for it and all was good. The Navionics maps I use also show navigation routes that are safe to travel. It is a very beautiful and peaceful area.