A few lucky Roughfishers catch a glimpse of what lives in the depths of the St. Croix river.   

September 15th, 2008 

Tyler W, Avidfly and I took advantage of a beautiful Autumn day and found some fantastic fishing on the lower St. Croix.  Lake Sturgeon were our official target species, but many other fine fish came to hand over the course of the outing.  We anchored the boat over a deep depression, and used dead gizzard shad and nightcrawlers for bait.  

Our first seven fish were all lake sturgeon, which made us very happy considering this was our target today.  These fish battled hard every time.  We took no chances, and hauled in all lines and anchors when a good fish got it's head.  This is one of two 40-inchers that started off Avidfly's day.

Tyler W racked up three personal bests today - lake sturgeon, channel catfish and carp.  He caught two fat channels, both with bellies obviously crammed full of shad.  The big carp fought very tough, and we were all thinking it would be a mid-40's sturgeon.  Boy, were we suprised when it turned out to be a carp in the teens!  Tyler's largest sturgeon taped at 38 inches.

Action was fantastic during daylight hours. We landed 21 lake sturgeon between the three of us, plus a few token drum, a few hefty channel cats and a bonus carp.  After dropping Tyler W off on shore, Avidfly and I raced back out to our spot anticipating some good sturgeon action after dark.  One small lake was landed, then something took Avidfly's shad.  This fish bulldogged pretty good on his long, flexible casting tackle.  He was using a line-counter reel, which told us exactly how far below the boat the fish was.  He would get it up to 9, then the fish would tear out line back down to 37.  This happened many, many times..........Each time the fish would get close, our headlamps would penetrate the water in hopes of catching a glimpse of whatever was on the end of the line.  Suddenly, there it was - not a sturgeon, but a huge beast of a flathead catfish!  We both simply said, "Woah", and the fish splashed water on us with his massive tail.  After a couple more dives, I finally got the net under the fish and lifted the creature into the boat.  Wow.  I had never seen a cat this big, not even close.  I could fit my head inside it's mouth.......not that I did, but I could have.  It measured 46 inches, and weighed on my Rapala boga tool it went over 46 pounds!  What an absolutely fantastic catch for my man Avidfly.  

 After this fat cat, the bite slowed to a standstill.  Although sturgeon were jumping all around the boat, none of them took our baits.  I still held out hope for encounering an eel, and we fished under a bright full moon.  Some time before midnight, we gave up for the day and headed back downriver.  The St. Croix river had given up a bonanza of big fish, and once again showed me why it is one of my favorite rivers on the planet.

Video of my 50" sturgeon is here.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW_pUCBiXJI 

  Keep it Rough.........~Andrew Geving, Roughfisher at Large

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